The 6 worst drafts in Detroit Tigers franchise history

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The Detroit Tigers won’t make their next MLB draft selection for another six months, but draft season is already upon us.

Junior college baseball has begun, high school showcases like the Super 60 are around the corner, and college baseball starts in fewer than three weeks. We’ll begin offering weekly draft updates soon, but today we want to take a look back at some of the more regrettable draft hauls in Detroit Tigers history.

We were inspired to do this by two things related to the 2017 draft. The first was our prospect profile of Alex Faedo, and the second was this Tweet from our friend Zeke Jennings:

I didn't catch this until now. Sam McMillan, catcher in the Tigers system, has retired. McMillan was the 5th round pick in Avila's somewhat infamous 2017 draft, a high schooler the Tigers paid above-slot value after going cheap with their 2nd and 4th round picks.
— Zeke Jennings (@ZekeJennings) January 24, 2022

It’s still too early to make any definitive statements about the Detroit Tigers 2017 draft class, but things certainly aren’t looking great. Faedo was the team’s top pick that year, but early struggles and Tommy John surgery have kept the now 26-year-old from pitching above Double-A. And he’s probably the last hope for any kind of impact from that class:

Will Vest was taken by the Mariners in the Rule 5 draft and then returned to the Tigers after a few months, and Drew Carlton was an emergency add to the Tigers bullpen last September, but he was removed from the 40-man roster after the season. There are a handful of other players still in the system from the 2017 draft, but it looks like the legacy of that class is now solely on the shoulders of Alex Faedo.

Maybe the 2017 draft will make a list like this in another five years, but for now we’re going to focus on drafts that were definitively bad. Although, it’s a bit harder to define a bad draft than it seems.

What’s worse, drafting players who reach the majors and then perform poorly, or drafting players who never even make the big leagues? We tried to take both scenarios into account when making the list.

One thing we won’t do is blame the Tigers for players they didn’t take. Would it have been cool if the Tigers took Mookie Betts in the 5th round of the 2011 draft instead of Brandon Loy? Absolutely, but that’s a bit too much hindsight for us. Mostly we want to focus on the drafts that just didn’t work out. So, without further ado…

Number 6 Worst Detroit Tigers Draft – 1973

NEW YORK – CIRCA 1973: Manager Billy Martin argues with an umpire. (Photo by Focus on Sport/Getty Images) /

The 1973 draft class was just a dud for the Tigers. It was the final draft overseen by Ed Katalinas, a famed scout who signed Al Kaline and excelled in the pre-draft world, but never quite figured out the draft (as you’ll see later). Detroit had the 19th overall pick that year, and they used it on Charles Bates, a third baseman from Cal State University. Bates played pro ball for four years, but he never advanced past Double-A Montgomery. Their second rounder was New York shortstop Kevin Slattery, who hit .177 over three seasons and never made it past Low-A.

The only big-leaguer the Tigers signed was their third-round pick Bob Adams, who played in 15 games in 1977, primarily as a pinch hitter, though he did get one start as a catcher and two starts at first base. Adams saw just 24 plate appearances, but he managed to hit two home runs. One came against BIll Travers, who had been an All-Star the year before, and the other came against Frank Tanana, who led the league in ERA that year. Adams returned to the minors in 1978, and then he retired from baseball.

The only other MLB player from that draft class was Detroit’s 13th rounder Charlie Puleo, a high-school pitcher who opted to attend Seton Hall University instead. He went undrafted out of college, but eventually went on to pitch in parts of eight seasons for the Mets, Reds, and Braves.

Number 5 Worst Detroit Tigers Draft – 1967

Mickey Lolich throws a pitch for the Detroit Tigers in 1967. /

The Detroit Tigers had an outstanding season in 1967, finishing just one game away from the World Series, but their draft that year was another Katalinas debacle. They did manage to send five signed players to the majors, but that quintet played a combined total of 60 MLB games.

Detroit’s top pick that year was Missouri high-school lefty Jim Foor, who pitched well in the minors, but seemed to top out in Triple-A. He did pitch in 10 games for the Tigers in the early ’70s, but he compiled a 15.43 ERA with 10 walks and just 2 strikeouts in 4.2 innings. The Tigers followed up with another prep arm in Robert Ware, Florida high-school outfielder James Tanner, and University of Michigan outfielder Leslie Tanona, but they all failed to reach the majors.

Fifth rounder Paul Jata saw the most time of any of Detroit’s picks that year, spending 32 games with the Tigers in 1972 and batting .230 with a pair of doubles. Sixth-round pick Dennis Saunders pitched eight games of relief for Detroit in 1970 but never made it back to the bigs. By WAR (0.3) he was their best pick of the draft. Ike Blessit (15th round) and Gary Isnasiak (36th round) also reached Detroit, but neither did anything of note.

Number 4 Worst Detroit Tigers Draft – 2003

Infielder Tony Giarratano runs the bases. (Photo by Rick Stewart/Getty Images) /

As if losing 119 games that year wasn’t bad enough, the Tigers also had to go out and blow the 2003 draft, too. Detroit held the third overall pick that year and used it on Wake Forest RHP Kyle Sleeth. It was a perfectly acceptable pick at the time, as Sleeth had a storied college career and the stuff of a top-five pick. He held his own in his pro debut at High-A, but he was battered for a 6.30 ERA upon his promotion to Double-A. The Tigers tried to get him to iron out his mechanics, but he went down with Tommy John surgery in 2005, and he never regained his stuff or his command when he returned, and he retired after 2007.

The rest of the draft didn’t go any better for the Tigers. Their second-round pick was high-school pitcher Jay Sborz, who spent eight years toiling in the minors before making a single disastrous outing in the big leagues. Third-round pick Tony Giarratano was a gifted defender at shortstop, and though he didn’t have much power he had all the other tools to potentially be an everyday regular. He played in 15 MLB games in 2005 but hit just .143 with one home run. Then, like Sleeth, injuries completely derailed his career and sent him to an early retirement after the 2007 season.

The other Tigers draft picks from 2003 to make the majors were Virgil Vasquez (7th round), who posted an 8.64 ERA over 16.2 innings for the Tigers in 2007, Brian Rogers (11th round), who was traded for Sean Casey in 2006, and catcher Dusty Ryan (48th round), who had a couple strong weeks for Detroit at the end of 2008, but never did much after that. By WAR, Ryan (0.1) was the best pick of the draft, though one could argue Brian Rogers provided the best value by landing Casey in a trade.

Number 3 Worst Detroit Tigers Draft – 2009

Jacob Turner throws against the Los Angeles Angels. Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports /

In terms of total WAR accumulated, this is the 2nd worst draft in Detroit Tigers history. But, as always, there’s a bit more to the story than just one number. The Tigers had the 9th overall pick that year, and though it has subsequently been reported that they were one of the teams highest on a New Jersey outfielder named Mike Trout, they opted to take Missouri prep right-hander Jacob Turner. And for a while that looked like a fine choice. Turner was signed to an MLB deal and shot through the minors in just two seasons, making his MLB debut two months after his 20th birthday. He looked the part in his debut, pitching into the 6th inning and striking out six while allowing just two earned runs. He struggled afterward, but he still held enough prospect cachet to be the main piece in Detroit’s 2012 trade for Aníbal Sánchez and Omar Infante.

Turner always looked like he should be good, and he kept getting chances, but for whatever reason it never clicked for him. He finished his big-league career with a -2.6 WAR, the 4th worst for a first-round pitcher drafted in the 21st century. Oklahoma State LHP Andy Oliver was at one point considered a potential top-10 pick, but he slid to the Tigers in the second round. He also shot through the minors and debuted in 2010, but he posted a 7.11 ERA in seven MLB starts for the Tigers and never reached the majors again.

Detroit missed on their third (Wade Gaynor), fourth (Edwin Gomez), and fifth (Austin Wood) picks, and they were strangely aggressive with sixth-rounder Daniel Fields, sending him from U of D Jesuit high school in Michigan to High-A Lakeland in his first pro season. He did reach the majors for one game, going 1-for-3 with a double and two strikeouts. The other players from 2009 to make the bigs were lefty starters Adam Wilk (11th round) and Giovanni Soto (21st round). Wilk pitched in eight games for the Tigers and recorded a 6.66 ERA, while Soto was traded for Jhonny Peralta and later pitched in six games for Cleveland, becoming the only player from this class with a positive WAR (0.2).

Number 2 Worst Detroit Tigers Draft – 1971

Members of Cleveland’s 1979 team pose for a team portrait, including shortstop Tom Veryzer. (Photo by: Ron Kuntz Collection/Diamond Images/Getty Images) /

The last of the Ed Katalinas stinkers on our list, Detroit’s 1971 draft is actually the worst in franchise history by WAR. We used some editorial discretion here, though, because baseball was a different game back then, and two of these draft picks actually topped 100 career big-league games.

The Tigers had the 11th overall pick and they used it on New York high-school shortstop Tom Veryzer. On the positive side, Veryzer played in 995 career big-league games over parts of 12 seasons, and almost all of them were at shortstop. On the negative side, his career -3.7 bWAR (and -5.0 fWAR!) was low enough to make him one of the five worst first-round picks of all time. He manned shortstop in Detroit for three full seasons, until a youngster named Alan Trammell arrived, and the Tigers eventually traded him to Cleveland for outfielder Charlie Spikes.

Detroit’s second-round pick was high-school lefty Dennis Debarr, who never played for the Tigers, but was taken by Toronto in the 1976 expansion draft and pitched in 14 games for the Blue Jays in 1977. Seventh-rounder Gene Pentz had a decent rookie season as a reliever for the Tigers in 1975 and was part of a trade package to the Houston Astros, while 13th rounder Gary Christenson was eventually purchased by Kansas City and racked up -0.8 WAR with the Royals over 30 outings.

Number 1 Worst Detroit Tigers Draft – 1997

Matt Anderson in the dugout during a spring training game. Rick Stewart /Allsport /

It didn’t make any sense at the time, and it still doesn’t make any sense 25 years later. In 1997 the Detroit Tigers had the first overall pick in the draft and used it on college reliever Matt Anderson. There were some behind-the-scenes issues with other potential picks J.D. Drew and Troy Glaus, and Anderson did have a huge arm, but taking a pure reliever at 1-1 is the equivalent of an NFL team drafting a punter first overall.

Anderson made his MLB debut just over a year later, and he had a solid rookie year, compiling a 3.27 ERA over 44 innings, albeit with a disturbingly high 31 walks. But things never got any better for him. He pitched out of Detroit’s bullpen for the next five seasons, but he never posted an ERA under 4.72, and in 2002 he infamously hurt his arm the same night he competed in a silly octopus-throwing contest. He finished his Tigers career with a 4.89 ERA over 246.2 innings, and his -0.6 career WAR is the third worst ever for a #1 overall pick.

The Tigers didn’t fare any better with their subsequent picks. Second-round lefty Shane Loux struggled to miss bats in the minors, but he still made seven starts for the Tigers in 2002 and 2003, and he finished his big-league career with a 5.94 ERA and -1.5 WAR. Third rounder Matt Boone never made it to Double-A, fourth-round pick Alan Webb never reached the majors, but was one of the players Detroit sent to Texas in the infamous Juan Gonzalez trade, and fifth-round shortstop Heath Schesser was out of baseball by 1999. The only other draft pick from that class to play for the Tigers was 26th-rounder Max St. Pierre, who stuck around forever and eventually saw action in six games in 2010.

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The 6 worst drafts in Detroit Tigers History