The 6 best drafts in Detroit Tigers history

Yesterday we looked at some of the worst drafts in Detroit Tigers history.

But today marks the beginning of the Year of the Tiger, so let’s focus on some good Detroit Tigers history. The previous article was inspired in part by the troubling outlook for Detroit’s 2017 draft haul, but things are looking much better lately.

The 2018 draft gave the Tigers Casey Mize and Tarik Skubal, whose combined 4.3 WAR is already better than 23 other Detroit Tigers drafts. There may not be many more players coming from that class — Kody Clemens has been added to the 40-man roster and Eric De La Rosa, Garrett Hill, and Chavez Fernander all have a shot to reach the majors — but Mize and Skubal alone could push 2018 into a top ten draft in franchise history.

The 2019 class boasts MCB’s top prospect, Riley Greene, as well as Ryan Kreidler, Beau Brieske, Andre Lipcius, and Zack Hess. And though the 2020 class was just six players, four of them — Spencer Torkelson, Dillon Dingler, Gage Workman, and Colt Keith — are generally considered top-12 prospects in Detroit’s system.

And as you’ll soon notice, good drafts tend to be followed by good seasons.

In yesterday’s piece we questioned what makes for a truly bad draft, but today’s piece is more straightforward. We’ll be looking at the top six Detroit Tigers draft classes as measured by Baseball Reference WAR. That said, we want to give an honorable mention to the 2011 class, which ranks ninth in Tigers history in terms of WAR, but sent a franchise record 11 players to the big leagues, including Cameron Maybin and Matt Joyce.

Now, on to the list!

Number 6 Best Detroit Tigers Draft – 1974

We mentioned the draft failings of Detroit’s head of scouting Ed Katalinas yesterday, and they look particularly bad when compared to the work of his legendary successor Bill Lajoie. Lajoie served as Detroit’s scouting director from 1974 to 1978, a run that produced four of the top seven draft classes in Tigers history.

Getting your top pick right is usually key to the overall success of the class, and Lajoie nailed it in his first draft, selecting a California high-school infielder named Lance Parrish. Parrish began his pro career as a third baseman and outfielder, but he moved behind the plate in 1975 and reached the majors two years later. He would go on to make eight All-Star teams, win six Silver Sluggers, and earn three Gold Glove awards, and he is tied for fifth all-time in home runs by a catcher.

As if drafting a franchise catcher wasn’t enough, Lajoie also used his 10th-round pick on Massachusetts prep pitcher Mark Fidrych. Fidrych’s career was far too short, but to this day his 1976 season is remembered as one of baseball’s greatest performances. The 21-year-old Fidrych went 19-9 with a 2.34 ERA and a stunning 24 complete games. By Baseball Reference WAR, it was easily the best rookie season by a pitcher in the Integration Era.

Why stop there? Detroit’s 19th-rounder was left-handed pitcher Bob Sykes, who finished his career with -0.1 WAR. But that doesn’t tell the whole story. Sykes was a roughly league-average pitcher for the Tigers, producing 1.8 WAR from 1977-1978, but he fell apart after being traded to to St. Louis before the 1979 season. In return, the Cardinals sent Detroit Aurelio López, who became a huge part of the team’s bullpen for the next seven seasons.

Number 4 Best Detroit Tigers Draft – 1985

The most common things heard on Detroit radio airwaves in the early 2000s were traffic and weather updates, and complaints about the John Smoltz trade. Eventually those complaints came with an equally common retort that Doyle Alexander, Detroit’s return from Atlanta, was absolutely essential for the Tigers during their fondly remembered 1987 season. Still, it’s understandable for fans to be a bit upset about trading away a future Hall-of-Famer.

But we’re here to celebrate the drafting of that player in the first place. A native of Lansing, Michigan, Smoltz was picked by the Tigers in the 22nd round and went on to become an eight-time All-Star with the Braves. He won the Cy Young award in 1996, and his 55 saves in 2002 is tied for the fourth most in a season in MLB history. He also happens to be one of the greatest post-season pitchers ever, with a 2.67 ERA in 209 career playoff innings.

There’s not much else to say about the rest of that draft class. First-round pick Randy Nosek pitched to a 10.22 ERA and -0.7 WAR in 12.1 career innings, while third rounder Steve Searcy outdid him with -2.0 career WAR in 187 innings. Scott Lusader (6th round) didn’t have much of a career, but he did hit a key September home run for the Tigers in 1987, while Doug Strange (7th round) played for part of nine big-league seasons, and Mark Lee (15th round) saw 116 games as a reliever for Kansas City, Milwaukee, and Baltimore.

Number 3 Best Detroit Tigers Draft – 2004

Like the 1985 Smoltz draft, the 2004 draft class essentially reflects the work of one Hall-of-Fame pitcher. But this time the Tigers held onto their star hurler, and, with apologies to Hal Newhouser and Mickey Lolich, Justin Verlander went on to become the best pitcher in Detroit Tigers history.

Verlander wasn’t necessarily a sure thing. He had the best pure stuff in the draft class, but Jered Weaver and Stephen Drew were bigger names, and a troika of Rice University hurlers — Phil Humber, Jeff Niemann, and Wade Townsend — all had superior college numbers that year. The Tigers took Verlander anyway, and though negotiations got a bit contentious, they eventually signed him to a deal in October. The rest is history.

He plowed through the minor leagues in 2005, and won Rookie of the Year honors as he helped pitch the Tigers to the World Series in 2006. He was Detroit’s ace for the better part of the next 11 seasons, making six All-Star squads, winning both the Cy Young and MVP awards in 2011, throwing two no-hitters, and helping the Tigers back to the World Series in 2012. He got even stronger after his 2017 trade to Houston, and he stands as one of the most dominant pitchers of his era.

Three other 2004 draft picks eventually made the majors for the Tigers, but Jeff Frazier (3rd round) played in just nine games, and Brent Dlugach (6th round) saw only five. Their eighth-round pick Luke French pitched in 31 big-league games, and he was solid enough for the 2009 Tigers to be the key part of their ill-fated deadline trade for Jarrod Washburn.

Number 2 Best Detroit Tigers Draft – 1975

Scouting director Bill Lajoie made two outstanding picks in his debut draft of 1974, and then he outdid himself the following year. To this point we have largely ignored the old January phase of the MLB draft, which lasted from 1966 to 1986, because January picks rarely signed, and those who did almost never produced. But in January of 1975 the Tigers used the fourth overall pick to land Tom Brookens, who produced 11.6 career WAR (not included in the total above) as a glove-first third baseman.

Lajoie didn’t find that kind of immediate success in the June portion of the draft though, with number three overall pick Les Filkins and second-round pitcher John Murphy both topping out in Triple-A, and third rounder Bob Grandas going unsigned.

But the Tigers hit on their fourth-rounder Jason Thompson, a first baseman from Cal State Northridge who showed power and patience. Thompson played just 79 games in the minors before arriving in Detroit in April of 1976, and in his first four seasons he made two All-Star teams and batted .259/.346/.441 while averaging 26 home runs and 93 RBIs per 162 games. But Thompson clashed with new manager Sparky Anderson, and the Tigers traded him to the Angels in 1980 for Al Cowens. A right-handed hitting outfielder, Cowens finished second in the 1977 MVP voting after a terrific season with the Royals. But he was mostly an average player before and after, and his time with the Tigers is best remembered for an ugly brawl against the White Sox.

Detroit’s fourth-round pick was great, but their fifth rounder was divine. Lou Whitaker, a young high-school infielder from Virginia, went to the Tigers with the 99th overall pick in the draft, and he spent the next 20 years as part of the best double-play combo in baseball history. Sweet Lou may not have been great at any one thing, but he was very good at everything. He took home the AL Rookie of the Year award in 1978, won four Silver Slugger awards, three Gold Gloves, and made the All-Star team every season from 1983 to 1987.

Whitaker’s career WAR of 75.1 is the fifth highest ever for a second baseman — more than Hall-of-Famers Frankie Frisch, Ryne Sandberg, and Roberto Alomar, among others. He is one of the best players in MLB history, and one heck of a draft pick, and it remains a travesty that he isn’t enshrined in Cooperstown.

Number 1 Best Detroit Tigers Draft – 1976

Not only was Detroit’s 1976 draft the best in franchise history, it might legitimately be the greatest draft haul in sports history. If we bring in the January draft again, the Tigers landed five All-Stars and three future Hall of Famers in a single year.

They used the top overall pick that January on outfielder Steve Kemp from the University of Southern California. Kemp dominated in the minors later that year, and for the next five seasons he carried a 128 wRC+ and produced 16.0 WAR for the Tigers (again, not counted in the total above). Then in 1982 the Tigers traded Kemp straight up for Chet Lemon, who proceeded to have six above-average seasons in Detroit.

And Kemp was just the appetizer. Detroit had the 2nd overall pick that year and used it on Indiana high-school lefty Pat Underwood. That didn’t quite work out, but Underwood did post a positive WAR over 113 MLB games. The Tigers’ second rounder was a prep shortstop out of San Diego by the name of Alan Trammell, who produced 70.7 career WAR over the course of his Hall-of-Fame career, and racked up six All-Star bids, four Gold Gloves, three Silver Sluggers, the 1984 World Series MVP award, and the 1987 AL MVP (in our hearts, at least).

Third-round catcher Scott Johnson never made it out of A-Ball, but Detroit came back in the fourth round with Dan Petry, who was a huge part of the 1984 World Series squad, made the 1985 All-Star team, and produced 17.1 career WAR on his way to 125 big-league wins.

That’s a strong win total, but it was less than half of Detroit’s next pick, Jack Morris. Morris’ 254 wins, 2,478 strikeouts, and career 3.90 ERA stirred much Hall-of-Fame debate, but he was one of the most consistent and durable pitchers of the 1980s, and he was a huge part of three World Series winners. His 10-inning shutout in Game 7 of the 1991 World Series is one of the great pitching performances in postseason history.

That’s one heck of a draft, but let’s add their seventh-round pick, a little-known shortstop named Ozzie Smith. The Tigers couldn’t quite meet Smith’s asking price, and he returned to school for another year. He was drafted in the fourth round the following year and went on to produce 76.9 WAR, make 15 All-Star games, win 13 Gold Gloves, and even manage a Silver Slugger award in 1987, when he hit .303 with 40 doubles and 0 home runs.

Fans probably won’t ever see a draft this good again.