Detroit Tigers: 3 prospects who will not make their debut in Detroit

#3: Detroit Tigers’ first-rounder from 2022, Jace Jung

The last prospect may surprise some, but the Detroit Tigers may not see the end of the road for Jace Jung. He may not make his big league debut with the Detroit Tigers as the team moves forward.

I’m not as high on Jace Jung as some seem to be. I think Jung will be a good player, and the bat will be exciting, but I thought there were better options available on the board. Now that’s no fault to Scott Harris, which is exactly why I could see Jung being used as a trade chip.

For Jung to pan out with the Tigers, he has to hit. He’s also got to lock down a position. They tried third base in college, which did not work out well. He’s been a second baseman since then, but he’s not the greatest defender overall.

While some folks are okay with sacrificing defense for some offense, it just goes back to the idea that I felt there were better options on the table for the Tigers that I would have liked to have seen them take instead. But that’s the Al Avila era; it’s Harris’s time now.

Harris may be open to trading Jung and seeing if he can upgrade the farm system or upgrade a position. Jung got his first taste of affiliate ball this summer with the West Michigan Whitecaps, where he logged 108 at-bats, slashing .232/.373/.333 with 28 punchouts.

Who knows, Jung could wind up being the Tigers’ future second baseman who hits for power and brings another power lefty bat to the lineup. But I’d expect there to be some trade talk with Jung’s name being waved around from Harris.

For that reason and that assumption, I added him as the third player who may not see the big leagues on this list. All three players mentioned have value; the question is if they can make it through Harris’s wholesale changes as he starts to leave his mark on the Tigers organization.