Even draft experts couldn't figure out the Tigers' first few 2025 selections

Throughout night one of the 2025 MLB Draft, Baseball America provided live coverage on the publication's official X account in the form of photo graphics for every prospect as each pick was announced – each pick, that is, except Nos. 24 and 34, which belonged to the Detroit Tigers.

The The Tigers took a massive risk and went the high school route for both picks, selecting shortstop Jordan Yost at No. 24 and catcher Michael Oliveto at No. 34. Suffice it to say, their selections were unexpected – and not in a good way.

Baseball America's social media graphics were almost certainly prepared for all of the prospects projected to go on night one of the draft in template form, ready to have a team logo slapped on them the moment the pick was announced and posted on social media in real time. It stands to reason, then, that the Tigers' picks weren't posted because they didn't have graphics ... because the picks were that far out of the box.

Even draft experts couldn't figure out the Tigers' first two 2025 picks

Yost is a late bloomer who was ranked significantly lower than the 24th pick, leading some experts to believe that the Tigers were being strategic with their selection in an effort to draft a more expensive, highly-touted prospect on whom they could spend their leftover slot money at No. 34.

After all, as Jason Beck of MLB.com noted, the Tigers have been aggressive under president of baseball operations Scott Harris using later-round draft picks to sign high-school pitchers away from college commitments, including Owen Hall, Ethan Schiefelbein and Zach Swanson last year.

But instead, the Tigers doubled down on the obscurity with their selection of Oliveto at No. 34. A Yale commit ranked as low as No. 219 by MLB Pipeline, he will easily be another inexpensive signing – which makes the Tigers' strategy (if we can call it that) all the more confounding.

Harris has had recent success taking high school prospects in the draft, including Max Clark and Bryce Rainer, but those were hardly off-the-wall selections. So, while it's technically possible that Harris is playing chess while the rest of the league is playing checkers, it remains awfully difficult to make any sense of the Tigers' moves on night one of the draft.

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