Kevin McGonigle's draft impact could create massive shift for Tigers' future

Say what you will about Scott Harris, but the guy knows how to draft. His first with the Tigers in 2023 could go down as the best in Detroit's recent history, especially after Kevin McGonigle, their Competitive Balance Round A pick that year, just won American League Rookie of the Year honors.

McGonigle, Max Clark, John Peck, Andrew Sears, and Brett Callahan, who made their MLB debuts in 2026, all came from that class. Max Anderson, their second-round pick, is waiting in the wings.

Harris is still working with a lot of pieces leftover from the Al Avila era, but the youth movement has almost entirely been made in Harris' image. The jury is very much still out on Peck, Sears, and Callahan, but McGonigle and Clark's success make the Tigers a clear draft threat.

Thanks to McGonigle's ROY win, Harris will have even more room to play in 2027. The Tigers will get an extra draft pick immediately after the first round, worth about $3.5 million in bonus pool money.

They're also eligible for the draft lottery, which should get them a top-10 pick in the first round, and they could also get another CB Round-A pick if they landed amongst the 10 lowest-revenue or smallest-market clubs in 2026. That's three first-round picks.

Kevin McGonigle's Rookie of the Year win grants Tigers extra draft pick, bringing Detroit's first-round total to three

The draft lottery is set to take place during Winter Meetings ... which may not even happen. In that case, it's unclear how the league plans to handle the drawing in the event of a lockout but, to be fair, figuring that out is probably pretty low on their list of priorities. Regardless, the Tigers will make their first selection somewhere within the top 18.

The fact that McGonigle himself came from an extra first-round slot and has earned the Tigers the opportunity to run it back four years later is a nice bit of poeticism. The total worth of the slot, $3.5 million, is even more significant than the $2.5 million McGonigle got.

The order of PPI picks has also been revealed: the Reds will go first, after Sal Stewart won on the National League side, then the Tigers, and then the Guardians, for Parker Messick finishing top-3 in Cy Young voting.

The 2027 draft is going to be a big one for Detroit. It's rare for Tigers fans to say that we trust Harris, but it's hard not to when his track record speaks for itself.

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