Detroit Tigers draft board: 4 sneaky good pitching prospects in the draft class

Detroit Tigers draft board update: 4 pitchers to keep in mind.

The Detroit Tigers will be busy this draft season as they continue building their board. While there's been a lot of movement among most of the updated draft boards across media outlets, things will continue to change as the summer inches closer.

After all, the Detroit Tigers, like all other 30 teams, are going to be spending time doing their due diligence on hundreds of players to ensure that they have their ducks in a row and know which players they think they can draft AND sign to piece together a good draft class.

It's not a simple process to choose players, especially with prep players who have college commitments they can choose to honor. There are a lot of players out there for the Tigers to consider as the team pieces together a draft class.

When it comes to the draft class, the most upside and value comes in the early rounds, but sometimes there is reason to believe that value can be found in a late-round pick or with someone who gets taken later on who has projectable and valuable traits.

Let's dive into some of those players. Especially when it comes to pitchers, let's talk through four different pitchers from the later rounds of this draft class, meaning they will not be picked on Day 1 and are likely to be a middle or back end of Day 2 draft choice. (The way things stand now, at least)

**Also, selfless plug here. Please head over to the MCB Draft tab on the site after reading and check out the rest of the draft content, or head over to the MCB Draft Board, which is essentially a working document with everything Detroit Tigers fans need to know about the draft.**

Detroit Tigers need to consider former EMU pitcher Zach Fruit.

The Detroit Tigers have to consider grabbing Zach Fruit late in the draft. He's since transferred to Troy, where he has been working as a part of their pitching staff with impressive stuff. Similar to Beard, he's got bat-missing stuff, which is the attractive part of his profile.

A former Lansing JuCo product turned Eastern Michigan arm, who has landed in Troy. He's a graduate student eligibility-wise, but who's to say the Tigers cannot grab him late on day three and fall in love with projectable stuff?

Fruit is a 6-foot-4, 203-pound right-handed pitcher with arm talent to work the upper-90s, getting up to 99 mph on his fastball from a high over-the-top arm slot. The breaking ball has improved, showing sweeper qualities and becoming a pitch that will miss barrels.

The fastball and breaking ball are the two big pieces of the puzzle here, both being plus offerings at the pro level. The arsenal spans four pitches with a high-70s breaking ball and changeup in the low- to mid-80s as well, but the selling point is the fastball & slider.

The most significant part of what makes Fruit so valuable is the projection as a bat-missing reliever at the next level. Fruit's fastball has a ton of ride, and out of that high slot he works from, it can be a real problem for the opposing hitters. He can make for a tough at-bat.

The stats are not jumping off the paper, with a 6.59 ERA over 11 appearances (six starts), but the punchout numbers are high, with 60 of them over 41 innings of work. The control could be refined, but in shorter stints as a reliever, I like his odds to be beneficial at the next level.

Given Fruit's age and projection as a reliever with good stuff, the Tigers could look to grab him near the backend of the draft and save some money. It would allow some slot money to be allotted elsewhere or enable them to find some value in their draft class, selecting Fruit late on day three.

Again, he's not some groundbreaking future prospect or the next great Tigers ace, but he's a day-three talent who has a shot to play well in a big-league bullpen.

Detroit Tigers may try to woo Aidan Knaak away from Clemson.

The Detroit Tigers may not be grabbing many prep arms early on, but they should consider Aidan Knaak from the Florida prep scene. Knaak pitches for Bishop Verot HS in Southwestern Florida and has some of the best stuff in the state.

Knaak is committed to playing at the next level as a part of the Clemson Tigers, but the Detroit Tigers should try and swoop in and sign the right-handed prep arm. He may not be the most sign-able arm in the class, but he is someone the Tigers could certainly project on for the future.

Knaak is a 6-foot-1, 190-pound right-hander with a projectable frame that should keep developing at the next level. It's an athletic look with great movement on the mound. He has good control and moves down the mound with a smooth delivery out of the wind-up and the stretch.

He works 90-93 mph on the fastball with good carry to it, being a problem for the opposition this spring. The pitch plays well at the prep level, though I do think it could get hit as he gets started into pro ball. I'd like to see that velocity climb a little bit, which I believe is in the tank, which speaks to the projection on him.

He shows a changeup that works the upper-70s and into the low-80s with a high-spin profile, being a non-traditional look. It's a plus-pitch now that would play at an above-average level in a pro organization right now. Making sure we're crystal clear here, that's not to say he has an MLB-ready changeup that could play on the mound for the Tigers, but it could give affiliate-ball hitters fits.

The pitch has a ton of depth to it; he can let it rip, and it's a problem for the opposing teams. He has a feel for more of an over-the-top 12-6 or 11-5 shaped breaking ball that has hammer depth/shape to it, working the low-70s. He'll also show it with a more lateral shape in the upper-70s, more of a slider shape to it.

Here's another look at Knaak, this time in an overlay from another one of his starts from this spring that I got to see. Another dominant outing at the prep level, two overlays showing the FB/CH tunnel and the FB/BB tunnel.

The selling point here is the changeup and the pitchability. He mixes pitches, attacks hitters right out of the gate, and commands the zone. He's not going to give up hard contact. Sure, he'll give up a knock here and there, but he's only given up a couple of truly hard-hit balls the entire spring over several outings I've seen him.

In one of his outings, he punched out 15 over a complete-game seven-inning outing. Allowed only three baserunners, with only one ball in play in the air. It's a really intriguing profile to consider, and while he's also someone who could very well end up on campus looking to show growth, there's a lot to like & project on here.

Knaak is someone the Tigers should consider. It's worth considering if the signability is not too big of a concern. Time will tell, but he's someone Tigers fans should know about.

Detroit Tigers should have Hudson Leach on their draft board.

The Detroit Tigers should dip into the Mid-American Conference and consider taking a standout right-handed arm with truly impressive stuff. Hudson Leach has been pitching for the Miami RedHawks in 2023 after transferring in from Creighton.

He's battled some injury troubles, only pitching 22.2 innings pitched over two seasons with Creighton. But, now that he's with Miami and seemingly shaken off the injury bug, he's up to 28.1 innings pitched on the year with a 3.81 ERA, a 1.17 WHIP, and an outlandish 46 punchouts.

Leach has unreal stuff that should make scouts drool with his ability to break off two different 3,000+ RPM breaking balls. The curveball even flirts around the 3,100 mark, working the upper-70s/low-80s with a disgusting 12-6 hammer shape.

Paired with the slider that works more in the mid-80s with a tighter shape. It's a tight-spin lateral pitch that can tunnel well as a deviation from the fastball and his curveball. The middle ground between his primary fastball and his go-to curveball allows him to pitch efficiently and set up hitters for an uncomfortable at-bat.

Speaking of the fastball, he's your prototypical 90-93 mph right-hander, though he's reached back for as much as 96 mph this spring. It's a loose, long, and whippy arm slot that creates some angle on the heater. The fastball looks like it has some high-IVB numbers, which helps it play up in the zone.

He truly has a fully defined pitch mix. He can get you with the two breaking balls or bring out a changeup with a ton of depth to it that misses bats. He's not afraid to throw the pitch against right-handers either, which makes it a truly deadly four-pitch mix.

Leach is your typical bigger and physical frame right-hander. He's that low-90s arm mph mid-major arm that teams roll out; while he's working out of the bullpen for the RedHawks, he's been great in extended relief, which begs me to think there's a chance he could start, though the relief profile is safe.

The difference between Leach and the other mid-major righties working the low-90s is his offspeed stuff. The profiles of his offspeed pitches are hard not to fall in love with. As was mentioned, the injury history there had been a problem in the past, but he's been healthy and on the mound for the RedHawks in 2023.

Plus, we are talking about the Tigers team that has been no stranger to pitcher injuries. Not that they should go out there actively looking for players with sketchy medical profiles. But if the Tigers can get Leach and save some slot money, there's a ton to fall in love in with his pitch mix at the next level.