Detroit Tigers leaving Roberto Campos for the taking in Rule 5 Draft

Detroit Tigers leave Roberto Campos exposed in Rule 5 Draft.

The Detroit Tigers are continuing to work through their off-season tasks and knock things off the checklist. One of the things that teams have scrambled to do is get their Rule 5 Draft lists in order. They have tried to find ways to protect some of their prospects and ensure they have all the players they want moving forward.

Roberto Campos is one of the players that the Detroit Tigers had high hopes for in the not-so-distant past. He's an international signee who came to the Tigers in Cuba and was expected to have some really exciting tools in the future. However, Campos has yet to really get much going. He's never made it higher than High-A in the Tigers organization.

The Tigers have some confidence that Campos can survive the Rule 5 Draft this December, being that he was the one ranked prospect the team did not protect by adding him to the roster. But that does not mean he's lost. He could go unselected and find himself back in Detroit's organization if he makes it through the Rule 5 Draft.

Campos was once considered a top-tier prospect for the Tigers, and there was hope he would become a tremendous up-and-coming talent. The jury is not out on him; he can still salvage things, but he's certainly not going to live up to some of the expectations placed on him when he came to the Tigers organization.

In 2023, Campos played 88 games with High-A West Michigan and had 371 plate appearances. He slashed .257/.313/.395 with 22 doubles, five triples, and five home runs, driving in 53 runs. He also had 28 walks to 81 strikeouts with the Whitecaps. The 2023 campaign surely was a step in the right direction, but Campos still has a long way to go.

It might be viewed as a deterrent for other teams in the Rule 5 Draft, especially since Campos would have to jump from High-A to the big leagues and hack it in 2024, staying there for the whole year. Quite the expectations for a player who has taken quite some time to move through the organization after coming to Detroit from Cuba.

The 20-year-old has a long road ahead still, and teams may be scared off by that. This could allow him to stay with the Tigers organization and take a chance on making it to the bigs with the team that signed him originally. Do not bail on Campos yet, but he could very well be with a new organization after the Rule 5 Draft if someone else scoops him up.