Detroit Tigers top 30 prospects for 2023: No. 17 Andre Lipcius

Andre Lipcius comes in at No. 17 on our 2023 Detroit Tigers top 30 prospects list

Our top 30 Detroit Tigers prospects list continues with our No. 17 prospect, which comes in the form of INF Andre Lipcius. Lipcius, 24, has a chance at making the Tigers roster out of spring training this season.

Lipcius was drafted in the third round of the 2019 draft out of Tennessee, one round ahead of fourth-rounder and our No. 18 prospect, Ryan Kreidler. He was a three-year starter there, where he got better every year. His 2019 season was by far the best. He had 17 homers and a .985 OPS. He had finally begun to show some power.

If there's one thing that was consistent about him during is time at Tennessee, it was his plate discipline. He walked nearly as much as he struck out in all three years in college, and that kind of approach has carried into his professional career.

He's had at least a 10% walk rate in the minors each of the last two years. In 2022 at Double-A, he even walked at a 16.4% clip in 88 games and had five more walks (61) than strikeouts (56), which is something that new president of baseball operations Scott Harris will certainly appreciate.

Last year was really his breakout year, which he needed. Everything really started to click at the plate. He started hitting for a bit more power and started hitting the ball hard. Overall, he had a 127 wRC+ in between Double-A and Triple-A last season. He played 46 games at Triple-A and hit .302, so he's definitely got a chance to make the major league team out of spring training.

Defensively, he's played all over the infield. He's played every position, but he seems best suited for third base, where he's gotten the most time. He's played quite a bit of second base as well. We all know A.J. Hinch loves defensive versatility, so that gives him a bit of an edge.

As I've said several times already, Lipcius should compete for spot on the Tigers roster this spring. He could be a nice infield utility player at the very least. He could even be a dark horse for thr third base job. As we well know, the Tigers didn't sign any one to play the position, so the job is wide open.

Personally, I like Lipcius a lot. I'm pretty high on him. Last year showed that he's got some nice gap-power and the plate discipline is legit. Don't be surprised if he has a big spring and heads north with the team in March.