Tigers' third-round pick celebrates MLB Draft with big league-quality hype video

Michael Massey's draft announcement video goes almost as hard as his fastball does.

Seriously, watch this 6'5" hurler out of Wake Forest throw a montage of swinging strikeouts set to the high-energy beat of BAND4BAND by Central Cee and Lil Baby, and we dare you not to get fired up.

The Detroit Tigers selected Massey in the fourth round of the 2024 MLB Draft, part of a pair of college arms they picked up on day two. The 21-year-old struggled with a nagging injury during his junior season, allowing him to slip down the draft order for the Tigers to snag him at No. 114 overall, but don't sleep on this pick. His fastball velocity may not turn heads, sitting around 93-94 mph, but its deceptive delivery and vertical break are deadly.

Known for his late-inning heroics during his sophomore season, Massey was widely viewed as one of the most promising relief prospects in this year's draft class entering the 2024 campaign. After an electric 2023 season in which he racked up 16.6 strikeouts per nine innings in 27 relief appearances, Massey was moved from the bullpen to the starting rotation for his junior year, and the results were ... less than favorable. In 10 starts, he registered 51 strikeouts over 34 innings but saw his ERA balloon up to a career-worst 4.76.

Tigers fourth-round pick Michael Massey is 'a flat-out gamer'

After the Demon Deacons were eliminated in the regional round of the 2024 NCAA Tournament, Massey revealed that he had been struggling with a back injury since before the season started. He had been named a Preseason Second Team All-American by D1 Baseball on a Wake Forest team entering the season as the favorite to return to Omaha and possibly capture a College World Series title, so he chose to pitch through the pain. The Demon Deacons fell short of their goal, but Massey was able to finally have surgery to correct the issue and the Tigers will hope that he looks like his old self again.

Wake Forest head coach Tom Walter called Massey "a flat-out gamer" and has no doubt that his impact will be felt immediately within the Tigers organization.

"The baseball world has yet to see what a healthy Michael Massey can do," Walter said. "Congratulations Tiger fans, you are about to get a front row ticket!"

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