The Athletic's latest mock draft has Tigers making 'opportunistic' college pitcher pick

Last year, the Tigers made the head-scratching decision to take high school shortstop Jordan Yost with their first-round draft pick. Yost was on top 100 lists but didn't look like a first-rounder, and the prevailing thinking was that they might select a college pitcher with a shorter route to the majors.

Scott Harris and the Tigers front office don't always go the unorthodox route. In 2024, Bryce Rainer fell into their lap after the first 10 picks didn't go as evaluators had mapped out. Max Clark was similarly highly-touted in 2023.

But the Tigers under Harris do tend to shy away from college players and prefer to take their time with development. They haven't taken one in the first round since Spencer Torkelson in 2020, and that's when Al Avila was still running the show. They haven't taken a college pitcher since Casey Mize in 2018.

The Athletic's latest mock draft has the Tigers breaking that streak and taking Coastal Carolina University's Cameron Flukey, a right-handed pitcher, with the 22nd overall pick. Prospect guru Keith Law dubbed it an "opportunistic pick," given that Flukey's stock was way up before he suffered a stress reaction in his rib cage that kept him out for two months.

Tigers could break college draft pick drought by selecting righty pitcher Cameron Flukey

Flukey was a ranked draft prospect coming out of high school (No. 149 in 2023, per MLB Pipeline), but he went undrafted and committed to Coastal Carolina instead. They made it to the College World Series in 2025 with Flukey as a member of the starting rotation but ultimately fell to 2025 third overall pick Kade Anderson's LSU.

He's posted a 4.08 career ERA through three college seasons, but was limited to just 24 innings so far in 2026 before and after injury.

MLB Pipeline has him as their No. 15 draft prospect this year, but you never know how teams are actually going to choose on the day of the draft — the Tigers are the perfect example of that. For all we know, their sights very well might be set on yet another high school infielder.

Still, Flukey wouldn't be a bad pick by any means, provided the Tigers are able to deal with the uncertainty after his injury. Having another arm who might be able to debut as early as the second half of 2027 could make up a bit for the potential losses of all of Tarik Skubal, Casey Mize, Jack Flaherty, and Justin Verlander in a hurry.

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