Tigers are at crossroads after being overwhelmed with praise in recent prospect rankings

If it wasn't obvious to non-Tigers fans that the Tigers are a prospect-heavy team, it was put on display during the postseason, when a prominent narrative throughout their October run was how young they were and how little postseason experience they had. The Tigers were the youngest team in baseball in 2024, and the only player with any postseason experience at all was Matt Vierling, who got 13 postseason at-bats with the Phillies in 2022.

With Kenta Maeda and Javy Báez off both of the rosters, the Tigers sort of looked like babies out there, which is part of what made it so thrilling that they were the ones to topple the Astros in the Wild Card, kicking Houston out before the ALCS for the first time since their run of dominance began in 2017.

Almost the entirety of the Tigers' position players on the Wild Card and ALDS rosters were homegrown, with Riley Greene, Kerry Carpenter, and Parker Meadows headlining. Big things are expected out of all three in 2025, and the Tigers have made their stance on keeping their guys in Detroit and developing them there clear.

However, the Tigers also have a flood of more young players in the minors. MLB Pipeline ranked six of them — Jackson Jobe (No. 5), Max Clark (No. 6), Kevin McGonigle (No. 26), Bryce Rainer (No. 53), Thayron Liranzo (No. 82), and Josue Briceño (No. 95) — in their top 100 list for 2025. But with the majority of Detroit's current offense under team control for the forseeable future, how are they going to accommodate these guys?

Six Tigers prospects ranked in MLB Pipeline's top 100, but how will Detroit fit them?

The Tigers have made it obvious this offseason that they weren't going to buy talent that would supplant their homegrown players. They did make one exception by signing Gleyber Torres, which will bump Colt Keith to first base and leave Spencer Torkelson without an everyday spot, but that one was understandable; Torkelson had a thoroughly underwhelming 2024, and it seems like his remaining chances are few. Other than that, the Tigers have stuck to their guns. They haven't traded any top prospects, and they've only spent a little over $30 million in free agency.

Jobe will be at spring training and is likely to make the Opening Day roster as part of the rotation, but Clark, McGonigle, Rainer, Liranzo, and Briceño's futures are far less clear, even if they're still a few years away from the majors. If the Tigers stay wedded to the guys they already have, many of this year's top prospects might eventually get bottlenecked in Triple-A.

If you take this approach to its logical conclusion, the Tigers would probably trade their position players when they're on the verge of free agency or let them walk altogether, which would allow the younger prospects to come up and reset the cycle. That means the Tigers will take more gambles and continue not to spend money on the free agent market.

The Tigers might actually like this approach, if their allergy to spending is anything to go by. But trading or letting go of players fans get attached to isn't exactly a great way to curry favor with the fanbase.