Tigers' record-setting minor league team could help determine Tarik Skubal's future

Every single one of the Tigers' minor league affiliates from Single- to Triple-A have put up winning records this season, but none are doing it as well as the High-A West Michigan Whitecaps. They finished out their first half with a 44-21 (.677) record and are 48-18 (.727) in the second half for an overall 92-39 (.702) mark, the best by any minor league team since the High-A Modesto Nuts in 1994, when they posted a .706 winning percentage.

All of the Tigers' top three prospects — Kevin McGonigle, Max Clark, and Josue Briceño — started their seasons in High-A before being jointly promoted to Double-A on July 7. That leaves just two top prospects, No. 21 Izaac Pacheco and No. 25 Lucas Elissalt, in West Michigan, but they managed to not just maintain their dominance but get better after the Big Three left.

Again, though, the Whitecaps aren't the only ones. The Triple-A Toledo Mud Hens have the best second-half record in the International League West, the Double-A Erie SeaWolves have the second-best record in the Eastern League, and the Single-A Lakeland Flying Tigers have the best record in Florida State League West.

It's a banner year for the entire Tigers organization, but it may also bode well for the biggest question mark of the Tigers' 2026 season — whether or not they'll be able to keep Tarik Skubal.

Tigers' minor league dominance could help them extend or re-sign Tarik Skubal

Guys like McGonigle, Clark, and Briceño could be competing for Opening Day spots in spring training this season, and they're far from the only ones. Top prospects Max Anderson, Hao-Yu Lee, and Jaden Hamm will be names to watch in February and March. If they're well on their ways and most of the Tigers' major leaguers are still years away from free agency, Detroit could be a winning, almost entirely homegrown organization for years to come. That in itself could be some incentive for Skubal to stay.

Paying almost all of your players league minimum sure does leave a lot of room in the payroll to re-sign your fans' most beloved player to stay on the team for the rest of his career. The $400 million that Skubal is projected to make in free agency is a lot to ask of any team, including and especially the mid-market Tigers, but they already have only the 14th-highest payroll in baseball.

The word on the street seems to be, devastatingly, that Skubal will test free agency and let the Dodgers, Mets, Yankees, and Phillies court him. But the Tigers still have a chance to keep him and ensure that they're developing talent around him.