Tigers’ Triple Crown-winning prospect is on an unbelievable tear at High-A

Then-No. 19 Tigers prospect Josue Briceño made waves during last year's Arizona Fall League, when he hit .433 with a 1.376 OPS to become the AFL's first Triple Crown winner. In 25 games, he had 10 homers and 27 RBI to leave the likes of No. 1 Athletics prospect Nick Kurtz and No. 1 Braves prospect Drake Baldwin in his dust.

It was unsurprising, then, that Briceño rocketed up from No. 19 to No. 6 in the Tigers' pipeline in 2025, just behind fellow AFL standout Thayron Liranzo, and debut in MLB's top 100 at No. 91.

Briceño was promoted to the High-A West Michigan Whitecaps to start this season alongside No. 2 prospect and former first-round draft pick Max Clark. However, Briceño's outshining Clark in a couple of key metrics so far this season — homers, RBI, and slugging percentage.

Briceño's four homers are tied with Brett Callahan (who's also having a very nice start to the season) to lead the Whitecaps and, through April 23, Briceño is on a 14-game hitting streak. And that's out of 15 games. The only game Briceño wasn't been able to get a hit down was in his High-A debut.

Tigers' No. 9 prospect Josue Briceño is on a 14-game hitting streak in High-A

Briceño was an international free agent signing for the Tigers in 2022 out of Venezuela. He got off to a hot start in the Florida Complex League in 2023, batting .325 with a .954 OPS and was promptly promoted to Single-A that season. He missed three months of 2024 with a knee sprain but was able to make up at-bats in the AFL, where he proved that the Tigers didn't really need to be worried about how he was going to bounce back from a tough injury so early in his career.

His hit and power are rated at 55 and 60 out of 70 by MLB Pipeline, but his defense at first base and behind the plate do seem to need a little work. Writing him off now as a future full-time DH feels a little premature, given that he's still just 20 years old, but if the amount of power he's already been able to show off sticks as he gets to Double- and Triple-A, then the Tigers might be willing to sacrifice defense for the offensive output.

The Tigers have the best farm system in baseball this year according to MLB Pipeline, and despite all of the first-round draft picks at the very top of the list, guys like Briceño are proving that Detroit knows how to scout talent across the board.