The inability of the Tigers to develop solid players is not a new conversation. It’s one that fans have been discussing for quite a few years now while local beat writers have been trying to deflect from this visible shortcoming by regularly gushing over each and every prospect like they were the second coming of Mike Trout.
Our prayers were finally answered this year with the brooming of the Player Development department and replaced by guys from the best PDs in MLB.
But the Tigers still aren’t done. There are other areas of the organization that have been ignored far too long. And it has become readily apparent with this week’s international signings.
If you look at their record of scouting and signing these players, it’s truly abysmal. So much so that a handful of national writers have made it their focus in their stories.
It is a record going back 10 years that consistently shows the failure to develop these signings while missing out on a solid number of spectacular prospects. It’s been pointed out that the Tigers have notoriously been completely incapable of selecting promising pitchers.
They point to the Tigers’ strategy of spreading out their available money. Using it on multiple prospects, instead of pooling more of it on 1 or 2 players. What it ended up getting them were second-tier players who, more often than not, disappointed. As a result, they have not had the success of a breakout player that many of the other teams have had.
In the last decade, they have only had 1 player become successful. And it took this player a full decade of development before making it.
How this record was allowed to exist for a full decade remains a mystery. And it happened on 2 owners and 2 GMs tenures.
How bad was it? Let’s review the gory details. But first, you may need to position a bucket nearby….
2020
Signed: Roberto Campos (currently having significant swing and miss issues in his rookie year)
2018-2019
Signed: Jose De La Cruz (struggling in Lakeland) and Adinso Reyes
Missed: Victor Victor Mesa, Marco Luciano (ranked top 20), Diego Cartava
2017-2018
Signed: Alvaro Gonzalez and Carlos Irigoven
Missed: Wander Franco, Luis Garcia (both had their MLB debuts in 2021)
2016-2017
Signed: Wenceel Perez (still at West Michigan)
2015-2016
Signed: Gresuan Silverio (not promising) and Juan Ramirez (the PTBNL in the Justin Verlander trade)
Missed: Vladimir Guerrero Jr. Juan Soto, Fernando Tatis, Jr.
2014-2015
Signed: Julio Martinez (released after A), Wladimir Pinto (now minor league free agent)
Missed: Ronald Acuna, Jr., Dermis Garcia, Adrian Rondon, Gilbert Lara, Emmanuel Clase
Footnote: Franklin Perez signed with Houston, then become part of the JV trade
2013-2014
Signed: Elys Escobar, Hector Martinez
Missed: Eloy Jimenez, Gleyber Torres, Rafael Devers, Victor Robles, Ozzie Albies
Footnote: Willi Castro signed with the Indians
2012-2013
Signed: Willy Adames, Domingo Leyba (both traded away), Gregory Soto
Missed: Tzu-Wei Lin, Amed Rosario, Jose Castillo, Juan Carlos Paniagua
Footnote: Sergio Alcantara signed with the D’backs, came to Detroit in the J. D. Martinez trade, then DFA’d.
2011-2012
Signed: Adelyn Santa (paid but released because he couldn’t get a visa), Sandy Baez, Eduardo Jimenez, Anthony Castro
Missed: Ronald Guzman, Luis Severino, Nomar Mazara
At least you have to hand it to the Tigers for their uniform performance: constant misses, failure to see top talent and a reluctance to spend on top talent. Above-average number of releases and an astonishing number of years lingering in the minors.
As a result, the Tigers have just replaced the Director of Latin American Player Development. They recently hired Euclides Rojas.
But no, he’s not from the Dodgers brain trust. His background? His experience is with the Marlins and 2 terms with the Pirates.
I know, shocker, right? Who else do we know with ties to both teams? There are 2 of them.
And one of them used to be the Director of Latin American Player Development for the Marlins.
It’s hard to say just how much input Rojas had in this week’s signings since he recently came on board. But the Tigers just signed Javier Osorio and Samuel Gil, both top 20 prospects.
Let’s see if they develop.
But it’s clear that Detroit still has a way to go in signing and training viable young prospects. Chris Ilitch has stated that he wants the Tigers to develop a pipeline system that consistently provides talent to the major league team. Those players currently in the system are far from sure bets to be able to contribute given the track record. Hope now resides with this year’s newest prospects.
But the real concern is that it will be at least 4 years before we know if this new Latin American player development system is an improvement.
Can that pipeline of prospects wait that long?
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I would be curious to know where all these misses ranked in their rankings for their prospective years? As to the winners that were missed, some teams such as the Ray’s seem adapt at drafting MLB as well as Latin players. Also curious as to what effect the Tig’s Academies affected choices and were all Hollie’s winners available for the Tigers if they had put more $$ together.
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very true. It’s easy in hindsight to say they really screwed up by not signing some of these players (of course 29 other teams did the same). Vlad is a great example. He signed for $3.9M when he was 16. The Tigers only had $2M available that year.
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“Local beat writers have been trying to deflect from this visible shortcoming by regularly gushing over each and every prospect.” I think of the regular lists the dailies put out of the team’s top 50 prospects or whatever. Year in and out each guy in the list is the next Lolich, Trammel or Horton.
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“Chris Ilitch has stated that he wants the Tigers to develop a pipeline system that consistently provides talent to the major league team.” Chris is wasting his breath and his money if the front end of that pipeline is loaded with bad draft choices, domestic or international. Where were all of the “special assistants”, while that record of incompetence was accumulating? Throwing darts at a dart board would have produced better results.
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Probably Al Avila’s Papa was channeling all the good ones to LA and left the scraps for his son, lol.. Also any winners were quickly bundled up by trader Dave and sent packing. In fairness to CI, he inherited these decades of ineptness. Let’s hope Rojas can turn things around with Orzio moving forward.
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Please check Dombrowski’s year-by-year record with the Tigers. He did not lose hardly any prospects and was judged as one of the best GMs in the MLB with a history of positive trades. Every team he was with became more competitive.
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For years I’ve been hearing how Al is “the man” at finding, signing, and communicating with talented young Latin American ballplayers. What gives? Was that Miguel Cabrera thing a lucky one-timer?
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The one common denominator in this mess is Al Avila.He supposedly had all these connections and knowledge of the Latin America talent. He has proven as unproductive and clueless as his Dave Littlefield etc group he counted on.
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I appreciate Holly’s detailed list of prospects-missed for the past few years because I’ve never been sure what people have been saying here about the Tigers’ poor development of minor league talent. Now, I understand this topic a lot better, although I don’t see that many solid MLB-ers among the list of prospects missed. And as someone has observed today, 29 other teams also missed signing the ones that the Tigers missed. Nevertheless, good job, Holly.
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