I’m fond of calling the Detroit Tigers the worst drafting
team in professional sports. The Tigers in my lifetime can sum up their draft
history as “Justin Verlander and Several Hundred Cade Gaspars”. They’re just
awful at it and it is proven each season when the experts routinely rank the
Tigers as having one of the bottom five minor league systems in professional
baseball. Every friggin’ year.
Over at Bless You Boys, the always great Patrick O’Kennedy
(aka TigerDog to those who remember BYB before SB Nation sold out) has an
interesting piece up about the odds of a draft pick making the majors. And it
seems he’ll be following it up later on how the Tigers relate to it. But I
thought I’d take a look back at some drafts and see how it could have gone for
Detroit with the benefit of hindsight. Just for poops and giggles.
Obviously, no draft will be perfect. And I consider baseball
to be, by far, the hardest sport to project how young players will turn out.
But I find it interesting to see how close the Tigers were to getting some real
talent over the years and only blow it by drafting some clown like Scott Moore
instead.
So here’s a look at the last ten drafts that we should have
reasonably seen some sort of impact on the MLB club (1999-2008) by now. I still think
it’s too soon to completely crap on the 2009-2012 drafts. There’ll be plenty of
time for that later, I’m sure.
Oh, one last thing on the hindsight part of this. No one
could have seen a 13th round selected Albert Pujols or a 62nd
round selected guy like Mike Piazza becoming the superstars they turned out to
be. So I’m focusing the hindsight on guys that were drafted close to where the
top three Tiger draftees were each season. I want this to be a reasonable look
at what could have been.
1999 MLB Draft
Top 3 Detroit Picks
#3 Eric Munson
Well, Munson is our first huge bust. Don’t worry…there will
be many more. That first round pick could have been used on Barry Zito (#9),
Ben Sheets (#10), or even on down to Carl Crawford (#52).
#87 Neil Jenkins (made it to AA)
Who? Two picks later, the Twins would select Justin Morneau.
I think they made a better choice.
#117 Cody Ross
Cody wasn’t a horrible pick here. The only other decent
choice would have been Angel Pagan, taken at #136.
Overall in 1999, Detroit had 43 draft picks. Only 4 would
make it to the majors (9.3%). They are Munson, Ross, Eric Eckenstahler (Round
32), and Jason Frasor (Round 33).
2000 MLB Draft
Top 3 Detroit Picks
#8 Matt Wheatland (didn’t make it past A-ball)
At #15, the Phillies took Chase Utley. Think of all the “Can
he play second?” nonsense we could have skipped over in recent years.
#48 Chad Petty (didn’t make it past A-ball)
Joel Hanrahan was taken at #57 by the Dodgers. There’s your
closer, kids.
#78 Nook Logan
Nook was drafted as a shortstop, believe it or not. Try not
to weep when you learn Cliff Lee was available and taken #105 by the Expos.
The Tigers had 43 picks in 2000. Only 3 made the majors
(6.98%). They were Logan, Mark Woodyard (Round 4), and Luis Alicea (Round 39).
Worst draft ever.
2001 MLB Draft
Top 3 Detroit Picks
#11 Kenny Baugh (made it to AAA)
Jeremy Bonderman, taken at #26, would have been a better
pick and we could have kept Jeff Weaver around to hate a while longer.
#32 Mike Woods (made it to AA)
David Wright was taken by the Mets at #38. This breaks my
cold, tiny heart.
#55 Preson Larrison (made it to AAA)
With the next pick, JJ Hardy was taken by the Brewers at
#56.
BONUS FUN!!!
This was the draft where Detroit had two first rounders and
two second rounders. None would make the majors because Randy Smith was a
brain-dead moron. With Larrison, the Tigers also selected whatever a Matt
Coenden is in the second round at #65. At #72, the Cardinals took Dan Haren.
Shit, fuck, goddammit.
Detroit had 48 picks in 2001. Five would make the majors
(10.4%), surprisingly. They are Jack Hannahan (Round 3), Mike Rabelo (Round 4),
Ryan Raburn (Round 5), Don Kelly (Round 8), and Humberto Sanchez (Round 31).
2002 MLB Draft
Top 3 Detroit Picks
#8 Scott Moore
Take your pick. Nick Swisher, Cole Hamels, Matt Cain, and
Joey Votto were all RIGHT FUCKING THERE. But,noooooooooooooooo...
#49 Brent Clevlen
We could have Jon Lester, who went to Boston at #57.
#80 Curtis Granderson
Hey, I can’t complain here. Our first really good pick.
(SPOILER: There won’t be many more.)
Since I can’t complain about Grandy, let’s move to the
fourth round where Detroit took a guy that would never advance past A-ball
named Matt Pender at #87. Josh Johnson was there for the taking and went #113
to the Marlins.
Detroit had 45 picks in 2002. 6 would make it to the show (13.3%).
That’s our highest percentage yet. They are Moore, Clevlen, Granderson, Luke
Carlin (Round 10), Joel Zumaya (Round 11), and Jesse Carlson (Round 15).
2003 MLB Draft
Top 3 Detroit Picks
#3 Kyle Sleeth (made it to AA)
Nick Markakis went to the Orioles at #7. If you don’t like
him, the amazing Adam Jones would slip to Seattle at #37.
#40 Jay Sborz
Never trust a guy named Sborz. Especially when Andre Ethier
was there and went at #62 to the Dodgers.
#70 Tony Giarratano
At #80, Shawn Marcum went to the Blue Jays.
The Tigers had 50 picks in 2003. 6 would make it to the
majors (12%). However, none were any good and didn’t last long. They were
Sborz, Giarratano, Virgil Vazquez (Round 7), Brian Rogers (Round 11), Jordan
Tata (Round 16), and Dusty Ryan (Round 48).
2004 MLB Draft
Top 3 Detroit Picks
#2 Justin Verlander
I can live with this one, I guess.
#43 Eric Beattie (didn’t make it past A-ball)
Take your pick of Hunter Pence at #64 or Dustin Pedroia at
#65.
#73 Jeff Frazier
There aren’t a lot of great options here. But Wade Davis
(#75) and Adam Lind (#83) are much better than Frazier ended up becoming.
Again, Detroit had 50 picks in 2004. Only 4 would make it
this time (8%). In addition to JV and Frazier’s cup of coffee, the others were
Brent Dlugach (Round 6) and Luke French (Round 8). Verlander saves yet another
terrible draft by being a can’t miss prospect. Thanks for passing on him, San
Diego.
2005 MLB Draft
Top 3 Detroit Picks
#10 Cameron Maybin
At #11, the Pirates took Andrew McCutchen. So close to
having my favorite non-Tiger in Detroit…
#90 Chris Robinson (made it to AAA)
The speedy Brett Gardner is the closest thing to a good
player here taken at #109.
#120 Kevin Whelan
Meh. Chris Getz (#125) or Gaby Sanchez (#126) aren’t great,
but would turn out to be better choices.
An amazing 10 out of 49 Detroit picks would make the majors
(20.4%). But don’t get too excited. They were Maybin, Whelan, Jeff Larish
(Round 5), Clete Thomas (Round 6), Anthony Claggett (Round 11), Matt Joyce
(Round 12), Casper Wells (Round 14), Michael Hollimon (Round 16), Burke
Badenhop (Round 19), and Will Rhymes (Round 27). As much as I’d like to be
cranky about missing out on McCutchen, this was basically the draft that
allowed the Tigers to acquire Miguel Cabrera. Can’t get too upset over that.
2006 MLB Draft
Top 3 Detroit Picks
#6 Andrew Miller
Sigh. Clayton Kershaw would go next at #7. Tim Lincecum went
at #10. Miller was the final piece of the Cabrera puzzle, so don’t fret too
much over it, I guess.
#50 Ronnie Bourquin (made it to AA)
This bust could have been avoided with Trevor Cahill at #66
or Justin Masterson at #71.
#83 Brennan Boesch
As much as it pains me to admit it, Boesch is the best
player to be taken around this part of the draft. However there would be better
talent later on such as Jeff Samardzija (5th round to Chicago) and
Doug Fister (7th round to Seattle).
Out of 50 picks for the Tigers, 5 would make it to MLB (10%).
They were Miller, Boesch, Scott Sizemore (Round 5), Duane Below (Round 19), and
Casey Fien (Round 20).
2007 MLB Draft
Top 3 Detroit Picks
#27 Rick Porcello
Good pick for that spot.
#60 Brandon Hamilton
Uh oh. Everyone’s dream Tiger, Giancarlo Stanton, would go
at #76 to the Marlins. Damn.
#91 Danny Worth
Not a lot of talent here, but another good fielder named
Darwin Barney was taken at #127 by the Cubs.
Detroit had 45 picks in 2007 and 5 have made the majors
(11.1%). They are Porcello, Worth, Luke Putkonen (Round 3), Charlie Furbush
(Round 4), and Casey Crosby (Round 5).
2008 MLB Draft
Top 3 Detroit Picks
#21 Ryan Perry
Lance Lynn went to the Cards at #39. I’d prefer him to Agent
P.
#67 Cody Satterwhite (made it to AA)
Craig Kimbrel, taken at #96) would look good in the Detroit
bullpen around now.
#99 Scott Green (didn’t advance past A-ball)
At #102, Vance Worley was taken. Oh well.
5 out of 50 have made it to the majors from the 2008 class
(10%). In addition to Perry, the others were Alex Avila (Round 5), Andy Dirks
(Round 8), Robbie Weinhardt (Round 10), and Thad Weber (Round 16).
Overall, by my count 53 out of 473 drafted players from this
time period would make the Major Leagues (11.2%). Most were terrible. Only
Verlander and Granderson can be considered great picks by the Tigers. However,
as I said earlier, many of these guys would be flipped to the Marlins in the
Cabrera deal, so that helps quite a bit.
But overall, I think we can all agree
that the Tigers, though getting slightly better at it, really struggle in the
Draft. I’m sure TigerDog will give a more scientific look at it in his next
piece at BYB.
Guess it’s a good thing we have a filthy rich owner that
doesn’t mind spending cash on free agents nowdays, huh? Otherwise, we’d be the
Detroit Pirates.
Except they were smart enough to take McCutchen.
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