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By this time of year, we’re often a bit exhausted with prospect lists and rankings. Baseball America, Keith Law, Baseball Prospectus, MLB Pipeline, and our own re-ranking of the Detroit Tigers farm system are already a month or more in the books. But FanGraphs does a particularly detailed job for the most part, and often Eric Longenhagen and his staff have some contrary takes that are worth considering.
On Friday, they dropped a new set of rankings and reports for the top 47 prospects in the Tigers system. Longenhagen labels the system one of the best in baseball and very hitter heavy. That last bit has rarely been remotely the case for this system, even over the past decade of renewed emphasis on young, cost-controlled talent.
There are no real surprises at the top, as you’d expect. Basically the whole industry thinks Kevin McGonigle is the best pure hitter in the minor leagues, and one of the best in years. He and center fielder Max Clark draw 60 FV grades, while shortstop prospect Bryce Rainer gets a 55 FV grade, and the catcher-first base combination of Josue Briceño and Thayron Liranzo both get 50 FV grades. All five were on FanGraphs earlier release of their national top 110 prospects rankings.
We won’t both with much of a rundown of their reports. You can find the whole article available here for free and it is a comprehensive look at the system, with more emphasis on some of the teenaged international free agents than we’re able to produce. On the top five ranked prospects, we’ll just note that it’s good to see at least one national site didn’t completely panic over Thayron Liranzo’s tough 2025 season. The fact that Liranzo shook off the injuries and personal losses that marked his first tour with the Double-A Erie SeaWolves and got in outstanding condition over the offseason bodes well for a better 2026.
Where things get interesting is that FanGraphs only has the Tigers with two 45 FV caliber players in teenaged outfielder Cris Rodriguez and 2025 first round teenaged shortstop Jordan Yost. We agree on both, and suspect that like Kevin McGonigle, there’s a bit of underestimation going on in regard to Yost’s power potential. Everyone agrees he’s a very advanced defensive shortstop with good plate discipline and outstanding contact ability for his age. The question is offensive impact, and it will take a few years, perhaps, to see how that plays out.
Still, that’s only two 45 FV players. Most other sites have included some of Hao-Yu Lee, Max Anderson, Andrew Sears, and even teenaged pitcher Kelvis Salcedo and shortstop Franyerber Montilla in that 45 FV tier. We also have lefty Jake Miller up in that group, unlike basically anyone else. If he doesn’t turn into a good bullpen arm or backend starter over the next two years, you can roast Brandon for that one, but we’re pretty convinced he’s got the goods and just needs to get beyond the hip issues that plagued him last season and for which he had surgery in the offseason.
Notable on the rankings is the number of international free agents who haven’t yet come stateside (shoutout to Alysa Liu). We don’t rank and report on too many of those players unless they’re really known quantities with a lot of data available, because we won’t see them play much until they reach the Florida State League. FanGraphs has more resources, obviously.
Beyond Cris Rodriguez, the Tigers top IFA prospect, and right-hander Kelvis Salcedo, who impressed with advanced stuff and good strike throwing in Lakeland last year, FanGraphs has numerous other IFA prospects and reports that are interesting.
We loved the signing of center fielder Randy Santana in their 2026 signing class last month. His huge speed and power toolkit is exciting, and FanGraphs has him 14th in the system, right after 19-year-old shortstop prospect Angel De Los Santos. They both get 40+ FV grades, as do catcher Manuel Bolivar and shortstop Oscar Tineo, both top names from the 2026 class along with Santana. Those are all key names to watch for the longer term future of the Tigers’ system.
The Tigers IFA signing class last month is the most highly and widely regarded we’ve ever seen for the organization. They’re all years away, but hopefully that’s a good sign that Scott Harris and Jeff Greenberg’s adjustments to the Tigers international department will pay dividends in the years ahead.
Starting pitcher Jhonan Coba, still 19 and due to pitch in Single-A this summer, presumably, is another name worth watching from recent IFA classes, as are teenage shortstop Luis Aguilera, and center fielders Josueth Quinonez and Andy Mata. All get just 35+ grades at this point, but they’re just getting started.
As noted, the long-term question in the system is whether they’re going to develop enough pitching. Adding McGonigle, Clark, Briceño, and hopefully Bryce Rainer and Thayron Liranzo in the years ahead should give the Tigers a really strong positional group to work with for a long time. They have a lot of very young talent already that could form the next wave. What they need is some of their litany of talented but banged up arms drafted over the last three years to get beyond the injuries and start developing as hoped.
Right now, we have Miller, Salcedo, Andrew Sears, and right-handers Lucas Elissalt and Jaden Hamm as the best of the bunch. Obviously Hamm’s stock has taken a real hit over the past two seasons as he was scraping the end of top 100 lists not too long ago. Elissalt was the low key breakout pitching prospect of 2025, and needs only to get stronger and refine his command a little more to leap toward the top of the Tigers’ system.
The Tigers appear pretty well stocked with bats for the long haul. Hopefully the pitchers take a turn for the better. Only time will tell on that front.