Welcome back. In our Week Seven edition of the podcast, there is much to discuss as promotion season hits, the Complex League gets underway, and we take listener questions. Rogelio Castillo and Chris Brown of Tigers Minor League Report, and Brandon Day of Bless You Boys, join forces for another weekly recap of the Tigers and their farm system.
We followed our usual format of talking Tigers and then running through the farm system level by level, with a lot of tangents branching off in all directions.
We talked about Matt Manning and what may be his last chance to establish himself in the Tigers system, and his future with the org. Wenceel Perez may be more than a temporary spark, and can Gage Workman and Ryan Kreidler, or Andrew Navigato, or anyone else for that matter, save the Tigers from Javier Báez?
We answer a listener question as to which pitcher other teams would like to acquire most from the Tigers system, Jackson Jobe excluded. As a Keider Montero guy who is extremely impressed with the next wave, from Troy Melton to Jaden Hamm, I had to say that Ty Madden looks to have leveled up this year and looks like the clear second place guy to Jobe right now.
At West Michigan, Luke Gold keeps on mashing while Jaden Hamm establishes himself as another top pitching prospect with the Tigers.
At Lakeland, Josue Briceño, Max Clark, and Kevin McGonigle are cruising, while several young arms have shown glimpses of a bright future. We’ll also chat a bit about LHP Paul Wilson and his early week in extended spring training and the Complex League, where Rayner Castillo has re-emerged as a power right-hander.
We discussed Statcast’s new batspeed and swing length tracking data, how it relates to the actual scouting term and meaning of the word batspeed, and to what use this data can be put.
Congratulations to UT Carlos Mendoza and RHP Andrew Sears for earning Player of the Week awards for their respective leads, with Mendoza promoted to Toledo after a brief spot at Erie.
Thanks as always for listening to the podcast and supporting TMLR’s work covering the farm system with in-person looks. You can donate to the cause on their website.