The 2024 season was one of the wildest in Detroit Tigers history. They were now famously left for dead on August 11 with a 0.2 percent chance at the postseason. Yet the team rallied from eight games under the .500 mark and stormed down the stretch to snatch a wild card berth. Suddenly they were in the postseason and quickly dispatched of the Houston Astros in Houston in the Wild Card round. Ultimately, they took the Guardians to a heart-wrenching five game set in the ALDS that ended in defeat. A young, talented, well coached team, overcame a ton of adversity to give Tigers fans their first postseason run since 2014. On Wednesday, they return to Lakeland looking for more.
One of the great things about having a young team is the consistency and the opportunity for a younger breed of fans to grow along with the players themselves. The Tigers will return the whole postseason roster, most of whom have several years of team control remaining before free agency. There will be a few new faces added to the mix, and that cast of short-term free agents will rotate yearly, but the team is set up to be pretty self sustaining for the long haul. They have a fairly young core group and they also have one of the top farm systems in the game.
Leading the way is manager A.J. Hinch and his coaching staff, which remains intact after their 2024 run. For his first three seasons, Hinch was helping with the personnel hunt and building processes throughout the organization to improve their ability to support and develop their players. Landing ace pitching coach Chris Fetter was his first big win not long after becoming the Tigers manager during the 2020-2021 offseason. From that point he’s continued to build a highly regarded coaching staff from bench coach George Lombard on down, while helping to land talent in decision-making roles throughout the organization. Now he’s finally got a roster he has at least a serious chance to win with, and the organizational support to get the most out of them.
Nowhere was that more evident that on the pitching side last season. With Reese Olson and Casey Mize injured, and then Jack Flaherty traded away in late July, Hinch and Fetter pieced things together with astonishing creativity and success. A mix of openers, rookie starters pitching bulk innings, and a deep versatile bullpen had opposing teams off balance and facing bad matchup options for months. With only Tarik Skubal and rookie Keider Montero pitching as regular starters, the Tigers put up the lowest team ERA in baseball in the second half of the season.
The offense still needs growth from their younger hitters, but the ability to pitch their way into the postseason and grind out close games was one of the more masterful coaching jobs we’ve ever seen from a Tigers’ manager. They had defensive strengths in the outfield and behind the plate to lean on as well. The Tigers are generally run the bases well, giving them a dynamism and multiple ways to attack that were so often lacking during the station-to-station slugging years of the late 00’s and early 2010’s. Those are multipliers if this offense can just get on base more consistently.
The pitching staff, the organizational depth, and Hinch and his staff’s ability to manage misfortune and continuing developing their players all the way through the season might carry them the rest of the way.
New Faces
The Tigers, along with the Boston Red Sox and Toronto Blue Jays, and possibly still the Houston Astros themselves, are still reportedly all in pursuit of long-time Astros star third baseman, Alex Bregman. We don’t know how that will turn out, as super agent Scott Boras plays chicken with Bregman’s suitors in search of the best deal possible. My guess would be that Bregman doesn’t want to show up weeks late to camp with a new team he’ll be expected to help lead, so hopefully this is resolved soon, however it goes for the Tigers.
The Tigers haven’t made a trade this offseason, despite Scott Harris repeatedly posing the possibility that they were ready to deal from their farm system depth. Maybe something like that becomes more likely if Bregman decides to sign elsewhere. Instead they’ve signed four free agents to date, with only one going beyond a one-year term.
The biggest signing of the offseason was the most recent one, as the Tiger brought back starting pitcher Jack Flaherty on a two-year deal. Year one will cost the team $25 million, while 2026 is a player option that will pay the 29-year-old right-hander either $10 million, or $20 million if he’s able to make 15 starts in 2025. That price was a bargain too good to pass up, especially as Flaherty sung the Tigers’ praises and expressed a lot of love for his coaches and teammates despite going on to win a ring with the Los Angeles Dodgers after getting traded away at the deadline.
Flaherty did have some minor back trouble last year, and ran out of gas late in the season. However, he also posted the biggest workload he’s handled since 2019, so perhaps it’s not so surprising it took it’s toll. The Tigers seemed to have the magic touch with his mechanics and pitch mix last year. If they can get him rolling again, the Tigers are going to have a heck of a 1-2-3 punch with Skubal, Flaherty, and Reese Olson leading the way in the starting rotation.
The other addition to the rotation was veteran right-hander Alex Cobb. The 37-year-old inked a one-year pact worth $15 million with the Tigers back in December. While he’s often sidelined with minor injuries and didn’t pitch much last season, he continues to be effective when he’s on the mound. The Tigers don’t really need consistent durability from him, as they have a reasonably deep stockpile of young pitchers they’d like to get into the rotation for seasoning this season. Cobb is a quality depth signing in that regard, but unlikely to be a major factor in the Tigers’ success or failure this year.
The offense was where most looked for upgrades this offseason, and so far there hasn’t been much to boost a very pedestrian lineup and bench. They did sign veteran second baseman Gleyber Torres to a one-year deal worth $15 million at the end of December. The long-time Yankees infielder is still only 28 years old, but despite his consistent track record as an above average hitter, he didn’t get the kind of offers he was hoping for this offseason. Slotting him in at second base, while moving Colt Keith to first base, upgrades the offense but arguably leaves the right side of the infield weaker defensively. If Keith adapts to first base well, he’ll outperform Spencer Torkelson’s performance last year on both sides of the ball and overall the team will be better at the plate, particularly against left-handed pitching.
Torkelson’s fate this season remains in limbo, though he has an option remaining that will let the Tigers keep working with him and hoping for an overdue and sustainable breakout at the plate. Fellow former first overall pick Casey Mize had a solid enough season in 2024 return from Tommy John surgery and has a pretty sure grip on the roster. Still, he may be up against top pitching prospect Jackson Jobe for the last rotation spot in camp and needs to show some real improvement in either his slider or splitter this year.
Finally, the Tigers added right-handed reliever Tommy Kahnle on a one-year deal worth $7.75 million back in January. The 35-year-old will be the Tigers veteran statesman alongside Kenta Maeda, as the only two players on the roster over 30. Kahhle spent most of the last six seasons in the New York Yankees bullpen, and hasn’t posted an ERA over 3.00 since 2019. He is one of the great changeup artists in the game, throwing the pitch well over 70 percent of the time. That makes him effective against hitters in either batter’s box, and the changeup continues to be a dominant offering that hitters cannot lay off of, and can’t hit for any damage.
Adding Kahnle to a bullpen led by the likes of Tyler Holton, Jason Foley, Will Vest, and Beau Brieske, makes them an even deeper and more versatile unit. The Tigers also have plenty of pitching talent in reserve to support the pen this year. They also picked up their usual assortment of minor league pitchers this offseason. Their recent track record of polishing up a pitcher on waivers or as a veteran minor league free agent makes that group worth keeping an eye on this spring.
Position Players
The Tigers offense will again be led by Riley Greene and Kerry Carpenter. Greene was one of the top all around outfielders in the game last season, earning his first trip to the All-Star game. Carpenter dealt with a lumbar spine stress fracture last season that again limited his output, but when he was healthy, Carpenter was an absolute terror. He also showed some signs of improved defense in his limited reps in right field.
If he can stay healthy this season, he may see less days in the DH slot and may finally get regular reps against left-handed pitching, but Hinch still loves having a terrifying pinch hit option to use in crucial late game situations. There were none more crucial than Carpenter’s stunning, game-winning three-run shot off ace Guardians closer Emmanuel Clase in Game 2 of the ALDS last October. That was the biggest home run by a Tiger since Magglio Ordonez sent the Tigers to the World Series back in 2006.
In fact, let’s just watch that one more time, shall we?
With the addition of Gleyber Torres, and Keith’s performance in his rookie season, the Tigers appear to have at least four above average to really good hitters in this lineup who will play just about everyday. Matt Vierling had a fine year at the plate and could see more playing time if third base is just up for grabs. Hopes for improvements to the offense largely center on Keith getting to more of his plus raw power in his second year, and whether Parker Meadows has really figured things out after a strong second half last summer.
The Tigers are still pretty shaky at shortstop, with Javier Báez a complete question mark after finally giving in to a hip labrum repair last summer. Trey Sweeney played good defense and provides some power presence, but he also needs to cut down the chase and the strikeouts to be effective this season. The Tigers don’t really have anyone in the upper minors who is likely to help much this season. Zach McKinstry may have a better grip on a bench role than Andy Ibáñez simply because he can handle shortstop and gives the Tigers some legitimate depth at the position.
Third base currently looks like a mix of Vierling and rookie Jace Jung. Jung struggled there defensively after moving off of second base, his natural position, and struggled to drive the baseball in his first look at major league pitching. I’m doubtful his defense is going to improve too much at the position, but he battled a wrist injury for most of last summer that required surgery after the season. If that was the main reason the power he showed as a minor league prospect disappeared, the Tigers could be pleasantly surprised by his offensive contributions this year.
Finally, the Tigers are in solid shape at catcher with Jake Rogers as one of the best in the game, and Dillon Dingler average or better in all areas and bound to keep improving. They probably won’t get too much offense out of the catcher position, but both guys have power and enough discipline to get to some of it.
The Tigers will need to focus on finding a quality third catcher this spring to have in a reserve role with the Triple-A Toledo Mud Hens. Eliezer Alfonso, Tomás Nido, and Brian Serven are all non-roster invitees to camp, and while bringing all the catchers, including top catching prospect Thayron Liranzo, to camp is just to handle the volume of pitching work going on, the position of third man up on the catching depth chart can prove more important over a long season than it seems in February and March.
Wenceel Pérez, Zach McKinstry, and Andy Ibánez return to camp as the most likely options for bench roles. Other familiar names in camp will be outfielder Akil Baddoo, who is out of options and resigned a minor league deal with the Tigers, shortstop Ryan Kreidler, who has never been able to adapt to major league pitching, and Justyn-Henry Malloy. Malloy remains a fairly talented young right-handed hitter in an organization that could use a little more help in that department. The problem remains his lack of a effective position, but he could see some time in a corner outfield spot for the Tigers at points along the way.
The farm system
As they did in 2024, the Tigers should have a good deal of support from the farm this season. However, the long-term strength of that farm is currently below the Double-A level. The quality of talent reaching Double-A and spread throughout the A-ball levels this season will be outstanding and should provide them with a lot of high end talent over the next few years. Still most of their top prospects aren’t going to be contributing for a little while longer. Beyond adding the top pitching prospect in baseball into the mix for the starting rotation this season, the Tigers do have 2024 rookie contributors Keider Montero, Brant Hurter, and Ty Madden to draw on this season.
Two new prospects who are fairly highly ranked and could contribute by the end of this season are infielder Hao-Yu Lee, who was acquired from the Phillies for Michael Lorenzen in 2023, and right-handed starter Troy Melton, who may offer some support to the rotation or the bullpen after getting some Triple-A experience for the first time this spring. Relievers Wilmer Flores, Tyler Owens, Chase Lee, and Tyler Mattison lead a group of arms that could break into roles in the Tigers bullpen this season.
You can find our complete write-up on the farm system and our 2025 Detroit Tigers prospect rankings right here. Individual reports are still coming out weekly, and are linked to the players names within the list.
Scott Harris has done an outstanding job building his scouting department, and several key trades have really boosted the system into the top echelon of teams. Baseball America currently ranks the farm system second in the game behind the Red Sox. That’s a really good place to be when you’ve already made it back to the postseason with the current roster.
Grapefruit League schedule
The Tigers will have nine games broadcast on FanDuel Sports, formerly Bally Sports Detroit, this spring. That’s three more than they televised last season. 20 broadcasts will be available on the radio side. Soon we’ll have Jason Benetti and Dan Dickerson back in our lives.
You can read up on the roster and the non-roster invitees to spring camp right here.
Finally, here is the complete schedule to set you up for the preseason.
Welcome to Tigers baseball, 2025 edition.