New Tigers president of baseball operations Scott Harris has wasted little time making changes to the organization’s front office, firing amateur scouting director Scott Pleis according to Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free Press.
Pleis has been with the Tigers for the past 15 years, after being hired following scouting roles with the Chicago Cubs and New York Yankees. Detroit initially hired Pleis as a national scout in 2007, but promoted him to amateur scouting director in 2010, leaving him in charge of their entire amateur scouting department and handing him significant influence in their drafting strategy. The Tigers were a dominant force during that period, winning four straight AL Central titles between 2011-14 and going to the World Series in 2012, and Pleis was tasked with developing a farm system capable of taking the Tigers back to contention after that core’s decline. That has undoubtedly been a sticking point, however, as Detroit has managed just one winning season since 2015 and finished a disappointing 66-96 in 2022.
Despite regularly picking at the top of the draft, Baseball America currently ranks the Tigers farm system as the 27th best in baseball, while ESPN pegs them at 24th. In their defense, they were a lot higher prior to the season, and part of their drop is due to the graduation of top-five prospects Spencer Torkelson and Riley Greene to the Major League club. However, there’s no question the Tigers rebuild has taken longer than expected and while it’s unfair to blame that entirely on Pleis, the organization does need to do a better job of drafting and developing talent. As Baseball America noted in their farm system rankings, “the system as a whole has consistently struggled to produce hitters who become MLB regulars.”
The move could be the first of many for Harris, who took over from former GM Al Avila in September. He’s spent the first three weeks evaluating the organization, and only took control of their day-to-day operations this week, and clearly decided changes to the scouting department were needed in order to get the Tigers back to contention.