The Super Bowl is over and baseball season is almost here. On Wednesday, pitchers and catchers will report to Lakeland, and spring camp for the 2025 Detroit Tigers season will get underway. On Monday afternoon, the Tigers announced their Spring Training roster, including 18 non-roster invites. There will be plenty of interesting players to watch beyond the likely active roster for Opening Day.
The most notable prospect involved will be catcher Thayron Liranzo, our fourth ranked player in the Tigers’ farm system and one of the top hitting catching prospects in the game. Liranzo is coming off an outstanding run with High-A West Michigan Whitecaps after coming over in the Jack Flaherty trade with the Dodgers. The 21-year-old switch-hitting catcher has some of the best raw power of any prospect in the game to go with excellent plate discipline. His defense needs work but that’s mostly a matter of youth and inexperience. Working with the Tigers’ major league coaching staff and catching bullpens from major league pitchers will be good experience for him.
The second highest ranked prospect in major league camp will be infielder Hao-Yu Lee. As a 21-year-old at the Double-A level last year, Lee put up one of the better seasons for a 21-year-old in Eastern League history before a pair of plunkings in the helmet and then a back injury cut his season short. He’s a second baseman by trade, but has dabbled at third base, and can possibly play a bit of corner as well though his speed is just average and could fade some into his mid-20’s. Lee is an advanced hitter with good contact skills and an aggressive but pesky approach at the plate and above average raw power. Getting to that power has been a trick for the Taiwan native, but he broke out nicely last spring and made plenty of progress toward driving, and in particular, pulling the ball in the air.
The third name we’re particularly interested in is right-hander Wilmer Flores. It’s been a tough pair of seasons since a big breakout for the undrafted free agent in 2021 and 2022. Now about to turn 24 in less than two weeks, Flores has battled arm and shoulder trouble and then a move to the bullpen. Yet even last spring he was still pumping a heavy 98-100 mph fastball in short bursts, and still has a wipeout breaking ball and a quality cutter to boot. The Tigers left him unprotected last fall, but he wasn’t selected in the Rule 5 draft. If he’s finally healthy, the Tigers will be very thankful he wasn’t. The big right-hander, younger brother of the long-time San Francisco Giant of the same name, could develop into a high leverage reliever for the Tigers this season.
Other non-roster invitees of note are outfielders Akil Baddoo and Bligh Madris, shortstop Andrew Navigato, and infielder Eddys Leonard. All four are Triple-A level players looking to find their way to a role or at least a stint on the major league roster this season.
Catching prospect Eliezer Alfonzo, along with minor league additions Tomás Nido and Brian Serven, will provide catching depth in camp.
The Tigers also picked up their usual collection of minor league arms, and considering their track record of pitching development, it’s worth nothing these names.
Right-hander Brendan White was left off the 40-man last fall but is back looking to put some injuries behind him and man a spot in the bullpen with his high spin stuff. Former Twins right-hander Jordan Balazovic is back in the States after pitching in Korea last summer. Left-hander Dietrich Enns is a former Central Michigan Chippewa who also spent time playing in Asia and trying to work his way to the major leagues. There are several other pitchers to watch in the non-roster invite pool.
We’re almost back. Two more days to Tigers’ baseball getting underway.