Kelly will transition into a full-time Major League Scout role moving forward with the organization. He's one of three scouting hires Detroit announced Monday to bolster its staff.Also added to the Major League scouting staff are longtime Orioles scout and executive John Stockstill and P.J. The 24-year-old came up with the San Francisco Giants as an international free agent signing from Venezuela. Just getting some solid production out of him would be fine. The Tigers have hired Jim Elliott, Paul Mirocke and Don Kelly as Major League Scouts. Toward that end, the Tigers announced a flurry of on-field and player-development staff assignments Tuesday, including the hiring of two former teammates in Detroit Doug Bochtler, who. If the Tigers can produce more relief talent to keep or trade away, it will be a sign that things are now seriously and sustainably improved on the player development front. In his first 2023 NFL mock draft, released in late January, ESPN's Mel Kiper had the Detroit Lions targeting two defensive players. Among the overlooked bits of news from last month's moves, manager A.J. With Littlefield out, current Director of Player Development, Kenny Graham, takes over running player development until a Vice-President, possibly Graham himself, is hired into the executive role, presumably under the Vice-President of Player Development title. Most of the time, Wisler just carved teams up with the slider alone, using it over 80 percent of the time and developing good feel for shaping the break when he was looking to throw strikes versus trying to get chases. Hinch during their time in Houston. Again the 2021 numbers are from a fairly short debut in the majors, but he collected a fine 40 percent whiff rate on the curve when he was healthy and at his best. [CDATA[ "We spent some time looking around, but when you have Major League experience, it's a huge asset. The velo, arm slot, and release all make it a pretty deceptive pitch for lefties to deal with. He worked his first two years there alongside current Tigers vice president of player personnel Scott Bream. The 42-year-old. Amateur scouting director Scott Pleis was fired after 15 seasons with the organization, multiple sources with knowledge of the situation told the Free Press. Avila announced last week that the Tigers would not re-sign Manager Brad Ausmus. A rebuild that sometimes seemed interminable finally appeared to have turned a corner in 2021, when the Tigers, following an 819 April, went 6966 the rest of the way, fueled by a young core constructed out of the wreckage of 2017-20. Jones, John Stockstill and Josh Wilson will work as Major League scouts, while Joey Lothrop, Steve Taylor and Matt Zmuda are joining the amateur scouting department as area scouts. Please also read our Privacy Notice and Terms of Use, which became effective December 20, 2019. Zmuda, a Toledo native, and Lothrop were interns in the Tigers amateur scouting department last year. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)ASSOCIATED PRESS. While the Tigers are investing heavily in analytics to keep pace with other organizations, they're bucking the trend of other clubs that have reduced their Major League scouting ranks in recent years. Mirocke spent the 2017 season as a scout in the Milwaukee Brewers organization and had responsibilities with professional, amateur and international scouting. DETROIT The Tigers today announced several staff additions to the club's baseball operations department. He's old school here it is, try to hit it and it just feels like everything takes off. The Detroit Tigers today announced that the club has hired Mike Russell as a Special Assistant to the General Manager, while the team has also hired Jim Logue as Manager, Baseball Analytics. He throws 98 anyway, but the way his stuff plays, it's almost like he's throwing 105.". //]]>. Still the whole rationale for wholesale changes in coaching staff in 2020, player development in 2021, and then new front office leadership under Harris last fall, was to get better in all these areas. The Detroit Tigers have hired Tampa Bay Rays senior director of amateur scouting Rob Metzler as the organization's new vice president and assistant general manager, according to sources with . He was signed to a minor league deal with an invite to camp, and will earn $1.5 million should he make the major league roster out of camp. Bally Sports Detroit owner prepares for bankruptcy, putting team payments at risk, Gores, Tellem throw party at Paris Opera House ahead of Pistons' overseas tip, Dittrich Furs sells Bloomfield Hills building, will consolidate into Midtown Detroit store, Otus Supply restaurant and live music venue in Ferndale closes, DTE seeks double-digit rate hike after setback in last case, For the second time in less than 5 years, a Wayne County jail is about to be demolished, Capitol Park building designed by Albert Kahn to add 4 floors, get new facade, Tigers add 3 major league scouts, 3 analysts, Staffing part of GM Al Avila's investment into advanced analytics, Baseball operations head Sam Menzin will also oversee scouting. A season later, his velocity dipped and his control faltered. Im going to be competitive, Wingenter said. The year I did that, the hardest Ive thrown in my career, I was at 92.8 mph in 2017 with the Yankees.. Now 30 years old, the former starter was drafted in the seventh round way back in 2011 by the San Diego Padres. 2023 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. Scott Harris had been on the job minutes, maybe hours, but apparently, not much longer, when on Oct. 6 he made his first big move as the Tigers' new front-office chief. Nieves is now the assistant pitching coach under new manager AJ Hinch in Detroit. The Tigers coaches may look to add another wrinkle, but thats the baseline to look for in Wislers case. Their lineup just doesn't scare you, but they do have some guys who really grind out at-bats. Staying current is easy with Crains news delivered straight to your inbox. Other Detroit Tigers Jobs Search TeamWork Online Jobs Any problems, Contact Us TeamWork Online Privacy Policy Terms at draftkings.com/sportsbook. Castros fourseamer features a high spin rate and great extension. He never pitched during the 2022 season as both the elbow and back remained problems that needed more rehab work. After six years in Detroit as a super-utility player and a post-retirement tryout as a scout and instructor, Kelly has been promoted to the Tigers' Major League scouting staff. The team owes him $32 million this year and another $32 million in 2023. The team added the following major league scouts: The following have been added as analysts: Kelly, who joined the front office in February after retiring from the Miami Marlins organization at the end the 2016 season, will be a full-time scout after splitting his time between player development and scouting. The other highly experienced major league among this group is the sole lefty, though the Tigers added numerous southpaws hoping to find someone to help a very right-handed bullpen. 32-year-old Chasen Shreve has made a nice career out of a filthy splitter and a decent riding fastball. He and Jose Cisnero, along with Will Vest and Jason Foley, will all be expected to carry more of the load now, but theyll need plenty of help. The Tigers have hired Jim Elliott, Paul Mirocke and Don Kelly as Major League. Hes also been a little prone to walks, but if the strikeouts and weak contact return, a bit of a higher walk rate than wed like isnt going to hurt him too much. Theyre working on some adjustments to his motion to accomplish that. In the process, long-time player development honcho and Vice-President, David Littlefield, was moved out of that role to a retirement gig, as was his other half, former Vice-President David Chadd. GameThread: Tigers vs. Yankees, 6:35 p.m. 2023 Tigers player preview: A healthy Austin Meadows will give the offense a boost. Team Physician (Florida) - Louis Saco, M.D. Considering the loss of Chafin and Soto, the Tigers bullpen badly needs left-handed help. The Tigers claimed him off waivers from the Arizona Diamondbacks in January. 0:00. The Detroit Tigers midseason Top 30 update for 2021. Click below to see everything we have to offer. Prospects Live Staff. After trading Joe Jimnez and Gregory Soto, and losing Michael Fulmer and Andrew Chafin, a. The Padres initially drafted Wingenter in 2015 out of Auburn in the 17th round, so Connor knows him well, as does Toledo Mud Hens pitching coach Doug Bochtler, who was the Padres bullpen coach during Wingenters best years. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Advance Local. Elliott joins the Tigers organization after spending the previous seven seasons as a Professional Scout in the San Diego Padres organization. Prior to his time with the Padres, Elliott spent 12 years as a Scout with the MLB Scouting Bureau. GameThread: Tigers vs. Blue Jays, 1:07 p.m. Four Tigers prospects make FanGraphs new top 100 prospect list. Henry's scouting work included top pick Casey Mize last year. Our new baseball magazine delivers full MLB team previews, fantasy insight, schedules, and predictions. NL East. What this really comes down to is the Tigers attempt to turn themselves into a premiere stop for pitchers looking to get back on track, and a prime hub of pitching development in general. They just dont do much damage. Use of and/or registration on any portion of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement, Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement, and Your Privacy Choices and Rights (each updated 1/26/2023). He also experimented with a cutter in 2022, but no matter what the fastball remains the bread and butter here, and hell likely continue to throw it around 70 percent of the time. Tyler Alexander and Rony Garcia arent really high leverage material, though they can contribute as middle relief and spot starting depth. He was the Tigers utility player 2009-14. Gambling problem? Team ranks accompanied by full scouting reports and MiLB video. "Today's announcement is another step in the building of our infrastructure within baseball operations," said Al Avila, Tigers Executive Vice President of Baseball Operations and General Manager. Still, he could be worth four extra wins in 2022, given his 3.6 fWAR in 2021 and Detroit's figure of -0.1 from their shortstops. The low release point and snappy, late release helps it play up a lot when hes spotting it. Wilson spent parts of eight seasons in the big leagues, logging his last Major League at-bat with the Tigers in 2015. MLB Draft. The baseball club, which is preparing to head into the off season next week, announced Friday that it has shuffled its baseball operations leadership and added three analysts and three scouts to its staff. We are very fortunate to be able to work that out.". ESPN reported in December that the Tigers offered Correa a 10-year, $275 million deal, only to see Correa reject it. YouTubes privacy policy is available here and YouTubes terms of service is available here. "We're going to hit the ground running to ensure our processes of amateur scouting at both the domestic and international levels are the best they can possibly be," Metzler said in a statement, "and search for the most comprehensive information possible to help inform our decision making. Instead it features nasty whiffling rise based on seam-shifted wake effects, taking advantage of a relatively low release height despite his overhand delivery, as well as his huge extension down the mound to play extremely well at and above the belt to hitters. That's where those things get implemented. AL NL; HOU: CWS: BAL . For his part, Wingenter tells the Freep that all the work to finally put this behind him has payed off heading into 2023. A straight slider with decent depth but minimal horizontal break rounds out the repertoire. Its a tricky delivery to time up, and the Tigers staff has their work cut out to improve his precision significantly this spring. Category:Detroit Tigers scouts Pages in category "Detroit Tigers scouts" The following 95 pages are in this category, out of 95 total. The Tigers will have their work cut out for them on that front. Most have a recent history of injury or at least a velocity drop that might indicate soreness or an underlying issue, with corresponding ineffectiveness. Bohorquez, who coached at now-unaffiliated Norwich (Connecticut) last season, replaces Jorge Cordova, who was promoted to assistant pitching coordinator. Ive never really been on a team that told me how to use my analytical numbers, he said. Hell probably be primarily at third base, but could fit into a lot of different spots for the Tigers. Most of these guys are, and will remain, minor league free agents for good reasons. However, the real connection was made by Casey Mize, a fellow Auburn alum who recruited him this offseason, convincing him to give the Tigers a shot. Mark Johnson was the Erie SeaWolves pitching coach this season. AZ, CO, CT, IL, IN, IA, KS, LA, (select parishes), MD, MI, NH, NJ, NY, OH, OR, PA, TN, VA, WV, WY, CA-ONT only.Eligibility restrictions apply. The Detroit Tigers have hired Tampa Bay Rays senior director of amateur scouting Rob Metzler as the organization's new vice president and assistant general manager, according to sources with knowledge of the situation. Sam Menzin, formerly Tigers Director of Baseball Operations and Professional Scouting, was also promoted to Vice-President and Assistant General Manager. Before joining the Rays, Metzler interned for the Boston Red Sox, Baseball Info Solutions and the Brewster Whitecaps of the Cape Cod Baseball League. If they cant get there in the short term, it will be interesting to see if they hang onto Uceta and try to give it more time. Hinch held their player meeting with 21-year-old third baseman Colt Keith, the youngest player. On Tuesday, Brett Ghiroli and Cody Stavenhagen of The Athletic reported a lengthy list of names among the Tigers player development staff who wont have their contracts renewed for 2022. At various times, Sager has been a minor league pitching coach for the Toledo Mud Hens, and even spent part of the 2018 season as the Tigers bullpen coach. At the major-leaguelevel, the Tigers have promoted Steve Chase to strength and conditioning coach, replacing Chris Walter. "Kelly, a Tigers Draft pick in 2001, became a fan favorite in Detroit as a player from 2009-14, hitting a postseason home run at Yankee Stadium in a winner-take-all Game 5 of the 2011 AL Division Series and a game-winning sacrifice fly in Game 2 of the 2012 AL Division Series against Oakland. He is known for managing processes and incorporating an analytical approach. Alex Lange looks to be easily the best of the holdovers from last season. Kansas City Royals 2021 Prospect Rankings. "It was something we had to consider for sure, with West Michigan moving to High-A," Littlefield said. The Detroit Tigers are currently a fledgling baseball organization, led by general manager Al Avila.. After elevated expectations were levied on the club in 2022, the team has completely fallen . Chase has been in the Tigers player development system for 16 years, the last six as the minor-league strength and conditioning coordinator. Shreve mainly uses it against lefties, but rather than sweeping across the plate away and down from hitters, it tends to stay straighter over the plate and simply dives straight down. Mark Conner, who has worked for the San Diego Padres since 2010, has been hired as the Tigers' amateur . Another option is just to throw the splitter and slider a little more, and try to keep right-handed hitters from crushing the fastball. He spent 26 years before that with the MLB Scouting Bureau, 14 of them as MLB's pro scouting coordinator. * 21+ (19+ CA-ONT) (18+ NH/WY). "I hope all Tigers fans will join me in welcoming Rob and his family to our organization," Harris said in a statement. Detroit Tigers 2021 Mid-Season Top 30 Prospects . Their additions allowed the Tigers to promote Justin Henry and Dave Lottsfeldt to regional crosscheckers. Still, as a solid enough lefty, Shreve has never lacked for work, seeing action with the Braves, the New York Yankees, and most recently the New York Mets, among others. For his part, Shreve seems rather enthused about the Tigers pitching programs in this excellent Jeff Seidel piece for the Detroit Free Press. Among the longest tenured coaches to be released is A.J. He'll have a big . DETROIT -- The Tigers will head into 2022 with a bolstered roster, but their coaching staff will be unchanged from last season's end. Obviously theres still much to be proven on his road back to the show. With a Crains Detroit Subscription you get exclusive access, insights and experiences to help you succeed in business. In addition, they promoted Sam Menzin to director of pro scouting in addition to his previous title as director of baseball operations.The moves continue general manager Al Avila's plan to reinvest money in baseball operations as the Tigers move away from big payrolls and free agents and try to develop more talent in their system. Tigers add 3 major league scouts, 3 analysts Staffing part of GM Al Avila's investment into advanced analytics Baseball operations head Sam Menzin will also oversee scouting Sign up for our. Shreve hasnt worked with all that many good organizations in terms of pitcher development, but hes also 32 years old. The Tigers will close out their 2017 season with a three-game series at the Minnesota Twins that ends Sunday. Detroit Tigers Prospect Notebook Scouting Reports Dillon Dingler may be the Tigers' catcher of the future Our third ranked Tigers' prospect is an athletic catcher with good offensive. Overall, its an interesting package of skills, but the crucial issue is the fourseamers vulnerability to getting barreled up. He was responsible for day-to-day scouting activities within the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico in preparation for the draft. Since 2018, Blair has been the A-ball level West Michigan Whitecaps pitching coach. The Detroit Tigers continue to make their preparations for the 2022 season and on Thursday, they made a big announcement. We use cookies and other tracking technologies to improve your browsing experience on our site, show personalized content and targeted ads, analyze site traffic, and understand where our audiences come from. Gregory Soto is the most disgusting closer nobody knows. Community Rules apply to all content you upload or otherwise submit to this site. In 2022 the pitch got bombed on, negating his good work in other areas like K-BB rate. The additions in scouting are important for us in our search for impact type players to bring into our organization.". The fastball is low powered, and typically sits in the low-90s, though recently hes averaged more 90 mph than the 92-93 mph he had at his best. Lund is a key hire as the Tigers continue developing a data-driven approach to evaluate pitcher mechanics, arm health, and fatigue levels. The move, directed by president of baseball operations Scott Harris, comes one day after the Tigers parted ways with assistant general manager David Chadd. Catching on Haase's hitting ability (22 homers, .745 OPS in 2021) and positional versatility (he can also play left field and first base) make the Tigers a candidate to carry three catchers in 2022 in which case the likely third is veteran Dustin Garneau, who played 20 games for the Tigers in 2021. This season also will feature the arrivals of first baseman Spencer Torkelson (made Opening Day roster) and center fielder Riley Greene (should get the call after healing from a broken foot sustained during spring training), consensus top-10 prospects in all of baseball. A rebuild that sometimes seemed interminable finally appeared to have turned a corner in 2021, when the Tigers, following an 8-19 April, went 69-66 the rest of the way, fueled by a young core . For a while, Harris seemed to be signing a pitcher every couple of days and it hasnt slowed down, as extra lefties in Jace Fry and Tyler Holton were added right as spring training opened. The pitch had a 40 percent whiff rate in 2022, even as he struggled badly overall on the year. Top Prospect List, MiLB. GameThread: Tigers vs. Orioles, 1:05 p.m. The Tigers have a plethora of interesting young starting pitchers who could be converted to relief, at least for some portion of the year. Before joining the Brewers, Mirocke spent 26 years at the MLB Scouting Bureau, including the final 14 as Professional Scouting Coordinator. The most recent of those hires were Gabe Ribas as director of pitching and Stephanos Stroop as minor league pitching coordinator. If they cant do that, then theyre still treading water despite all the new hires and technology added. Putting together a quality bullpen again without any notable signings, after trading most of their top arms, would be another sign that on the pitching side the Tigers are on the right path. Detroit Tigers 2021: Scouting, Projected Lineup, Season Prediction. "I'd also like to thank the Tampa Bay Rays organization for an incredible 15 seasons, and I couldn't be prouder of what we accomplished. LA East The Tigers have raided the Los Angeles Dodgers' player development staff repeatedly since Ryan Garko was hired away from Los Angeles in September 2021. A great equalizer for him against right-handers, the pitch features good deception and tends to tail away harder than hitters expect, drawing whiffs and weak contact off the end of the bat. The club hired Josh Kragness as senior software engineer and brought Beau Horan, Aidan Kearns and Zach Wolf on board as analysts. Terms at draftkings.com/sportsbook. Metzler, 42, will lead the Tigers' amateur and international scouting efforts. The managers at the top four affiliates Tom Prince at Triple-A Toledo, Arnie Beyeler at Double-A Erie, Brayan Pena High-A West Michigan and Andrew Graham at Low-A Lakeland remain unchanged. Want more? He's been a Tiger as a player and was familiar with a bunch of people in our organization, including (roving pitching coordinator) A.J. Those moves represent a whole new phase for the Tigers front office. As the Tigers have started their rebuilding efforts, they've been improving in "deep scouting," knowing other organizations' farm systems and identifying potentially underrated prospects.The Tigers plucked Elliott from the Padres, where he had been a pro scout for the last seven years. GameThread: Tigers vs. Yankees, 6:35 p.m. 2023 Tigers player preview: A healthy Austin Meadows will give the offense a boost. Mark Conner, who has worked for the San Diego Padres since 2010, has been hired as the Tigers' amateur scouting director under new. ", More:Tigers pitchers, including Justin Verlander, accused of doctoring baseballs 'for years'. When hes locating this high in the zone or above it and has his velo, this thing is extremely hard to pick up and even harder to get the barrel on. Call 1-800-GAMBLER. "I know of Doug, though I don't know him personally," Littlefield said. He managed the Tigers' Dominican Summer League team for five years before moving up to manage one of their rookie-level Gulf Coast League squads in 2016.Among the amateur scouting hires, Taylor rejoins the organization after spending the last nine years in the Marlins scouting department. "Growth in the analytics area is key in our goal of making sound, informed baseball decisions both when evaluating players, and in providing data to the big league players, manager and his coaching staff. As you can see below, the Tigers have released their Player Development Staff who will lead their affiliates in 2022. His Sunday debut was encouraging, as the velocity was all the way back to prime form, but well have to see if the control recovers to the same degree. Of course, the SEC produces an awful lot of good pitchers, so they're hardly alone in. Odds & lines subject to change. So, he has a good chance to make the roster and be useful, just dont expect too much. To that pitching brain trust, theyve now added former kinesiology professor and Iowa head pitching coach, Robin Lund, as well as several new affiliate pitching coaches. * 21+ (19+ CA-ONT) (18+ NH/WY). "All of us are trying to get everything together and figure out exactly what's going to take place," Littlefield said in a Zoom call. Were just changing my leg action, he said. Most of his profile revolves around the fastball, and getting it back to 2021 form is the main key for a Kervin Castro revival. Castro elected free agency in November and signed on with the Tigers a month later just after the Winter Meetings. Either way it should be somewhat interesting to see how the Tigers try to tweak the stuff and pitch patterns of a long tenured major league reliever. The only significant change in staffs between West Michigan and Lakeland was a swap of hitting coaches Bill Springman to West Michigan and John Murrian to Lakeland. His last big league stint came in 2015 with the Tigers, for whom he started eight games between shortstop, second and third base. MINNEAPOLIS -- Don Kelly finally has a full-time position with the Tigers.After six years in Detroit as a super-utility player and a post-retirement tryout as a scout and instructor, Kelly has been promoted to the Tigers' Major League scouting staff. The Angels' move was made after Pujols refused to accept a reduced role, and the Tigers may need to make a similar request of Cabrera if he becomes an impediment to their hopes of contending. Gambling problem? Over the last few years, the Detroit Tigers have had a strong penchant for SEC right-handers in the draft. He was traded to the Atlanta Braves and debuted as a backend starter in 2015-2016. These decisions arent so surprising, of course. These five are my picks as the most likely to get back on track. The Tigers dropped to 1-3 in Grapefruit League play. An email was sent to members of the scouting department Friday morning. Mirocke has nearly three decades as a scout, spending 26 years at the MLB Scouting Bureau and the last year with the Milwaukee Brewers organization. The Tigers hired Metzler, the Rays' senior director of amateur scouting for seven seasons, as an assistant general manager Tuesday in Harris' biggest front office move to date. Even despite balanced splits as a southpaw, Shreve has never managed to take that one step that would earn him a longer time job. The 67 right-hander is now heading into his age 29 season, and hasnt pitched in the majors since 2019. A stint pitching for Leones del Escogido in the Dominican Winter League this offseason confirmed that the velocity was back in form, and Wingenter is now mainly trying to recapture full command of the slider this spring. Right-handed slider specialist Matt Wisler is the most obvious answer. Bochtler, who spent the last three seasons as the bullpen coach with the Padres, replaces Juan Nieves in Toledo. DETROIT -- The Tigers had a void on their Major League scouting staff to fill when legendary ex-Tiger Don Kelly left to become a coach for the Astros. There appears to be a mix of different coaching specialties bound for replacement here. Russell //