A quick glance at the Tigers' farm system reveals two shortcomings: high-end position players and homegrown international talent.
While teams across baseball mine the amateur ranks in Latin America, the Tigers have signed and developed just one international free agent who ranks among their top 20 prospects (according to MLB Pipeline): shortstop Wenceel Perez, who checks in at No. 11.
(Detroit recently spent big on 16-year-old outfielder Roberto Campos; it remains to be seen how he fits in the picture.)
It reveals -- or would seem to reveal -- a glaring weakness in the organization's development arm. Al Avila disagrees. It's not that the Tigers haven't had any success in cultivating international prospects, he said last week in an interview with 97.1 The Ticket. It's that they traded away the ones who bloomed.
Outfielder Avisail Garcia, at the 2013 trade deadline, in the deal for Jose Iglesias. Shortstop Willy Adames, at the 2014 deadline, in the deal for David Price. And third baseman Eugenio Suarez, in the ensuing offseason, in the deal for Alfredo Simon.
Garcia was an All-Star in 2017 and owns an .807 OPS over the last three seasons. Adames, a year ago one of the top prospects in baseball, is now the starting shortstop for the Rays. And Suarez (this one really hurts) is one of only 10 big-leaguers with more than 80 home runs and 240 RBI since 2017 -- he also happens to be one of the best bargains in the game.
[RELATED: Reds Superstar Suarez Thought Tigers Were 'Forever My Team']
"Those are guys that we developed," Avila said.
And though it's hard to swallow, he may want to add another name to that list: Domingo Leyba.
Who?
Domingo Leyba, the 23-year-old shortstop/second baseman of the Diamondbacks.
Signed by the Tigers out of the Dominican Republic in 2012, Leyba was once one of Detroit's top prospects. He hit .334 over two years in the low minors. After the 2014 season, during which he hit .397 over 30 games with West Michigan, Leyba was sent to Arizona as part of the three-team trade by which the Tigers acquired Shane Greene.
Also dealt to Arizona in that deal: lefty Robbie Ray, an All-Star in 2017 who's racked up more strikeouts per nine innings than every pitcher in baseball over the last four seasons besides a couple guys named Scherzer and Sale. Ouch.
For a while, it looked like Ray would be the Tigers' biggest loss. At the moment he still is. But Leyba, who fell off the radar a bit after missing most of the 2017 season with a shoulder injury and currently ranks No. 24 among Arizona's prospects, could turn out to be the player the organization really wants back.
While Detroit's rebuild aches for more hitters, Leyba has done nothing but rake this season in Triple-A. He's batting .304 with a .913 OPS over 74 games, while splitting time in the field between second and short. He's one of only six players in the Triple-A ranks with at least 15 home runs and 25 doubles. Oh, and he hits from both sides of the plate.
The Tigers have a promising shortstop in Triple-A themselves in 22-year-old Willi Castro. And they may have found their second baseman of the future in 25-year-old Harold Castro, an international signee (!!). But neither rouses the same kind of excitement as Leyba. For all the optimistm about Willi Castro's bat, his OPS this year is exactly 100 points lower than Leyba's.
The silver lining for Detroit is that Greene has morphed into one of the best relievers in baseball this season. The Tigers will almost assuredly move him by the trade deadline, ideally for a young hitting prospect. With the right touch, Avila can undo some of the damage done by his predecessor Dave Dombrowski.
But trading both Leyba and Ray is a move that could haunt the Tigers for years to come.
(One has to wonder if Avila inquired about Leyba when he sent J.D. Martinez to the Diamondbacks in 2016. At the time, Leyba was Arizona's No. 6 prospect. The Tigers wound up with an underwhelming package of Dawel Lugo, Sergio Alcantara and Jose King.)
As Tigers fans wait eagerly for Castro, Leyba made his MLB debut last month. He collected a hit in his first at-bat and has since performed well in limited action for the Diamondbacks. If his hitting chops translate to the majors, he'll be yet another international prospect the Tigers gave away too soon.
Maybe, in a roundabout way, that vindicates their collective eye for talent. But what does it say about their ability to evaluate and nurture that talent while it's here?
At least one thing we can say for certain. As the Tigers watch the likes of Garcia, Adames, Suarez and Leyba thrive from afar -- perhaps four everyday position players that could have been -- they'll hold onto what they have now. Get comfortable, Wenceel Perez.
And hurry on up to Detroit.
