With Matt Manning making his big-league debut Thursday, Tigers VP of Player Development Dave Littlefield joined the TV broadcast of Wednesday's game against the Royals to discuss Detroit's top pitching prospect.
"He’s a high-end prospect who has the talent and the mentality to be a front-end starter in time," Littlefield said on Bally Sports Detroit. "He’s highly talented with stuff and velocity."
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Littlefield stuck around to talk about some other prospects, too. Like 23-year-old Ryan Kreidler, a fourth-round pick out of UCLA in 2019 who's manning shortstop for Double-A Erie.
Kreidler is Detroit's No. 21 prospect according to MLB Pipeline, but that's probably selling him short.
"He’s a very advanced young man," Littlefield said. "He’s mature, he knows the game well, he’s defensively very sound. We knew the bat was going to be a challenge, but he performed well on the major league side (in spring training) when he got that opportunity. He’s a guy you have a lot of confidence in, just the way he handles himself.
"He’s performed very well with the bat recently and we think it’s going to keep going through the rest of the season. We’re very high on Kreidler. He’s a big–bodied shortstop who's very athletic."
The 6'4 Kreidler is batting .224 this season, but his six homers are tied for second on the SeaWolves (with Riley Greene) and he has an average close to .300 over his past 20 games.
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Later, Littlefield was asked about other less-heralded prospects who might be turning heads in the organization.
"Angel DeJesus is a reliever from the Dominican who’s pitching well in Toledo," he said. "He’s been under the radar a little bit, but a 6'4 right-hander who’s got a good arm and a good slider."
DeJesus, unranked among Detroit's top 30 prospects, has a 1.69 ERA with 29 strikeouts in 21 1/3 innings between Double-A Erie and Triple-A Toledo this season. Signed in 2016, he's pitched well at every level of the Tigers' farm system.
Littlefield also brought up Daniel Cabrera, "a left-handed hitting outfielder who we drafted in 2020 from LSU. He’s been hitting the ball very well recently and certainly is a complete player."
Detroit's No. 5 prospect, Cabrera was the third pick in the club's loaded draft class last year. The 22-year-old is hitting .320 over his last 25 games with High-A West Michigan and could soon follow Spencer Torkelson and Dillon Dingler to Erie.