The Tigers' first pick in this year's draft was a bit of a surprise, right-handed pitcher Jackson Jobe. It was also a sign of things to come. Detroit took another right-hander with its second pick, then three more in rounds three through five.
By the time Monday came to a conclusion, the Tigers had drafted seven right-handed pitchers with their first 10 picks, and eight pitchers overall.
This comes a year after the club took strictly position players in the pandemic-shortened draft. Tigers director of amateur scouting Scott Pleis said Monday night "we wanted to get some arms and it just worked out that way this year."
"It was best guy (available)," he said. "And I’m not opposed to in the past we’ve had some pitching-dominant top 10 rounds. It wasn’t a philosophy to do that."
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While pitching might not feel like a need for the Tigers given the young arms in Detroit, the farm system could use it. Just three of the club's top 20 prospects entering the draft were pitchers, according to MLB Pipeline. And the best among them, Matt Manning, is next in line to graduate to the bigs.
This year's draft class will help replenish that talent, headlined by Jobe and Texas hurler Ty Madden. The Tigers did get a bat with their third pick in slugging SS Izaac Pacheco, before adding three more college arms in Dylan Smith, Tyler Mattison and Tanner Kohlhepp.
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"As it was evolving last night and today, I was looking at (the board) like, we’re going to try to get a bat. We really wanted to get Pacheco and make that work. The more you studied it, the more it screamed pitching was coming," said Pleis. "We had some hitters that we liked that we tried to get, but they went off the board."
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Pleis said the Tigers view Smith, Mattison and Kohlhepp as starters.
On Smith (No. 74 overall): "Delivery and arm works great for a starter. Good breaking ball, spins it well. There’s some big upside there, so we were lucky to get him there I think."
On Mattison (No. 104): "He’s big, he’s strong, he throws strikes, he’s got velo, he’s got a breaking ball, he’s got a good changeup. All that. He’s definitely a starter."
On Kohlhepp (No. 135): "Throws strikes and he's got really good stuff. He’s a little funky the way he does it, but it adds deception so his stuff will play up."
After taking college outfielder Austin Murr with their seventh pick, the Tigers took another trio of college arms in lefty Brant Hurter and righties Jordan Marks and Garrett Burhenn.
Pleis said Tigers pitching coach Chris Fetter helped inform the organization's evaluation of arm talent ahead of the draft.
"Chris actually spoke at our meetings in the spring, so that was great to get his ideas and thoughts," he said. "It also filters into the analytics and different types of pitchers, what he likes, what he doesn’t like. We’ve got a feel for that, too, so we’re all on the same page."
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