Top of Detroit Tigers' 2023 MLB draft class already producing at plate, on mound

Sunday marks the start of the second MLB draft with the Detroit Tigers for president of baseball operations Scott Harris and his front office staff. While it’s too soon to fully judge the first class of prospects under Harris, here’s a quick recap of how the team’s first six 2023 picks, covering the first five rounds of last year’s draft in Seattle, have fared in their first year of pro ball.

Round 1: OF Max Clark

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Last year: With the No. 3 overall pick, the Tigers passed on University of Florida star outfielder Wyatt Langford (who made the Texas Rangers out of spring training and has a .731 OPS this season) in favor of Clark, a left-handed Indiana prep outfielder whose Instagram followers — around 400,000 — was almost as impressive as his trophy case, which featured three Gatorade Indiana Baseball Player of the Year awards as well as Gatorade’s top national honor. After signing a below-slot deal, Clark dominated Rookie ball (.954 OPS in 12 games) before struggling at Low-A Lakeland (.532 OPS despite 12 walks in 51 plate appearances).

What 2024 brought: Clark spent the first three months of Lakeland’s season searching for power, with a .365 slugging percentage over 63 games. Still, he showed a solid eye for the zone, with 42 walks in 288 plate appearances boosting him to a .369 on-base percentage. July, though, has been a completely different story, as a seven-game hitting streak (off Yankees and Mets prospects) has resulted in a .462/.548/.846 slash line that features four multi-hit games, four doubles and two homers.

Comp. Balance Round A: SS Kevin McGonigle

Last year: The Tigers jumped on Clark’s Team USA teammate, a contact-making infielder from the suburbs of Philadelphia with the No. 37 overall pick. McGonigle hit .530 with 32 walks and just two strikeouts en route to winning Pennsylvania’s Gatorade Baseball Player of the Year, emulating his Philadelphia Phillies idol, Chase Utley. His first stint with Lakeland did little to bust up the comparison, as a 19-year-old McGonigle posted a .350/.438/.475 slash line with the Flying Tigers.

What 2024 brought: A hamstring issue cost McGonigle a chunk of spring training and the first two weeks of Lakeland’s season. Once back in the lineup, though, McGonigle has continued to chew up Florida State League pitching, with a .337 average and .898 OPS sparked by 33 walks and just 23 strikeouts in 249 plate appearances. In 55 games entering Friday, he had nearly as many three-hit games (eight) as no-hit games (11).

Round 2: 2B Max Anderson

Last year: The Tigers’ first college pick arrived at No. 45 out of the University of Nebraska. The 2021 Big Ten Freshman of the Year was a bat-first pick, with the right-hander spending time at first, second and third over three seasons with the Cornhuskers. He peaked in his junior year, with a .414/.461/.771 slash line that featured 20 doubles, 21 homers, 20 walks and 29 strikeouts in 269 plate appearances. His first summer in the Tigers organization brought a few more struggles, as Anderson’s line dipped to .289/.345/.445 in 145 plate appearances.

What 2024 brought: Still, he earned a promotion to High-A West Michigan this season. The results for the now-22-year-old haven’t been quite as encouraging, though, with a .687 OPS and 53 strikeouts — nearly as many as he had in his final two seasons at Nebraska combined (55) — in 339 plate appearances. The Tigers have left him mostly in the infield, with 63 appearances at second base — and 10 errors in 270 chances to show for it.

Round 3: LHP Paul Wilson

Last year: Pick No. 76 brought a return to the prep ranks in Wilson, the son of former Giants and Angels lefty Trevor Wilson. An Oregon State commit, he had 108 strikeouts in 49 innings at Lakeridge High in the Portland suburbs and signed for roughly $1.7 million, about $700,000 above his draft slot.

What 2024 brought: Wilson started his pro career in Rookie ball in the Florida Complex League and hasn’t quite harnessed his fastball (which topped out at 97 mph in high school). The 19-year-old has a 5.57 ERA in 32⅓ innings with the FCL Tigers, driven up by a 2.227 WHIP. That’s mainly the result of a very wild 35 walks, two hit-by-pitches and seven wild pitches in his 10 appearances (seven starts). Despite not making it past four innings in any of his appearances, Wilson has walked at least three batters in nine of 10 outings.

Round 4: 3B Carson Rucker

Last year: The Tigers grabbed this Tennessee commit at No. 107 overall for a slightly over-slot bonus ($772,500). The 6-foot-2 infielder showed serious power en route to winning Mr. Tennessee honors in his division and class at Goodpasture Christian School in Madison, Tennessee. The power didn’t quite show up in his first stint with the FCL Tigers, with just a double and a homer in 41 plate appearances, but he showed a nice handle on the strike zone, with six walks and nine strikeouts while posting a .390 OBP.

What 2024 brought: Unfortunately for the Tigers and Rucker, his season ended in May after just four games with the FCL Tigers. After going 5-for-13 (.385) with four doubles (and five strikeouts) in Rookie ball, Rucker tore his left shoulder labrum sliding into a base.

Round 5: RHP Jaden Hamm

Last year: The All-C-USA first-teamer drew the Tigers’ attention out of Middle Tennessee State with the No. 143 pick thanks to a fastball that topped out at 96 mph and a hard-breaking vertical curveball. His ERA (5.31) during his junior season wasn’t pretty — thanks to nine homers allowed in 17 appernces —but the peripherals were solid: 93 strikeouts and 37 walks in 79⅔ innings. After signing, Hamm threw one scoreless inning in Rookie ball and zoomed to Lakeland, where he struck out 11 and walked one while not allowing a run over 11 innings (in four starts).

What 2024 brought: Hamm is shaping up as a potential draft steal already, with a 2.54 ERA, 91 strikeouts and just 19 walks in 71 innings (over 17 starts) despite moving up to West Michigan to open the season. He turned in a gem to open July, limiting the Dodgers’ High-A affiliate in Midland to three hits with seven strikeouts over five scoreless innings, but Tuesday’s outing against the Brewers’ affiliate was a little rockier: four runs, six hits and two walks allowed with five strikeouts in 4⅓ innings.

Contact Ryan Ford at rford@freepress.com. Follow him on X (which used to be Twitter, y’know?) @theford. Read more on the Detroit Tigers and sign up for our Tigers newsletter.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Tigers' 2023 draft class already producing at plate, on mound