On Sunday night, the 2021 Major League Baseball Draft kicked off and our Detroit Tigers owned the No. 3 and No. 32 overall picks on opening night.
When the Tigers were on the clock with the No. 3 overall pick, just about everybody thought they would select SS Marcelo Mayer but GM Al Avila shocked us all by selecting high school pitcher Jackson Jobe, who was the No. 3 ranked pitching prospect by MLB.com. Following the pick, #FireAvila was trending on Twitter within minutes.
The Tigers’ second pick of the night (No. 32 overall) was used to select Texas Longhorns pitcher Ty Madden, who was the No. 4 ranked pitching prospect according to MLB.com.
Jackson Jobe was ranked as MLB Pipeline’s No. 7 prospect.
Ty Madden was No. 9.
Both go to the Tigers at No. 3 and 32, respectively.
System was pitching-heavy before Mize, Skubal and Manning reached the Majors. Torkelson and Greene still lead the farm, but arms are back.
— Sam Dykstra (@SamDykstraMiLB) July 12, 2021
With Casey Mize, Tarik Skubal, and Matt Manning all pitching in the Big Leagues this year and Spencer Torkelson and Riley Greene being the Tigers No. 1 and No. 2 prospects still in the Minors, it seems like Al Avila is working to build up his Minor League pitching depth once again.
Time will tell if he made the correct decision.
