Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports
If you were wondering what the Detroit Tigers‘ 2013 draft strategy might be, wonder no longer. The Tigers drafted seven straight hurlers to start the 2013 MLB draft. Six of those are right-handed pitchers.
All seven are current college players, showing that the Tigers aren’t interested in waiting around to develop high school arms. It’s a good strategy for the Tigers, who have been able to make the most out of their current pitchers.
Here is a list of the Tigers first seven draft picks:
Jonathan Crawford, RHP, junior, Florida Gators, (first round, 20th overall,)
Corey Knebel, RHP, junior, University of Texas, (first competitive balance round, 39th overall,)
Kevin Ziomek, LHP, junior, Vanderbilt University, (second round, 58th overall,)
Jeffery Thompson, RHP, junior, Louisville University, (third round, 94th overall,)
Austin Kubitza, RHP, junior, Rice University, (fourth round, 126th overall,)
Buck Farmer, RHP, senior, Georgia Tech University, (fifth round, 156th overall,)
Calvin Drummond, fifth-year senior, Arizona Christian University, (sixth round, 186th overall.)
It’s a lot easier to get lucky on position players later in the draft than it is to find a pitcher who will be effective in the later rounds. The Tigers have shown the ability to turn their pitching prospects into valuable trade pieces recently, which reinforces their choice to select starting pitching.
They clearly aren’t trying to build a winning franchise in the draft. They seem to be looking for pieces that can quickly become trade bait to improve their current group of Tigers. Dave Dombrowski has shown the ability to package his prospects into meaningful trades recently, which makes this draft strategy make a whole lot of sense for the Tigers.
David Fouty is a columnist for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @davefouty, “Like” him on Facebook and add him to your network on Google+.
