Minor League Report

Last season was a terrific season for the Tiger's at the very least. They exceeded all expectations on their way to the teams first World Series appearance since 1984. One of the big reasons for their success was the contributions they received from their homegrown prospects. Justin Verlander, Joel Zumaya, Omar Infante, Jeremy Bonderman Wil Ledezma, Curtis Granderson, and to a certain extents, Brandon Inge were all young contributors who spent at least some time in the Tiger's farm system.

Just because they have a some young stars on the team does not mean they are a young team. There are several aging players on the team, as mentioned previously. The Tiger's have a few ways to bring new blood to the big league club, this post will focus on one of those avenues, the minor leagues. Despite trading away top notch pitching prospect, Humberto Sanchez in the Gary Sheffield deal, the Tiger's farm system is still among the best in baseball, here are some of the highlights:

West Michigan White Caps (Class A)
SP- Burke Badenhop: Badenhop is a big (6'5'') right-hander who spent the entire 2006 season with the White Caps. He went 14-3 with an ERA of 2.84, impressive numbers at any level. He also had a great strike out to walk ratio, fanning 124 while walking only 31. Often times young pitchers have an awful time finding the control they need, Badenhop clearly has his control down. One downside is that he will be 24 next year, a tad old to be considered a top notch prospect.

RP-Matthew Rusch: Rusch was the shut down reliever on the White Caps in '06. He went 9-3 with a 1.79 ERA while batters hit only .219 off of him. In 80 innings he walked only 10 batters. Struck out 66 batters in 80 innings, that shows that he may not be able to come up with that big strike out in tough jams a la Joel Zumaya. Rusch will also be 24 next season.

RP- Ricky Steik: Steik possess the knock out punch with the strike out that Rusch did not have out of the White Caps bullpen. Steik struck out 80 batters in 68 innings in '06. Steik will be 23 next year and will probably spend some time in AA.

SP- Ramon Garcia: Garcia pitched in only 12 games for the White Caps and was lights out. He went 7-2 with an ERA below 2.00. Garcia, a lefty, is 22 years old.

SS- Michael Hollimon: First off, Hollimon will be 25 in June, so odds are, he is not the answer at SS for the Tiger's should they choose to let Carlos Guillen walk. That being said, Hollimon had a solid year for the White Caps. He hit 15 HRs to go with 13 triples and 19 stolen bases, showing he possess both power and speed. Needs to cut down on the K's.

OF- Justin Justice: Justice also showed some speed stealing 15 bases last season. His power numbers fell short of those put up by Hollimon, but Justice is only 21 and is also a left handed bat. Could be a future here, though probably not with the Tiger's because of...

OF- Cameron Maybin (left): Considered by many the top hitting prospect in all of baseball. Often compared to Ken Griffey Jr. pre-injury days. Maybin was the Tigers top pick in 2005 and was impressive in his first full pro season with the White Caps. Maybin displayed the speed and power than many in baseball believe will transfer over to the big leagues. Maybin hit over .300 all year and his average against both left handed and right handed pitching was terrific, a great indicator for a young player. The only hole in Maybin's game last year was striking out too much, nearly one time every three at bats. As he grows and matures as a player those strike outs will come down. Watch him this year, most likely in AA. A late season call up to the Tiger's isn't unlikely because they could just be anxious to see what he can do. From all I've read he won't be an everyday player withe Tigers until at least 2008 or 2009 which is fine since that should be about the time when Sheffield and Maggs start to have their bodies fall apart.

Tomorrow I'll cover the upper A level team in Lakeland.

-Blake-