2004 Draft

Made it to Detroit

Justin Verlander, 1st, RHP – Verlander. You may have heard of the guy. He’s the best pitcher the Tigers have had since…well, this isn’t a history exercise. It’s got to be at least since Morris and I don’t think Morris ever had a season like Verlander just did. Okay, I looked it up. Morris never even came close to Verlander’s 2009 season.

Made it to Toledo

Jeff Frazier, 3rd, OF – Frazier was out of the organization by way of a trade, but came back and just completed his best season as a pro. I wouldn’t call him a prospect anymore – a little too DHy – but it’s good to see him succeed.

Brent Dlugach, 6th, SS – Dlugach missed the better part of two seasons with injuries but came back well last year and could be on the fringe of being a player who shuttles back and forth between Toledo and Detroit as needed.

Dealt away

Luke French, 8th, LHP – French was dealt to Seattle for Jarrod Washburn. That trade was good in theory, but was probably one of a few factors that cost the Tigers the playoffs. Oh, how I love players toughing it out through injuries. Getting back to French, he turned a corner in 2009 after reportedly adding a slider to the mix. Something certainly changed for him.

James Skelton, 14th, C – The Tigers lost him in the Rule 5 draft to Arizona and instead of taking him back when he wasn’t going to stay on the D-Backs’ roster, traded him for Brooks Brown. He struggled badly in Double A this year, and will probably see 2010 is a year that makes or breaks him.

Dallas Trahern, 34th, RHP – He was part of the Miguel Cabrera trade and hasn’t had much success with the Florida organization. He was rocked in the PCL in 2008 and threw less than 30 innings last season, not throwing a pitch after May.

Out of the organization:

Eric Beattie, 2nd, RHP
Collin Mahoney, 4th, RHP
Andrew Kown, 5th, RHP
Brandon Timm, 9th, OF
Cory Middleton, 10th, SS
Josh Kauten, 11th, RHP
Cole Miller, 12th, C
Brooks Colvin, 13th, 3B
Matt O’Brien, 15th, RHP
Steven Young, 16th, 2B
Dan Konecny, 17th, RHP
Tyler Jacobson, 19th, RHP
Ed Clelland, 20th, LHP
Matt Righter, 21st, RHP
Thomas Royals, 22nd, RHP
Vince Berry, 23rd, OF
Jordan Foster, 24th, OF
Robbie Tulk, 25th, RHP
Dominic Carmosino, 27th, LHP
Brian Hensen, 28th, LHP
Octavio Amezquita, 29th, SS
Josh Lee, 30th, 1B
Leonardo Grullon, 31st, OF
Nate Bumstead, 32nd, RHP
Kevin Brower, 33rd, RHP
Jamaal Peoples, 38th, OF
Lionel Roberts, 45th, 1B

Interesting non-signees: Chris Carpenter, 7th, RHP (not that one, but still a good prospect); Dominic De la Osa, 49th, SS (drafted and not signed twice)

Summary: Not a lot of oomph to this draft, but picking up Justin Verlander alone will give it more value than just about anything the Tigers did with the draft in the 90s. By this point, five years after the draft, players’ futures in baseball seem to be largely set. They either don’t have one, have made the majors, or have a year or two left to fight for a shot at the majors.

2003 Draft

Made it to Detroit

Dusty Ryan, 48th, C - Ryan has spent part of the past two seasons as a backup catcher in the majors and has hit well at the high levels of the minors. It would seem his receiving skills are keeping him out of a semi-regular gig in the majors. I wonder at this point if his chance will come with another team.

Made it to Toledo

Jay Sborz, 2nd, RHP – Injuries and control problems have kept him out of the picture for most of his career but he’s fought his way back into the scene the past couple years. The Tigers added him to the 40-man roster instead of risking losing him to minor league free agency. He could be one of the internal solutions for the bullpen they’ve talked about.

Josh Rainwater, 4th, RHP – Rainwater, drafted out of high school, won’t turn 25 until next season starts. He’s a minor league swingman, though, and likely will continue to serve as a useful member of either Erie or Toledo’s pitching staffs.

Made it to Lakeland

Jeramy Laster, 12th, OF – Laster is athletic and has big power, but is a prodigious whiffer who has seven years in the minors without ever cracking Double A.

Traded Away

Brian Rogers, 11th, RHP – The soft-tossing reliever was given up in the Sean Casey trade back in 2006. He came back to the Tigers briefly in 2008, but didn’t pitch in the pros in 2009.

Out of the organization:

Kyle Sleeth, 1st, RHP
Tony Giarratano, 3rd, SS
Danny Zell, 5th, LHP
Cody Collet, 6th, C
Matt (Virgil) Vasquez, 7th, RHP
Eric Rodland, 9th, 2B
Michael Brown, 13th, OF
Luis Sabino, 14th, OF
Andy Baldwin, 15th, RHP
Jordan Tata, 16th, RHP
Andrew Graham, 19th, C
Nick McIntyre, 20th, 2B
Jacob Ford, 21st, 3B
Richie Burgos, 22nd, 1B
Bobby Huddleston, 23rd, C
Chris Homer, 24th, RHP
Nathan Doyle, 25th, SS
Lavon Lewis, 26th, RHP
Aaron McRae, 27th, C
Kelly Hunt, 29th, 1B
Anthony Tomey, 30th, RHP
Justin Barnes, 32nd, C
Kenon Roz, 33rd, LHP
John McGorty, 36th, 1B
Ezequiel Perez, 41st, RHP
Daniel Spring, 42nd, RHP
Brian Santo, 43rd, RHP
Kurt Piantek, 44th, 1B
William Baez, 49th, RHP

Summary: This method is a little misleading when you consider Giarratano, Virgil Vasquez and Jordan Tata all spent some time in the majors. Still, even if Sborz and Ryan end up working out in the majors this would seem to be a pretty weak draft. Not a star in the bunch and to this point, Rogers has the most value for bringing in Sean Casey.

2002 Draft

Made it to Detroit

Brent Clevlen, 2nd, OF - Clevlen wasn’t called up to Detroit in September for the second straight season. At this point, there seems to be too many outfielders in the mix for him to be a real option.

Curtis Granderson, 3rd, OF – Granderson is fighting with Verlander for the honor of being Dave Dombrowski’s best draft pick, and is arguably the face of the franchise. He has a real chance of becoming one of the most popular Tigers of all time.

Joel Zumaya, 11th, RHP – He’s been plagued by injuries for pretty much his entire major league career. It seems his claim to fame may also turn out to be his downfall, as you have to wonder if his body can keep up with that triple digit fastball.

Traded Away

Scott Moore, 1st, SS – Shipped to Chicago in the first trade that brought Kyle Farnsworth to the Tigers. He’s improved since he left the organization, but hasn’t cracked the majors for good yet.

Bo Flowers, 5th, OF – He was also in the Farnsworth trade. He’s out of baseball, as far as I can tell.

Out of the Organization:

Matt Pender, 3rd (s), RHP
Robbie Sovie, 4th, OF
Chris Maples, 6th, RHP
Wilton Reynolds, 7th, OF
Troy Pickford, 8th, RHP
Marcos Hernandez, 9th, RHP
Luke Carlin, 10th, C
Corey Hamman, 12th, LHP
Jason Graham, 14th, RHP
Jesse Carlson, 15th, LHP
Michael Smith, 16th, LHP
Rob Watson, 17th, SS
Rafael Mendez, 19th, C
Jason Kennedy, 20th, OF
Corey Loomis, 21st, 2B
Drew Caravella, 23rd, 1B
Jody Roughton, 24th, 3B
Billy Kieninger, 26th, RHP
Damian Myers, 27th, LHP
Everett Hancock, 28th, LHP
David Garcia, 30th, SS
Jason Allec, 34th, C
Chris Steinborn, 36th, LHP
Edward Romprey, 38th, SS
Kevin McDonald, 39th, C
Edgar Ortiz, 41st, 1B

Interesting non-signees: Anthony Reyes, 13th, RHP

Summary: This draft brought in a lot of value between Granderson, Zumaya and what Scott Moore brought in. After all, Farnsworth was flipped for Roman Colon and Zach Miner. Three big leaguers from one draft isn’t a bad haul.

2001 Draft

Made it to Detroit

Ryan Raburn, 5th, 3B – It took Raburn a while to find a role and stick in the majors but after absolutely destroying Triple A pitching for a while, he seems to be in the majors for good now. It wouldn’t be terribly surprising if he was a close to full-time player in 2009.

Donald Kelly, 8th, SS - This is a little deceiving since Kelly has left the system and come back, but we’ll let it slide. He’s not going to ever have a major role with a big league team, but he’s made the majors and if you’ve been following this series you know that’s not easy.

Traded Away

Matt Coenen, 2nd (s), LHP – He was traded to Atlanta in a Rule 5 deal that brought in Chris Spurling. Spurling didn’t do much in the majors, but it was more than Coenen, who doesn’t seem to have pitched in the pros since 2005.

Jack Hannahan, 3rd, 3B – He was traded for Jason Perry, but that was about the equivalent of him being released. Since leaving the Tigers, he’s been a defensive specialist at the hot corner for the A’s and Mariners.

Mike Rabelo, 4th, C – Another pawn in the Miguel Cabrera deal. He barely played in 2009, as injuries have held him down.

Tom Farmer, 7th, RHP – He was traded to the Dodgers, along with Jason Frasor (ouch!), for Hiram Bocachica. Farmer never did much, but keeping Frasor around might not have been a bad thing.

Humberto Sanchez, 31st, RHP – One of the three pitchers in the Sheffield trade and thought to be the best of the three. That may be, but he’s thrown a hair over 50 innings in three seasons with the New Yorkers so we haven’t had the chance to find out.

Out of the organization:

Kenny Baugh, 1st, RHP
Michael Woods, 1st (s), 2B
Preston Larrison, 2nd, RHP
Jason Knoedler, 6th, OF
David Mattle, 9th, OF
Vincent Blue, 10th, OF
Jamie Gonzales, 12th, RHP
Landon Stockman, 13th, RHP
Matt Williams, 14th, OF
Kevin McDowell, 15th, LHP
Dan Smith, 17th, RHP
Alex Trezza, 18th, C
Billy Ryan, 19th, 3B
Jason Moates, 20th, RHP
Francisco Rosado, 22nd, OF
Mike Scott, 23rd, OF
Chris Kolodzey, 25th, OF
Herman Dean, 26th, OF
Mike Kobow, 27th, RHP
Jon Connolly, 28th, LHP
Garth McKinney, 29th, OF
John Birtwell, 30th, RHP
Trevor Leu, 32nd, OF
Michael Howell, 33rd, RHP
Ian Ostlund, 34th, LHP
Chuck Lombardy, 35th, RHP
Jed Stringham, 36th, OF
Thomas Lyons, 40th, RHP

Summary: This group is a little underwhelming. The guys who were traded away were mostly busts and didn’t bring a lot in return. Sanchez is probably the exception. Forgive me, but I just don’t think Rabelo was a big part of the Cabrera deal. Raburn is the only major league regular of the group and he’s kind of a fourth outfielder/bench player type. Perhaps we should have guessed this draft would be cursed with the way the once promising Kenny Baugh and Michael Woods picks turned out.

2000 and 1999 Drafts

There’s not a single player from these two drafts still in the organization, so I’m just going to skip them.

1998 Draft

This one predates the draft archives Baseball America has put online, so I’m going to cop out and point out that Brandon Inge was a second round pick in this draft.

Wrap Up:

This concludes my look back at the Tigers’ drafts that have contributed players to the current Tiger squad. I hope you’ve enjoyed going back to past drafts, even if the Tigers’ haul in those drafts hasn’t always been much to enjoy.