The Tigers’ farm system looks a lot different now than it did a season ago.
What was once a group tilted heavily toward bats has started to even out, and the pitching side of the ledger is showing up in a big way. MLB Pipeline’s updated list of the 10 farm systems with the best pitching prospects, released Tuesday night, Aug. 25, has Detroit at No. 7.
Pipeline writer Sam Dykstra pointed to the organization’s depth on the mound, with help coming both through the draft and at the trade deadline. Detroit’s lone Top 100 arm, he wrote, is River Ryan, who checks in at No. 66 after coming over in the Tarik Skubal trade.
“The Tigers boast just a single Top 100 arm, with River Ryan (No. 66) recently joining the organization via the Tarik Skubal trade,” Dykstra writes. “But there’s some depth here, with 12 total pitchers in the top 30, five of whom hit Detroit’s top 10. Ben Jacobs has been in the system all year, courtesy of the 2025 Draft, and now he has company: 2026 first-rounder Cameron Flukey and trade acquisitions Kash Mayfield (Casey Mize deal) and Brady Smith (Skubal) are all in the top 10 with him.”
That group has given the Tigers something they didn’t have in the same form before: real volume on the mound inside the system’s upper tier. Baseball America’s preseason Tigers list didn’t include a pitcher in the top 10. Now there are five, and four of them arrived through the 2026 draft and trades.
Jacobs has been one of the biggest reasons for that shift. The right-hander has surged after a strong run between Lakeland and West Michigan, posting a 3.72 ERA, 1.19 WHIP and 115 strikeouts in 82.1 innings.
Flukey, the No. 22 overall pick, has also jumped in quickly. In two starts, he has allowed one hit and no runs over 3.1 innings. He has also walked three and hit a batter, while striking out four.
Not all of Detroit’s new pitching pieces are healthy right now. Ryan and Mayfield have not yet made their organizational debuts because of hamstring issues, and Smith exited his second start with Single-A West Michigan with what appeared to be an arm injury.
At the top of the Pipeline list sits the Miami Marlins. The Baltimore Orioles are No. 4, helped in part by lefthander Joseph Dzierwa, the former Michigan State standout who ranks as the No. 89 overall prospect.
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