The Tigers entered 2026 with a real problem on their hands: the upper levels of the farm system looked thin, and the major league club had already felt the pain of lacking starting pitching depth in 2025. That picture has changed fast.
A wave of development across the system has given Detroit a much healthier pool of arms to track, and if 2027 opens with more minor league baseball than expected, there should be no shortage of Tigers pitchers worth watching.
Jake Miller is one of the most established names in that group. The 25-year-old left-hander is at Double-A Erie and has been in the organization since 2022.
His minor league line shows the kind of upside the Tigers have been waiting on: a 3.29 ERA across 180 2/3 innings with 212 strikeouts, good for a 10.6 K/9. That said, the early part of his career was rough, as he put up a combined 7.56 ERA over 50 innings at ages 21 and 22.
Health has been the major question with Miller. Back issues surfaced in 2023 and were followed by an undisclosed hip injury in 2025 that forced him to compensate physically before he eventually had labrum surgery on both hips in October 2025.
Stuff-wise, he brings a fastball that sits 93-94 mph and can touch 96-97, with a delivery that helps it play better than the radar gun suggests. He also has a fading circle changeup that works especially well against right-handers, plus two slider looks: a more traditional version in the 84-86 range and a slower sweeping shape that can dip to 79 mph.
If he stays on the mound, he could help quickly out of the bullpen, with some outside chance to start.
Lucas Elissalt might have been the biggest surprise in the system in 2026. The right-hander, who finished the year at Double-A, was once viewed as a crafty arm coming out of the 2025 draft.
That profile has changed in a hurry. He now shows a 94-96 mph fastball with upper-90s potential and a hammer curveball that MLB Pipeline described as having “five feet of drop.”
At age 21, he posted a 3.98 ERA with 116 strikeouts over 92 2/3 innings between High-A and Double-A. The jump to Double-A wasn’t seamless, but his strikeout rate actually climbed in that 17 2/3-inning sample to 14.8 per nine.
Scott Harris has already pointed to him as one of the arms who could be used out of the bullpen as soon as next season.
Ben Jacobs sits at the top of this group. The left-hander made a huge first-year impression in professional baseball, striking out hitters at a 12.9 K/9 clip.
The issue was command, with four walks per nine leading to a 1.148 WHIP even though he allowed fewer than seven hits per nine innings. If he trims the walks without losing the punchouts, a call-up next season is in play.
Jacobs’ fastball sits 93-95 mph, but the pitch stands out because of its 18-19 inches of induced vertical break, which makes hitters see it as rising at the top of the zone. His changeup is another plus pitch by movement and produced a 44% whiff rate in year one.
He also mixes in a high-70s curveball, mostly to lefties. There is still polish required, but scouts around the industry view him as having the highest ceiling in the system.
Kash Mayfield remains another major name to keep in mind. The left-hander was the primary return in the Casey Mize trade, and that deal still looks favorable for Detroit.
Mayfield’s 2026 season ended early after just one start because of a hamstring injury, but the rest of the year was strong: a 3.54 ERA over 56 innings with only 6.8 hits allowed per nine. He shares some traits with Jacobs in the sense that his delivery helps three different pitch shapes play up, and he carries a strong strikeout profile.
The Tigers have every reason to be excited about where his development goes in 2027.
The lower levels have their own interesting names, too. Malachi Witherspoon stands out most among the Low-A group thanks to an upper-90s fastball, though he still has pitch-shape issues to iron out.
Kelvis Salcedo, just 20 years old, is another intriguing relief option after posting a 14.1 strikeout per nine rate. Owen Hall was mentioned by Harris as a possible reliever as well, but he likely needs more time after logging a 6.07 ERA over 56 1/3 innings with 33 walks.
Beyond that, a few more arms made real noise in 2026. Cale Wetwiska jumped from relative obscurity to become the Tigers’ 21st overall prospect.
Jackson Wolf, the other player from the Casey Mize trade, turned in a 1.62 ERA over 33 1/3 innings after entering the system with an ERA well over 7 for the year. Cam Flukey, the first-round pick from the 2026 season, got a handful of Low-A appearances late in the year and looked sharp; MLB Pipeline currently ranks him as the Tigers’ No. 5 prospect.
Brady Smith, acquired in the Skubal trade, struck out 118 batters over 80 2/3 innings, though command issues and injuries mean he is not expected to factor until at least 2028.
Some of these arms will backslide, and others will pop in ways no one can predict. That part never changes. But the Tigers have clearly built a more interesting pitching pipeline than they had a year ago, and under the Harris regime, that’s one of the clearest reasons for optimism heading toward 2027.
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