The Arizona Fall League is getting one of the Tigers’ most intriguing young bats. On Sunday, it was announced that 21-year-old outfielder Zyhir Hope will join the Scottsdale Scorpions this fall, giving Detroit’s system another high-end name to watch in the desert.
Hope’s path to this point has already been a winding one. He’s one of the two key pieces Detroit sent to the Los Angeles Dodgers in the Tarik Skubal trade, and he finished the regular season at Double-A Erie after the move.
He also played at that level in both organizations. Across the season, Hope put up 29 home runs, 26 stolen bases, a combined 128 wRC+, a 25 percent strikeout rate and an 11.1 percent walk rate.
After some adjustment issues following the trade, he’s closing strong, with three homers and a 1.094 OPS in 10 games in September.
Hope is headed back to the Fall League for a second time after also playing there in 2024. Rafael Neda, the Milwaukee Brewers’ Complex League manager and minor league field coordinator, will manage the Scorpions this fall.
There’s plenty to like in Hope’s profile. He sprays the barrel to all fields, owns raw power that’s just a shade under 70 grade, and pairs that pop with above-average speed, a strong arm in right field and a disciplined approach at the plate. That combination gives him the look of a future power-hitting outfielder who can help in more than one way.
The question, as always, is the swing-and-miss. Hope is only 21 and has already had plenty to process after being moved from the Cubs to the Dodgers to the Tigers over the last two seasons.
Even so, he keeps doing damage and drawing walks. The strikeout rate is still a little higher than ideal, but for a player his age already in Double-A, he’s right where he needs to be.
His left-handed swing has natural loft, and he can drive the ball hard to every part of the zone, which gives him a real chance to be productive in the majors. The risk comes from how much more he can tighten the contact profile.
That’s part of why Hope draws comparisons to Bryce Rainer in Detroit’s system. Both bring value on defense and the bases, both have big power for their age, and both need to clean up some approach issues to strike out less as they move up.
Hope is further along and more experienced, but neither player fits the mold of the pure hitters that Kevin McGonigle and Max Clark were when they came through. Still, they’re not one-dimensional sluggers either, and both could end up doing serious damage in the middle of the Tigers’ order.
Detroit used the Fall League a year ago for a few different purposes. McGonigle went to work on his defense with Alan Trammell, while Max Anderson and Jack Penney also got reps there.
In those cases, the Tigers had hitters who were already too advanced for the pitching typically found in the desert. More broadly, the league is often used to give extra at-bats or innings to players who lost time during the season, especially early in the five-week schedule when plenty of pitchers are still getting their work in.
The Tigers haven’t announced any other names for this year’s Fall League roster. Several pitchers missed significant time but returned to throw well in July and August, and it remains to be seen whether former top draft picks Owen Hall, Paul Wilson or Michael Massey will be sent to build on that late-season momentum. Left-hander Jake Miller, who is already on the 40-man roster, missed almost the entire season, though his availability for October is uncertain.
One name that stands out is right-hander Kelvis Salcedo. The 20-year-old has some of the best stuff in the system, but minor injuries limited him to 36.2 innings. He finished healthy and pitching well, which makes him a strong candidate for a trip to Arizona.
Josue Briceño is another possibility. The catcher-first baseman missed the first half after wrist surgery, then went right back to punishing Double-A pitching.
His 15-game stint at Triple-A Toledo started slowly, and then he sprained an ankle on August 30 and hasn’t played since. If he’s healthy in time, the Fall League could offer more reps to close the year, especially at first base, where he appears headed but has not played much.
That said, Briceño already obliterated Fall League pitching in 2024 as a 19-year-old, winning league MVP and the Triple Crown, so the main benefit this time might simply be extra defensive work.
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