The 2026 MLB amateur draft is now less than a month away. After all the preseason chatter and rise and fall of hot draft prospects, we are finally getting down to the point where draft board start to firm up. At the same time, this is when the gamesmanship really picks up, with teams hiding their interest in certain players and talking up others, all while trying to feel out signing prices for their favorite overslot bonus candidates.
MLB Pipeline’s most recent mock draft still has the Tigers selecting
Georgia prep standout Trevor Condon with the 22nd overall pick. The outfielder clearly fits the Tigers established preference for left-handed hitting prep players who can play up the middle and have good contact skills. The only time the Tigers have deviated from this with first round and competetitive balance A round picks was when they selected Bryce Rainer in 2024 in the first round. Rainer checks all the boxes except the high contact hitter requirement, but his developing 70 grade power and huge arm strength made him well worth the pick despite the higher risk profile.
Condon has double plus speed and should stick in center field and plays with an aggressive style both in the outfield and on the bases. He reminds me of Max Clark, playing with a lot of intensity and flair, without quite the high-end contact ability the Tigers’ current top prospect possesses. Baseball America likes the Cincinnati Reds to take Condon with the 18th overall pick, so we’ll have to see if the Tigers even get a crack at him.
Pipeline mentions alternatives like prep 3B Bo Lowrance out of Greenville, South Carolina, or Mississippi prep 3B/C Cole Prosek. Of those two, Prosek seems the more likely choice, especially if the Tigers believe he can stick as a catcher. Finally, prep switch-hitting shortstop Aiden Ruiz is also mentioned, and frankly if Condon is gone, an underslot deal for Ruiz might be most likely. Ruiz makes a lot of contact and has the skills to stick as a plus defensive shortstop, though he’s probably going to top out a little short of average power.
Baseball America, expecting Condon to be gone already, projects the Tigers to take Ruiz at 22nd overall. They also mention Prosek, and fellow prep left-handed hitters Connor Comeau and London Thome as alternatives.
Comeau is a 6’4” shortstop with a pretty good hit tool despite his lanky, long-limbed frame, who is committed to Texas A&M. He lacks speed, and may be better suited at third base. The hit tool is appealing, and he should have at least average power.
Thome, son of Jim, is also a left-handed hitting shortstop. The bat is more of selling point here as he has good recognition and bat-to-ball skills already. He also has a little more power potential than Comeau due to his demonstrated ability to pull a lot of balls in the air, though he’s probably even more likely to move to third base.
Another interesting wild card in the mix is Stanford commit Tyler Spangler. The northern California prep shortstop played for Concord De La Salle. He has an advanced eye and makes a lot of quality contact, and his 6’3” frame has plenty of room to add muscle and get to eventual plus power. That would alleviate concerns if he loses some quickness and has to move to third base. His swing could probably use a little work, as he has a little of Bryce Rainer’s tendency toward bottom hand dominance, lagging the barrel a little excessively.
Spangler barely played this season due to a back injury, and he’s expected to be tough to sign if he doesn’t go pretty early in the draft, as Stanford can throw some real NIL money at him. There are some who think Spangler is still one of the top prospects in this draft, however, and he does fit the Tigers type both as a player, and in terms of being a bit more of a risk/reward play due to the injury and lack of exposure this spring.
Of course, the Scott Harris front office, led in the draft by assistant GM Rob Metzler and amateur scouting director Mark Connor, have avoided pitchers in the first round, but it’s not impossible that this could change. Their strategy of concentrating much of their bonus pool beyond the top round into prep pitching talent has been a failure so far, and the upper levels of the Tigers’ system are decidedly lacking in pitching talent. Perhaps they’ll change gears, but more likely they’ll continue their pivot toward JUCO and college arms beyond the first round, taking RHP Malachi Witherspoon in the second round last year, while continuing to snipe prep pitchers a little later on.
