While the prep pitchers have dealt with injury, the Detroit Tigers continue to do well in the college ranks. Outside of Jackson Jobe, most of their pitching success on the farm has come from finding undervalued college arms like Troy Melton, Jake Miller, Andrew Sears, Lucas Elissalt, and Jaden Hamm. Other than Melton, the group hasn’t quite broken through at the major league level yet, and the Tigers dealt away a pair of solid young prospects in Josh Randall and Micah Ashman, both college draft picks,
in trades last July. For the first time in Scott Harris’ tenure running the club, the Tigers took a college pitcher in the top two rounds last summer when they selected Oklahoma right-hander Malachi Witherspoon with the 62nd overall pick. We’re excited to see his pro debut this spring.
Witherspoon and his twin brother Kyson were both notable prep pitchers and they went to Oklahoma together, eventually heading up the Sooners rotation in their junior seasons. Kyson was the more successful of the two, but Malachi has huge stuff and simply hasn’t been able to refine his command enough. He spent his junior year striking out plenty of batters when he was on, and falling behind too often and giving up walks and homers when he wasn’t. It was a disappointing junior season with an ERA over 5.00 for him, and his draft stock slipped out of the top rounds as a result. The Tigers were apparently confident they could make him a much more consistent strike thrower, and drafted him in the late second round last summer. They paid him full slot value at $1,448,700, so it wasn’t as though they got a discount either. We’ll see if this minor gamble pays off.
The powerfully built, 6’3” right-hander certainly has the stuff to succeed. Witherspoon has routinely hit 98-100 mph while sitting comfortably in the 95-96 mph range as a starter. The fourseamer has good riding action with a little cut, and the Tigers, as we mentioned in Michael Massey’s scouting report, seem to be hunting for that shape a bit these days. Tarik Skubal himself is a prime example of a pitcher who can really jam opposing handed hitters with a riding fastball that looks like it should tail back into the strike zone, but never quite does. Thrown inside to right-handers, Witherspoon’s heater does feature a bit more late tailing action that ties hitters up and generates a good whiff rate. The problem remains commanding it, and this has been Witherspoon’s issue since the Jacksonville, Florda native’s days in high school, when his raw stuff was already getting him some notoriety.
Witherspoon backs up the gas with a plus slider in the upper 80’s with a traditional shape. He’ll also throw a cutterish version around 90 mph, and can snap the slider off into more of a sharp, downward diving version for whiffs when he wants it. He also has a good 12-6 power curveball in the lower 80’s. He throws with a really sound delivery and a pretty standard three-quarters look, but doesn’t seem built to turn over circle changeups or sinkers very well. He might be a splitter candidate, or perhaps the beneficiary of seam-shifted changeup like Skubal’s, because otherwise his changeup is well behind his main offerings and shows no signs of developing into a major league caliber pitch.
The big issue here is command, and there isn’t really an obvious flaw in his delivery to pin it on. His stride direction can sometimes get a bit out of whack, but otherwise it just seems like rhythm and timing issues that may be tricky to correct. He shows pretty good balance and a nice clean arm path. He gets solid extension and resists well with his lead leg to help generate velo without excessive upper body effort. Oklahoma has a pretty good pitching program, and couldn’t really crack the case in two seasons of working with him after Witherspoon transferred there after a freshman season at the JUCO level.
If the command doesn’t improve significantly, it may be that Witherspoon ultimately has to simplify his pitch mix and work in relief. So there’s certainly some real relief risk despite his durability and pretty ferocious pitch mix. However, the upside here is definitely as a frontline major league starting pitcher. If he’d thrown more strikes last year the stuff alone would’ve made him an easy first round pick in the draft. If he figures it out he’ll be a top 100 prospect by season’s end.
All his issues have been present for a while and he had plenty of eyes on him in his junior year, so the Tigers must have a plan to help him spot the fastball and avoid the occasional bouts of spiked sliders that plagued his junior year. If they can get him sorted, this is going to look like a steal and Witherspoon could move very quickly toward the major leagues. Presumably he’ll be starting for West Michigan this season as an advanced college starter. If things come together he’ll be in the upper minors by year’s end and could be ready for a debut sometime in 2027.
