Let’s dive into part two of our 2026 BYB preseason prospect rankings review. Each player has our preseason report linked to their name if you’d like to go back and take a look. Basically we’re just taking a quick look through the whole 51 player list to see whose stock trended up or down, or stayed neutral. We’ll go through our normal re-ranking with complete scouting reports on each player this winter.
We’ve never done this formally before, and with a potentially very long offseason looming, I thought
it would be a good time to take a look back. Feel free to ask any questions in the comments, and to roast me in particular for under or overvaluing certain players. It’ll be fun.
This set actually does have a couple of players who really broke out in a big way. One of whom I was lower on than some of the other sites perhaps. Again, remember these scouting reports were all published last winter, before we got a look at guys in spring camp or any injury updates from the prior season. With that said, let’s take a look at our 31st through 40th ranked prospects from the preseason.
This isn’t a re-ranking. We’ll get to that this winter when the new reports come out. For now, this is just a breezy look back at the list and how each player performed during the season. Everyone below had a 40 FV grade on them in the preseason.
31. 3B Nestor Miranda
This 20-year-old third baseman combines enormous power potential with a riskier hit tool. He was expected to play in the Florida Complex League, but instead suffered an undisclosed injury and missed the whole season. We don’t generally write international free agents up until they’ve come stateside, but there have been enough eyes on him because of the bonus that we’ll trust it for now.
Miranda received the biggest bonus in the Tigers 2024 international free agent class, getting $1.5 million in the first full Scott Harris class. FanGraphs has a future 80 power grade on him, which is the maximum, and he already shows plus power and a solid eye for the strike zone for his age. He also boasts a strong throwing arm and solid hands, though his range is below average and may not improve too much considering his six-foot-three, 225 pound build.
The fly in the ointment is that Miranda struck out quite a bit in the DSL as well. He was still 18-19 years old in his two seasons there, but the hit tool is going to have to improve a lot or Miranda will go the way of former top IFA bonus babies like Cristian Santana and Jose de la Cruz, whose power potential is undercut by limited contact skills and defensive ability. Miranda may slip a bit in the rankings due to inactivity this spring, but that’s partly just a function of the uncertainty. Otherwise it’s pretty much a hold until we see him back in action.
Stock: Neutral
32. OF Roberto Campos
Speaking of big time IFA signings, there were none bigger under Al Avila than the Tigers record $2.85 million bonus given to Campos when he turned 16 back in 2019. His progress has been frustratingly slow, and he missed most of the 2026 season with injuries. Now 23 years old, the clock is starting to tick rather loudly for Campos as he was Rule 5 eligible last winter, left unprotected, and was without any takers.
However, there are some positives to report this year, too. Campos continues to improve his approach and chase less and less. His walk rates have really spiked the past two seasons, and he’s managed to trim his strikeouts as he’s moved up from High-A to Double-A. After missing most of the regular season, he rehabbed and was promoted almost directly to Double-A in August. With the SeaWolves he posted a 15.5 percent walk rate and a decent 22.6 percent strikeout rate to close out his first look at the level with a 130 wRC+ mark. He’s a solid enough right-fielder with a fairly good arm who made progress in his route running after a lot of sloppy play in his early years in pro ball. The ingredients for a right fielder with average or better power production are in place, and the Tigers could certainly use a big right-handed bat to add to the lineup, if only on a part-time basis.
The key for Campos is finally translating his raw power into in-game production. He continues to put the ball on the ground over 50 percent of the time, and until that changes his power is still more potential than reality. Still, Campos won’t turn 24 until next summer, and while it was a brief 21 game run at Double-A, he managed the jump successfully. Progress has been slow, but he continues to get better bit by bit. If he can tap into more power and refine his overall game a little more the Tigers could still have a nice fourth outfielder to balance out the left-handed hitters. Right now it’s still decidedly a longshot.
Stock: Neutral
33. RHP Hayden Minton
This right-hander was a late bloomer in college and the Tigers hoped to catch a little lightning in the bottle in another pitcher from a smaller, out of the way program in the 2023 draft. Minton has good traits, like over seven feet of extension and good spin rates on his breaking stuff. Unfortunately, despite his six-foot-three frame, the velocity never really arrived consistently as a starter and he struggled to develop his slider into a consistent weapon despite occasionally showing some potential with it. The Tigers finally converted him to relief and moved him up to Triple-A Toledo late in the season.
Minton only pitched nine innings for the Mud Hens, but he did rack up some strikeouts in that brief set of appearances. The problem is that, despite the extension, Minton is still 93-94 mph even as a reliever and leaned heavily on a mix of fourseamers, sinkers, and curveballs, only mixing in the changeup here and there to left-handed hitters. That pitch has potential, and Minton does have some feel for mixing fastball types and changing speed. We hoped he’d finally translate those spin rates into an improved slider or try a cutter instead, but it didn’t come together this year. At this point Minton doesn’t really have an above average, whiff generating pitch.
He’s been durable so far, and able to keep the ball in the park, but without a little bigger stuff those are the traits of a potential depth starter and not much more. On the plus side, he reached Triple-A and his overall numbers on the year were decent. The extension and shifty pair of fastballs feels like a pitcher the Rays or Brewers would get throwing 97 and using a cutter to me, but so did Sawyer Gipson-Long. It just doesn’t happen for everyone no matter where they’re coached and Minton will turn 26 next season. We’ll see if the switch to short, max effort outings in relief sparks anything stuff-wise this offseason.
Stock: Neutral
34. RHP Cale Wetwiska
Ok now I have happier news to report because I love me some Cale Wetwiska. We were a little cautious on the 20-year-old coming out of a JUCO program, thinking it might take him a year or two to really find his footing in pro ball. Instead, after missing much of the first half he emerged in late June and showed off good power stuff that could make him a top 100 prospect in time, or see the Tigers convert him to relief and rapidly move him through the system.
Wetwiska averaged 95.4 mph with his fourseason fastball at Single-A Lakeland, topping out at 98 mph, and at his best was getting 18-19 inches of induced vertical break. Not outrageously good, but above average or better, particularly at the top of his velocity range. He’s only six-foot-two, but he’s also just 21 years old with a lean frame that could certainly handle some more lean muscle to translate into consistent high-90’s velocity. Meanwhile, his 86 mph slider is a classic rifle spin power slider that should get a lot of whiffs for him if he can refine his command of the pitch.
Wetwiska is younger and a little more raw than top college starters, but this is a really nice power arm. The Tigers went well over slot to land him in the seventh round in the 2025 draft, and it’s easy to see why. He has a balanced, athletic delivery already, throwing from a high arm slot with strong ability to spin the baseball. His arm path and supinator release traits say he’ll never develop a circle change, but some kind of splitter or a straight changeup variant would help him neutralize lefties and develop into a quality mid-rotation arm. He does mix in a cutter and a curveball, but both are behind the slider right now. It’s possible that if he differentiates the cutter from the slider and starts throwing the former in the low-90’s, he might be able to tie up lefties with it inside, and then fish for strikes away from them with the curveball. That would alleviate the need for an offspeed pitch.
Wetwiska is a good candidate to convert to relief and move quickly to the Double-A level, but he’s talented enough to be patient for now. My assumption is that they’ll keep him starting next year and try to work up that third pitch at the High-A level, and try to get him to Double-A before the Tigers decide whether to convert him or not.
Stock: Up
35. LHP Ben Jacobs
Of course, if it’s happy news we want, look no further than 2025 third rounder Ben Jacobs, who broke out in a big way in his first pro season and may be featured on some top 100 lists this offseason. The lefty had plenty of traits the Tigers liked, along with a few mechanical issues Jacobs was able to address last offseason while also adding some good muscle. Everything translated quickly to pro ball. He saw a bump in velocity with very good induced vertical break marks on his fourseamer. He averaged 94 mph with it and drew whiffs at a 43.9 percent clip in Lakeland before moving up to High-A West Michigan in the second half. He struggled there for a few starts, fighting his control and issuing a lot of walks, but the whiffs still piled up and once he settled in, he tore that level up as well with a 35.1 percent strikeout rate. Jacobs should be ready to tackle Double-A in year two.
The lefty backs the fourseamer with a quality slider-splitter combination and will dump in a solid curveball here and there as well. We thought that with a modest velocity bump and better command of his main pitches that Jacobs could eventually develop into a backend starter with mid-rotation upside. He got all of that accomplished in his first full season of pro ball.
The addition of Cameron Flukey with the Tigers first round pick this summer may keep Jacobs out of the top spot among Tigers pitching prospects (not including River Ryan), but it’s pretty close between the two. Jacobs was absolutely overpowering this year when his command was on. A few less waste pitches and more consistent fastball command is about all that’s standing between him and a major league debut later next season or early in 2028. If his stuff continues to tick up, he’s a lock to make top 100 lists by midseason of 2027. I’m already comfortable putting a 50 grade on him, but others will want to see his command dialed in a little more. He’s not far from major league ready, but the last steps are tough as he looks to stretch out his workload beyond 100 innings next year.
Stock: Way up
36. RHP Ryan Hall
The Tigers paid this right-hander just shy of a million dollar bonus after drafting him out of high school in the fifth round of the 2025 draft. After seeing a slew of big bonus prep pitchers immediately succumb to injuries, we’re a little gunshy on those prep profiles. However, Hall did manage to throw some innings in the Complex League in his age 19 season, and that’s better than we can say for most of the Tigers prep pitcher picks the past few years.
Hall has good riding action on his fourseamer, and in the Complex League he was sitting 94-95 mph and flashing a solid slider and changeup. Control was pretty spotty and he walked nearly as many batters as he struck out, but he’s still just a teenager and has the athleticism to project average command in time. At least he pitched and showed power stuff right away, which is more than most of the Tigers prep picks the last few years have managed.
Hall only threw 11 innings before he was shut down in July, so it’s hard to make too much of his work this year. It was just good to see him looking pretty much as advertised on draft day. Next year he’ll turn 20 in April and the Tigers can send him to Single-A Lakeland and start building him up. Probably he’ll only be slated for around 70-80 innings at the age of a college sophomore. This probably won’t be a quick project, but Hall has pretty advanced stuff and will move as fast as his command and health allow.
Stock: Neutral
37. INF John Peck
Another player I do wish I’d had a grade higher is infielder John Peck. This thought hit almost immediately in spring camp where he emerged looking stronger and more muscular than in 2025, and it translated to batspeed that helped him handle the leaps he made through the system in 2026. By season’s end, Peck was playing some shortstop for the Detroit Tigers after skipping right through Triple-A with only a brief look.
Peck was a little overwhelmed at the plate in his brief major league debut, but he didn’t really get the prep time in Toledo that most prospects require to adapt to better and better pitching. So I’m not taking much away from his results. Most of the issue was small sample batted ball luck, as Peck did a nice job in terms of walks and strikeouts. He just didn’t flash much of his average raw power yet.
At shortstop, Peck posted average grades, which was pretty impressive as he’s had a rough go at shortstop at times in the minors. He’s been bumped around the infield some and I expected more of a future utilityman than a starting shortstop. His improvement has him on the doorstep at least, and he could certainly break through next year. I’d put a 45 on him now, and that’s pretty impressive stuff from an overlooked, small bonus draft prospect.
The Tigers continue to fill in the gaps between their bigger bonus expenditures in the draft with athletic college players who can hit, expecting that some power will develop later. Peck and outfielder Brett Callahan are both excellent examples and each ran through Double-A to the major leagues this year. The Tigers lack of right-handed hitters who can play anywhere in the infield is a hole Peck could fill in the years ahead, at least on a part-time basis. Nothing in his skill set really wows you, and until this year I mainly envisioned him as a short side of a utility platoon. Instead, he’s continued to develop a really solid collection of tools, with speed, plate discipline, contact ability, power, and the ability to handle shortstop. Pretty impressive move straight from High-A this year from the 24-year-old infielder. If Peck can settle in as just a productive hitter in 2027 and keep refining his defensive game it will be huge for the program. His glove gives him more margin for error as a hitter than Hao-Yu Lee, Eduardo Valencia, or Max Anderson possess.
Stock: Way Up
38. LHP Paul Wilson
The Tigers 3rd rounder in 2023, who received an overslot bonus of $1.7 million, lefty Paul Wilson spent almost three full years only occasionally emerging off the injured list before heading straight back to it. Finally in 2025 he had UCL reconstruction surgery, and didn’t return until this summer. With the Tigers unwilling to provide any injury details in most cases, it was hard not to assume the worst.
Happily, the soon-to-be 22-year-old Wilson emerged from his rehabilitation to throw 24 innings between the Complex League and Single-A levels in 2026. The raw stuff was pretty impressive, and Wilson piled up plenty of whiffs and strikeouts, but his control was still non-existent much of the time. His running fourseamer and sinker averaged just a bit under 95 mph, and he racked up a ton of whiffs with his good mid-80’s slider.
At this point, with three years lost and no quality offspeed pitch to offer, Wilson looks like a pure reliever, and his command is going to have to get way better to become useful. However, he also hasn’t pitched much and was coming back from Tommy John, so the lack of control isn’t much of a surprise. He has the potential to be a pretty nice lefty reliever if he can finally stay off the IL for a year and get regular reps in.
His stock isn’t going up, but at least this season he avoided sliding further down the ranks. The sinker-slider combo is pretty nasty if he can corral it, and better command will see him move quickly into the upper minors next year unless the Tigers decide to try and stretch him back out into a starter. He’d need an offspeed pitch to make that work. The Tigers will probably work with him to develop something along those lines, but he looks more like a dedicated lefty killer in a bullpen role. Still, after so much time away, it’s wise to give it a year and see what a healthy offseason does for him.
Stock: Neutral
39. LHP Ethan Schiefelbein
The Tigers spent slightly more of this prep lefty in 2024 than they had on Wilson in 2023, but the results have been similarly bleak so far. Schiefelbein is a year younger than Wilson, but in two full seasons of pro ball, he has just nine innings under his belt and didn’t pitch at all this year after dealing with shoulder trouble for most of 2025. Unlike Wilson, Schiefelbein was drafted as more of a command/control lefty with a deep pitch mix and the size and wingspan to grow into more of a power pitcher as he filled out. As with Wilson, we’ll keep Schiefelbein in the top 50 rankings another year, but he will turn 21 in the spring and really needs to get right and start making progress next year or we’ll finally have to drop him. He’s still young enough to turn it around even a few years down the road, but there’s just nothing much to say about him at this point.
Stock: Down
40. INF Peyton Graham
The Tigers second rounder in the 2022 draft, Peyton Graham got off to a very disappointing start to his pro career in 2023-2024. He struggled to get to his average raw power, and he remained too mistake prone to play major league caliber shortstop. Things finally moved in the right direction this season, as Graham broke through to Double-A and had a nice season with the Erie SeaWolves. Graham racked up 66 stolen bases to tie outfielder Seth Stephenson as the duo set a new franchise record for stolen bases. It helped that the Eastern League only allowed one pickoff throw this season. Tony Cappuccilli’s squad took full advantage all year long. More importantly, Graham also hit pretty well, launching nine homers and racking up a lot of extra base hits while posting solid walk and strikeout rates.
I really liked the pick of Graham at the time for his speed/power combination and his solid plate discipline in college at Oklahoma. That was a lot of player to land in a second round shortstop after missing out on Zach Neto in the first round. Graham suffered a lot of minor injuries his first two seasons and was never really right, so we tried to be patient and were finally somewhat rewarded this year.
The question is what to do with him now. The progress with the bat was nice to see and reverses his declining trendline until this year. He trimmed some whiffs from his profile and was more selective in his swing decisions this year. Still, despite speed, agility, and solid arm strength, he remains a fairly light-hitting prospect and remains too mistake prone in the infield to view him as a defensive specialist. Graham has the speed to play center field and has gotten some reps out there, but he’s still mostly playing at second base and shortstop, where his struggles to throw accurately on the run, along with a tendency to flub a play too often, makes it tough to envision him as a regular part of the Tigers infield.
There is a potential role for him as a versatile speed player, but it’s a narrow path for the now 25-year-old. He has to clean up his defense in the middle infield and perhaps expand his defensive resume to the outfield as well. If he were to manage that, it’s not hard to see him as a 26th man in the big leagues for a while, but he’s running out of time with the Tigers. Hopefully his improvements this season carry into a bigger breakout with the bat in 2027.
Stock: Up
