I am tired of all the Avila bashing and rehashing and the ex-girlfriend crushes on Dombrowski, so lets discuss who the Tigers will pick in the 2023 draft in Seattle during the All Star break. I really don't think that we will have any earth shattering revelations to talk about until then with the direction now laid out for the roster and the youth movement at hand. Even if Miggy were to somehow get hurt and retire prematurely, I don't think it would cause a big blip on the Tigers process going into 2023 now. So lets contemplate who the Tigers should pick at #3 and then what positions that they should look at later in the draft. New prospect rankings are out or coming out soon and the mock drafts are starting to get posted.

So here are my thoughts on the first three picks. I see Pittsburgh unable to pass on Crews if he has a decent spring and for Washington, they have a slew of OF now in the system so I think that unless Dollander gets hurt of falls apart, that they pick him as a top of the rotation prospect. Now that would appear to leave the Tigers with some interesting options at #3. My next 3 would be Langford, OF, Clark OF, and Gonzalez SS. Personally, I would opt for Clark at #3 if he is still there with the notion that he performs as he has to date this spring. He looks to be a true 5 tool athlete with a cannon for an arm, ++ speed and hitting and contact ability. Great decision making in pitch recognition and ability to barrel up pitches. Great exit velocity #s. An extremely good looking center field option in the big leagues. The only thing that is maybe a bit average at this point is his power but he is very young so it stands to reason that more of that could come with some age and experience. Some might not like the fact that he is a high school prospect and further away from the bogs, but when I look at the current top prospects in MLB, most of them today where drafted out of High School so I really don't mind having the patience for a top ranked CF to develop. Gonzalez is the top SS but I have read that he might just be slightly above average defensively but a very good hitter. He only hit .273 for Mississippi State in 2021 though he did add some power to his stat line. Just an average runner as well. For those reasons, I would try to pick up a SS at #37 and or #45.

If Clark is off the board at #3, right now I would have to say either Dollander SP or Langford OF or Walker Jenkins OF, would be my consideration depending on who had the best spring. Guys to watch this spring for climbing the board would be Maui Ahuna SS at Tennessee and Matt Shaw SS at Maryland. I would concentrate a bit more on pitching after round 2 or 3 unless there was a really intriguing position prospect that went under the radar and the evaluators really didn't want to pass on. We should know a lot more about how both the pitching and position prospects are maturing at the farm by July as well which might have a minor influence on draft day.

What do you guys think