Baseball’s Next Top Prospect Could Be This Youthful Tigers Shortstop

The Detroit Tigers have a huge group of top prospects, but this prospect could rise above them all.

Mar 7, 2021; Lakeland, Florida, USA; A general view of the Detroit Tigers script logo on the building at Publix Field at Joker Marchant Stadium during the spring training game between the Detroit Tigers and the Toronto Blue Jays. | Jasen Vinlove-Imagn Images

The Detroit Tigers are recognized for having one of the best minor league systems in the game. Five of them are considered Top 100 talents.

Now, one will graduate soon in pitcher Jackson Jobe. But the rest need some more experience in the minor leagues. These players, like Kevin McGonigle and Max Clark, are the backbone of the Tigers’ future MLB talent pipeline.

But neither, Baseball America believes, will be baseball’s No. 1 prospect this time next year.

Recently, the publication updated its rankings for May. McGonigle and Clark were among the Top 100. But when Baseball America’s Josh Norris looked ahead to seven prospects that could be No. 1 overall by this time next year, neither highly touted Detroit prospect made the list.

Who did? Bryce Rainer

Why Bryce Rainer Could be Baseball’s Top Prospect in 2026

Rainer, last year’s first-round pick, was a fast-riser in the Top 100 from preseason to May. He went from No. 55 to No. 43.

There isn’t much to go on, in terms of track record. After he was selected last July, the Tigers didn’t assign him to an affiliate. They let him get his work in at their training facility in Lakeland, Fla. After spring training broke, he stayed there to start his first pro season with the Class A Lakeland Flying Tigers.

That is a nod to his talent. Many 19-year-olds head to the Florida Complex League to get started.

Through 21 games the shortstop has raked. He has slashed .278/.389/.458 with three home runs and 14 RBI. He’s shown off some patience, too. While he has 17 strikeouts in 72 at-bats, he has also drawn 14 walks. That’s a ratio most teams will take over a full season.

He was already considered a “toolsy” player, but his production is starting to show up fast. Norris also wrote that Rainer has a “double-plus” arm that makes him a fit at his current position and compared his exit velocity to a pair of highly touted prospects.

“There’s a little work to be done in terms of bat-to-ball, but he’s already produced a stunning 108.5 mph 90th percentile exit velocity, which stands out among his peers and lives in the same universe as prospects like Samuel Basallo and Sebastian Walcott,” Norris wrote.

Basallo is the Baltimore Orioles’ top prospect while Walcott is the Texas Rangers’ top prospect. Both are in the Top 20 in baseball.

Selected No. 11 overall last year out of Harvard-Westlake High School in Los Angeles, Calif., he hails from the same high school that produced current Tigers starting pitcher Jack Flaherty.

The Tigers paid him a $5.8 million bonus to get him to skip college. He’s starting to prove why it was a wise investment.