Tigers Underrated Prospect Reportedly Mashed Home Run Off Tarik Skubal in Camp
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The Detroit Tigers went into camp with all eyes on their top prospect Kevin McGonigle in his first big league spring training, and it makes sense why that was the case.
While McGonigle is likely going to help this team in a huge way this year and may even have an outside shot at being on the roster out of the gate, it was a different youngster who stole the show during Wednesday's live batting practice session.
According to a story from Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free Press on the ground in Lakeland, during Tarik Skubal's -- also known as the best pitcher on the planet -- live batting practice session, Detroit No. 3 prospect Josue Briceño mashed a home run off the repeat American League Cy Young winner.
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Josue Briceño Crushes Home Run Off Skubal in Tigers Camp
"It was a bad pitch, right down the middle," Skubal said via Petzold after the fact before describing how impressive the blast was. "When they clip it like that, you know it's gone...He launched it, I think [the exit velocity] was probably 115 mph off the bat. Way back. Yeah, way back."
As Petzold would go on to point out, the most impressive aspect here may be the fact Briceño is a left-handed hitter, going up against not just the best pitcher in baseball but a guy who absolutely mows down fellow lefties.
While camp is certainly the time for any pitcher to work out kinks in his delivery, location, and everything in between, the fact that Briceño did not waver going up against Skubal and was able to take advantage is extremely impressive for such a young hitter.
"He had some really competitive at-bats," Skubal continued. "Very competitive left-on-left..."I don't know how many left-on-left homers I've given up in my big-league career. It's not a long list. The ones that I remember are Kyle Seager and Freddie Freeman. Honestly, that might be it. I don't remember many left-on-left homers, so he clipped it. A hell of a good swing."
Could Briceño Push for Tigers Debut This Season?
In all likelihood, while the home run from Briceño is encouraging, he is not going to be ready this season and Detroit may not need him to barring injury with Dillon Dingler and Jake Rogers in the fold.
Briceño struggled mightily after making the jump from High-A to Double-A, going from a slash line of .296/.422/.602 to .232/.335/.381 as the competition step up was just a bit much for the 21-year-old to keep on raking.
Long term, he still projects out very encouragingly, but the Tigers are not going to rush him along by any means while he is still developing and only in his first ever big league spring training.
Nonetheless, homering off Tarik Skubal is something that will raise headlines all the way back to Detroit, and if Briceño has become a bit forgotten behind the likes of McGonigle and Max Clark, nobody is going to forget about him now moving forward.
Michael Brauner is a 2022 graduate of the University of Alabama with a degree in Sports Media. He covers various MLB teams across the On SI network and you can also find his work on Yellowhammer News covering the Alabama Crimson Tide and Auburn Tigers as well as on the radio producing and co-hosting 'The Opening Kickoff' every weekday morning on 105.5 WNSP FM in Mobile, Alabama.