Embed from Getty Images Major League Baseball has awarded what they call the competitive balance draft picks since 2012. That is the good news. The bad news, the extra draft pick goes to the worst team in baseball. That team last season was the rebuilding Detroit Tigers.
The Detroit Tigers received an early Christmas gift this week, landing the 69th overall pick in the 2020 MLB Draft. The draft slot is sandwiched between the end of the second round and beginning of the third round. This is the first time Detroit has been awarded the competitive balance pick in the organizations history.
In the 2020 MLB Draft in which the Detroit Tigers hold the No. 1 overall pick they will also receive an additional pick in competitive as a means of speeding up the teams rebuild.
By receiving a competitive balance pick it includes a built in bonus of receiving extra international bonus pool money, The Tigers, picking in round B, will get a minimum of $5.75 million, as opposed to the normal $4.75 million.
Coming off of their worst year since 2003, the Tigers have been in a downhill slide since 2015. Fans want to know when the team will be competitive again. It is probably safe to say 2020 will not be a whole lot better for the Motor City Kitties.
All will not be lost however. 2020 could be the year that Detroit sees top prospects like Casey Mize, Matt Manning, and Isaac Paredes at the major league level during the season.
After the 2020 season, the Detroit Tigers have a lot of old bad contracts coming off the books. That is when the team will begin to add players for the next title run.
It will not be until 2021, when all the organizations top prospects are in Detroit that the team will go after big name free agents. So, if Detroit’s prospects and free agent signings are not complete busts, 2022 is the year that Detroit will start looking competitive again.
This season and next look to be rough, but if everything goes well, these tough years could pay off in a big way. Starting in the 2020 MLB season it will be worth checking the progress of the top prospects as they take the next step in development.
