As the start of spring training nears, many blogs, newspapers and other media are taking a look at the health of each clubs farm system. These reports are high-level and spend most of their time harping on the top prospects. Most of these reports are also generally the same in overall content, coming to roughly the same conclusion as to the health of the teams minor league prospects. That is why the report over at the Detroit News caught my eye, the DetNews on our farm system:

It is why the Tigers’ run likely was anything but a one-season phenomenon. Talent has spilled into the farm system’s pipeline.

This didn’t mesh at all with what I was reading through other sources. There is no doubt that there is incredible talent still waiting in the minor leagues for Detroit, but is there really depth?

Here are a few other sources with different opinions:

• Scout.com has good commentary on the Tigers minor leagues. Here are a few quick summaries from a few of the editors.
• The Minor League Ball blog has a summary of the Tigers 2007 prospects.

While I am waiting for Baseball Prospectus’s thoughts on the matter in their current look at all teams prospects with ‘Future Shock’, I wanted to take my own look at where the Tigers farm system talent lies right now.

One challenge that Detroit has moving forward is one of continued success. This involves carefully balancing the use of prospects from the clubs Minor League teams and the acquisition of talent through trades or free agency. This is something that can easily go wrong leaving the team with overpriced free agent talent that isn’t producing and a weak farm system from trades, etc.

So far the Tigers are certainly not in dire straits by any means, but many prospects have moved on and out of the farm system. Some in great ways such as Justin Verlander, Joel Zumaya, Curtis Granderson and some to trades such as Humberto Sanchez. (Who is apparently enjoying his trade back to home.) The Tigers also have a few players up for free agency themselves in the coming years and this could cause issues as stated in the BA Top 10 Tigers Prospects:

But the long-term forecast for the system’s position players appears somewhat less certain-except, of course, for outfielder Cameron Maybin. He’s among the best prospects in all of baseball and could be Detroit’s regular center fielder by 2008.

However, three key Tigers-shortstop Carlos Guillen, third baseman Brandon Inge and catcher Ivan Rodriguez-could be free agents at the end of 2007, and there are no obvious in-house successors. Detroit’s top three farm clubs led their respective hitting leagues in strikeouts, and like the big league roster, their position prospects lack patience and power, especially from the left side.

While a little outdated due to the Inge signing, the basic premise is worrisome. This lead me to want to take a quick look at how the Tigers system stacks up currently, primarily for the infield since of the top 10 prospects eight of them are outfield or pitching.

• 1B – I will leave Chris Shelton out of this as we all know of him and his potential, so that leaves us with Jeff Larish. Jeff was taken in the 5th round of the 2005 draft out of Arizona St. He spent last year playing High A ball in Lakeland hitting a .253 avg but ending with an 839 OPS. Jeff universally is seen as a great prospect for the Tigers, unfortunately not one that is seen to be paying dividends until at least 2009. This is probably just fine with Shelton part of the team still.
• 2B – Scott Sizemore is one of the Tigers top prospects overall. Scott, like Jeff Larish, was taken in the 5th round but in last years draft. Scott spent time in Low A Oneonta putting up an impressive .327/.394/.435. While a hot prospect he is quite likely years out from the big leagues.
• SS – Maybe the most important position, depending on how the Tigers handle Guillen, the Tigers have Mike Holliman waiting in the wings. Holliman spent last year in West Michigan with the Cameron Maybin, though not putting up the same numbers. He wasn’t far behind though with 278, 15 HR, 54 RBI.
• 3B – With Inge getting re-signed this position isn’t urgent however the Tigers do have an Ohio State’r in Ronnie Bourquin. Ronnie was grabbed in the 2nd round last year and put up good numbers in Oneonta. Again he is way to new to call.
• C – As important as the shortstop position, the Tigers lack a real good catching prospect.

Looking over this made me feel much better about where we are at as the Tigers have a pretty good setup for the next year, maybe two, with the biggest spot needing filled being a catcher. The Tigers have nobody in the wings, unless they think they could use Vance Wilson in an everyday role but I don’t see that happening.

While I feel a bit better than I had I have nowhere near as rosy a picture as the Detroit News would have you believe.

One a side note, I was curious why it seems that top prospects are always new prospects and ran into a reasonable justification over at Baseball Prospectus. Give it a read, i found it interesting.
How do you feel about where the Tigers currently sit with their Minor League talent?