Evalutating Tigers Draft Pick Jake Thompson

By Sean Gagnier
@SeanGagnier 

The Detroit Tigers had to wait until the second round of the 2012 MLB Draft, because they had given their first rounder to the Milwaukee Brewers as compensation for Prince Fielder. With their first pick of the MLB Draft the Tigers selected Jake Thompson out of Rockwell-Heath High School, a prep school in Texas, and Texas Christian University commit.

Thompson stands 6-foot-4 right-handed pitcher and tips the scales at 234 lbs, but at only 18-years-old the solid righty still has some growing and maturing to do.

ESPN says that Thompson is a big, mature bodied pitcher who has a fastball that clocks in at around 88-92 m.p.h., with it touching 94. His pitches have good life on them but he needs work on his slider, which currently is average, at best.

On the face of it Thompson looks like the prototypical Dave Dombrowski draft pick; a big pitcher that can hit the mid-90's. But with Thompson coming out of high school he can still blossom from where he is right now, and become a pitcher that Detroit could really use.

Currently, Thompson uses his slider as his out pitch, which could be a problem if he doesn't improve it. While it does have late life on it and makes batters miss, there is still room for improvement, as there is with any high school player.

Thompson is not just a terrific pitcher, he also excels with the bat. At Rockwell-Heath Thompson not only serves as the team's ace he also leads the Hawks in every offensive statistic.

The versatility that Thompson possesses is something that the Tigers would be happy to have in their system and they believe that they can lure Thompson away from the Horned Frogs and TCU and into their farm system and on the way to wearing the Old English "D."

Detroit has had a history of signing high school players, which may come in handy when dealing with Thompson, and with him serving as their first selection of 2012 he may be able to command a considerable payday.

If Thompson does indeed sign on the dotted line, it shouldn't take him too long to move through the Tigers organization and be knocking on the door to Detroit. Depending on how he develops and how the Tigers see him progressing he could either become a very successful bullpen pitcher, perhaps closer, in the near future or as a solid outfielder.