The Detroit Tigers are selecting at No. 24 overall in the 2025 MLB draft, their lowest top pick in more than a decade. Here's what to know on Day 1.
The Detroit Tigers have one first-round pick in the 2025 MLB Draft— or two, depending on how you look at it.
The 2025 MLB Draft will take place from Sunday, July 13 to Monday, July 14, with Rounds 1-3 on the first day and Rounds 4-20 on Day 2. After a resurgent 2024 season that saw the team make the playoffs for the first time since 2014, the Tigers will have the No. 24 overall pick, their lowest top pick since selecting 91st overall in 2012.
The Tigers have found recent success developing first round picks, with first-round selections Casey Mize (2018), Riley Greene (2019), Spencer Torkelson (2020) and Jackson Jobe (2021) all turning into regular contributors on the big league team until Jobe underwent Tommy John surgery. Tigers president of baseball operations Scott Harris took over the team in 2022 and has selected top prospects Max Clark (2023) and Bryce Rainer (2024) in his two drafts at the helm.
Every Tigers' first-round pick since Mize in 2018 has come in one of the draft's first 12 slots. However, with the Tigers' playoff success, Detroit has a late-round pick for the first time since 2017 (No. 18 overall).
The No. 24 pick isn't the team's only first-round pick, however, depending on how you look at it. Here's the breakdown:
What first round draft pick do the Detroit Tigers have?
First round: No. 24 overall.
Competitive balance round: No. 34 overall.
Since draft slot assignments are somewhat reflective of a team's performance from the previous season, the Tigers landed the No. 24 overall pick in the first round of the draft resulting from the team's playoff appearance in 2024.
The Tigers also have the No. 34 pick in a round between the first and second— not exactly a first-round pick, but not quite a second-round pick, either.
What is a competitive balance pick?
The Tigers' No. 34 pick falls in what is known as a competitive balance round, a group of picks between the first and second rounds. Some of these picks are handed to teams with small revenue pools (Detroit, Seattle, Minnesota and Miami) while others are a 10-pick penalty for teams that exceeded the second threshold of the Competitive Balance Tax (New York Yankees, New York Mets and Los Angeles Dodgers).
The Tigers were awarded the second competitive balance slot on Dec. 5, 2024, from what MLB calls "a formula that combines revenue, winning percentage and market score to award Draft picks to teams that fall in the bottom 10 in revenue or market size." Eight teams were selected for the competitive balance Round A, while seven others were selected for Round B.
While typical draft picks cannot be traded, competitive balance picks can be used as trade pieces. The Boston Red Sox, Baltimore Orioles, Tampa Bay Rays and Dodgers all acquired a competitive balance pick through various trades, and the Tigers have the option to trade their No. 34 overall pick before the draft, as well.
There are two additional types of picks between the first and second rounds: prospect promotion incentive picks and compensation picks. The Tigers do not have either of these types of picks, with the Kansas City Royals the only team to receive a prospect promotion incentive pick (after Bobby Witt Jr.'s top-three finish in the 2024 American League MVP vote) while three teams have an early-round compensation pick: the Arizona Diamondbacks, Baltimore Orioles (two picks) and Milwaukee Brewers.
The Tigers third pick is in the second round at No. 62 overall.
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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Tigers MLB draft: Here's when they pick in first round
Category: Baseball
