Tigers go light on high-schoolers in MLB Draft. Is it because of NIL?

Nairavoice | Jul 13, 2026 3h ago 71 0 6 min read

Tigers go light on high-schoolers in MLB Draft. Is it because of NIL?

Detroit — As Major League Baseball hits the All-Star break, the Tigers went shopping for their next crop of All-Stars.

The 2026 MLB Draft wrapped up Sunday, and the Tigers took 20 players in 20 rounds, including 13 pitchers and seven position players. The Tigers also went as leaned on college players as they’ve gone in the era of Scott Harris, who has been president of baseball operations since 2022. This was the fourth draft under Harris.

The Tigers took just six players out of high school, and 14 out of college. (Complete pick-by-pick analysis Tigers go light on high-schoolers in.) The six out of high school is tied with the fewest under Harris. They also took six out of high school in 2025. The Tigers only selected two players out of high school in the first 10 rounds in 2026. Their first pick in the 11th round, a highly rated hitting prospect named Will Adams from Alabama, also was a high-school selection.

https:%2F%2Fmedia.zenfs Tigers go light on high-schoolers in MLB Draft. Is it because of NIL?

Tigers executives were asked Sunday night if that split had anything to do with the new landscape of college athletics, where players can be paid handsomely with NIL money by going to college rather than going pro early.

“We’re always aware of the baseball landscape, said Rob Metzler, assistant general manager and vice president who oversees the Tigers’ scouting. “I think it’s just the way the draft board fell this year.”

Dominic Pellegrin, a shortstop out of Louisiana, was the first high-schooler selected by the Tigers in 2026, in the fourth round Saturday. They then took third baseman Robert Omidi, out of St. Martin Secondary School in Ontario, in the eighth round. Pellegrin is committed to Tulane, and Omidi is committed to Kentucky.

The signing-bonus value for Pellegrin’s slot is $614,500, and Omidi’s is $225,300. Both could demand more to pass up on college, and the Tigers have a modest bonus pool of just over $9 million to spread around. More than two-thirds of that figures to go to their top three picks, all college players, including first-round pick Caeron Flukey, a right-hander out of Coastal Carolina whose slot is valued at more than $4 million.

The slot values end after the 10th round, so it’s up to the Tigers and other clubs to work the phones and do some back-of-the-napkin math to figure out how to make 20 picks that can be signed.

That makes the pick of Adams, 18, a first baseman and corner outfielder out of high school in Alabama, such an intriguing one. He was taken in the 11th round, 336th overall. MLB.com’s pre-draft rankings had him at 102.

Adams’ commitment to LSU might’ve had a lot of other teams shying away from taking him, but the Tigers felt he was worth the pick, given what MLB’s draft analysts called one of the “prettiest left-handed swings” among high-schoolers in the 2026 MLB Draft class. It’s a shorter swing, Tigers brass said, but with some pull-side power potential.

Mark Conner, Tigers director of amateur scouting, said, “He’s got a chance to be a pretty dynamic hitter and we’re excited to have him.”

That’s if, of course, they do end up having him. Draft picks face a signing deadline of 5 p.m. July 27. If a pick isn’t signed, a team loses that slot value from its pool, but there’s no penalty for not signing a player after the 10th round.

There was some definitely pre-draft buzz surrounding Adams, Alabama’s Gatorade high school player of the year, possibly even going as high as the second round.

Metzler declined comment on the signability of any of the Tigers draft picks, but he did stress that his lieutenants do their homework.

“I would highlight the relationships … our staff make with players to understand what their goals are and what’s going to be their best development path,” Metzler said Sunday. “I thought we were very prepared for what options might come our way and we’re excited with how it played out.”

The Tigers’ other high-school picks in 2026 were right-handed pitchers Dustin Dunwoody (15th round, California), Jack Byers (17th round, New Mexico) and Will Zielinski (20th round, Alberta).

On Day 2 of the MLB Draft, which featured the final 16 rounds, the Tigers used three of their first seven selections on players who were ranked by MLB.com higher than where they Tigers ended up selecting them, including Oregon shortstop Maddox Molony (taken 187th, ranked 176th), Omidi (taken 246th, ranked 207th) and Adams.