Scott Harris, the Detroit Tigers president of baseball operations, said this week he expects several of the organization’s top prospects to contribute to the major-league club in 2027.
They’ll bring with them some credentials. MLB Pipeline on Friday, Oct. 2, revealed its final top 100 prospect list for 2026, which includes four Tigers prosects. Among that quartet, one made his Tigers debut this month, while two more could make their debuts next season.
Outfielder Zyhir Hope, the centerpiece of the Tigers’ return from the trade that sent ace Tarik Skubal to the Los Angeles Dodgers, leads the way at No. 26. He’s followed by shortstop Bryce Rainer (44), pitcher River Ryan (64), and catcher/first baseman Josue Briceño (86).
Tigers outfielder Max Clark, a mainstay in evaluators’ top-100 rankings since he was selected No. 3 overall in the 2023 MLB Draft, recently graduated from prospect status.
Ryan, a rigthander who also came over in the Skubal trade, made a pair of September starts for the Tigers, including three scoreless innings in his debut. Hope and Briceño were among those who Harris said he expected “them all to contribute to our team next year.”
Hope, 21, finished the season with 29 home runs 111 RBIs, and 26 stolen bases between Double-A stops in Tulsa and Erie, hitting a combined .287 with an .880 OPS. He and Rainer are competing in the Arizona Fall League, which opens Saturday.
Tigers’ new No. 1-ranked prospect speaks softly, but hits hard
Briceño was among the biggest droppers on the new list, tumbling 20 spots from No. 66 after an injury-shortened 2026 season.
” … Briceño began his year with right wrist surgery and ended it with a right ankle sprain — two injuries that allowed him to play only 32 games at the Minors’ upper levels,” Dykstra writes. “The 6-foot-4 left-handed slugger has special power, but he’s played more than 56 games in a campaign only once since reaching full-season ball in 2023.”
Pipeline’s updated top 100 wasn’t a “full revamp,” writer Sam Dystra said, but more or less a freshening up of the list based on “market corrections.” The Tigers were one of 14 organizations with at least four prospects in the top 100. The Dodgers, Baltimore Orioles and Seattle Mariners led the way with six apiece.
The Orioles contingent includes two with ties to the state of Michigan. Former Michigan State standout Joseph Dzierwa, lefthanded starter, is ranked No. 69, and Ike Irish, an outfielder/first baseman who starred at Orchard Lake St. Mary’s, is at No. 95.
Dzierwa was one of the bigget climbers on the list, moving up 17 spots. He was a finalist for the minors’ top pitching prospect of the year after reaching Double-A Chesapeake in his first full season after he was selected No. 58 overall in the 2025 MLB Draft.
“Dzierwa could have been forgiven if he’d wilted down the stretch of a breakout first full season,” Dykstra writes, “but that didn’t happen; in fact, he had a 2.32 ERA with 33 strikeouts and six walks over his final six starts (31 innings) for Double-A Chesapeake. The 6-foot-8 southpaw made it through 131 innings in his first Minor League campaign, and even if his changeup is the closest thing to a plus pitch in his bag right now, his exceptional command and control kept him successful throughout 2026 and fueled his rise in the ranks.”
Caleb Bonemer, an Okemos product who is in the Chicago White Sox system, is No. 27.
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Tigers place 4 prospects in MLB Pipeline’s final top 100 list for 2026
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