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The Detroit Tigers took Florida's Riley Greene with No. 5 pick in the MLB draft in 2019 on Monday, June 3rd in Secaucus, N.J.
Ryan Ford, Detroit Free Press
We do not know if the Detroit The Tigers have chosen to pick choice player Riley Greene with their first pick in the MLB draft of 2019 – we may never know if the powers in place are keeping the story straight – but we know it :
The Tigers made the right choice.
In a repechage that was among the offensive players, the Tigers left the first round with a goal, after defeating Greene with choice number 5 on Monday night.
Riley Greene. (Photo: Riley Greene)
Yes, Greene is a high school student who frequents Hagerty in Oviedo, Florida. Yes, high school students carry more risk than college players. Yes, the Tigers may have been forced to choose their fourth option after the White Sox and Marlins swallowed the second and third hitter in the repechage immediately before choosing Greene.
But when this fifth choice was announced, the Tigers did what they should have done by taking Greene, considered the best preparer for the project by Baseball America, adding an extra element to an agricultural system that is sorely lacking in offensive perspectives. .
[ Yes, Tigers fans: It’s safe to be excited about Riley Greene ]
And do not get me wrong, the Tigers did their homework on Greene: they have a video of him since the age of 14, with strong recommendations from special assistants Jim Leyland and Alan Trammell.
During his last season at Hagerty, Greene averaged .422 with eight homers and a .550 base percentage.
Hagerty (Oviedo, Fla.) Player Riley Greene passes to second base during a match played on May 18, 2019. (Photo: Stephen M. Dowell, Orlando Sentinel)
An hour before the draft, I received an unsolicited text from an AHL official, who said, "FYI – Riley Greene is the best bat of pure preparation in my opinion, Cody Bellinger- esque. "
How is it for the fashionable train? Bellinger is currently the best baseball hitter, hitting at a threatening pace of three times the crown. It's still years before Greene can even feel what Bellinger is doing in the big leagues, but in front of the decision – with the presence of the TCU's southpaw Nick Lodolo – the Tigers resisted the temptation and took the best offensive player available .
The front office is aware of its lack of impact offensive prospects, although they have tried to downplay it by claiming that it would take the best player available at No. 5. They could have engaged in this way last year, with choice # 1, but again, justice triumphed by choosing right-handed Casey Mize, who ranks among the best hopes of baseball pitchers.
The biggest question with Greene is the weather. The pre-selected college bats – California's first baseman Andrew Vaughn and Vanderbilt's JJ Bleday – are expected to be ready within two years, as the Tigers attempt to return to the AL division.
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Time will tell when Greene will be ready, but those who consider it a four-year project must resist: players will determine their development. As a National League official said over the weekend, if the reports his team has received about Greene are accurate, he should be able to push the boundaries of the organization.
For the moment, Tigers fans should take the time to dream about Greene. According to MLB Network analyst Dan O'Dowd, Greene could be an "aircraft carrier", a player likely to play a key role in major tournaments. Yes, the players who were selected before him turned out to be college players. But Vaughn and Bleday are both three years older than Greene, who has split from the pack. He was more successful than No. 2-shortstop Bobby Witt, Jr., of the US team at the Panama Games last summer – and has three more years of pending development.
In two years, while the Tigers may be about to fight again, Greene and the other competitors will be in the limelight, to see how close they are to the majors. But the decisive factor – Greene's potential in his left-wing swing – might not be known at that time.
But we know that the Tigers did what they should, taking the best offensive player possible, although we never know if it was their favorite choice or not.
More: Here is a video of Riley Greene preparing home runs
More: Main hopes of the tigers: statistics for the minor leagues in 2019
Contact Anthony Fenech at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @anthonyfenech. Learn more about the Detroit Tigers and sign up for our newsletter.
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