The Curious Case Of Danny Worth And The Undeveloped Prospects

Mar 20, 2014; Melbourne, FL, USA; Detroit Tigers second baseman Danny Worth (29) tosses a baseball to a fan during a game against the Washington Nationals at Space Coast Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports

On Friday, Danny Worth was part of the solution to replacing the injured Jose Iglesias. On Monday, he was headed to back to the minors.

Danny Worth and Hernan Perez were sent to the minors today in the final cuts to the roster. Ausmus said Worth was a “tough cut” considering how he has been swinging the bat this spring.

"He swung the bat extremely well. By all accounts, it is the best that people in this organization have seen him swing the bat. I told Danny it’s kind of a Catch-22 situation,” Ausmus said. “We like the idea of having more experience at shortstop, but the only way you can get experience is by playing. He was extremely gracious about it. There’s a very good chance that, at some point (this year), we’ll see Danny Worth.”"

Despite manger Brad Ausmus’ optimistic view of the situation, chances are good you won’t see Danny Worth before the end of the season. If Brad Ausmus and Dave Dombrowski were concerned about Danny Worth’s lack of “experience at shortstop” they wouldn’t have traded for Andrew Romine. Danny Worth has played in 115 games over parts of four seasons with the Detroit Tigers. Not a ton of experience but not exactly rookie level either.

If “experience” was what the Tigers were looking for then why trade for Andrew Romine? Romine has also played for parts of 4 Major League seasons but has only played in 74 games.  Seems if the Tigers were really looking for experience they would have kept Worth instead of trading for Romine.

The ugly truth is that since being drafted in the 2nd round of the 2007 draft, Worth has never risen to the Tigers expectations. For whatever reason they don’t trust Danny Worth (even as a platoon player) at shortstop over the course of a major league season.

It is understandable that the Tigers want to help Danny Worth save face but they should also recognize the fact that for whatever reason Worth failed to develop over the last 4 seasons.

Worth is not the only prospect the Tigers have ignored in recent years. In fact when is came down to it the Detroit Tigers have found it necessary to trade for or sign free agent shortstops despite having Danny Worth, Ramon Santiago and Hernan Perez in the system.

None of these prospects were talented enough to fill a need at the major league level?

Can this be attributed to a lack of ability to evaluate middle infield players or an inability to develop talent?  The years in which the Detroit Tigers have to spend freely on payroll are quickly waning.  At some point they will have to develop their own Major League talent instead of trading for or signing someonelses.