Tigers: A Recap Of Riley Greene’s First Summer In The Organization

The Detroit Tigers 2019 first-round pick, Riley Greene, was fresh out of high school but still had a chance to play professional ball over the summer, here’s what his summer looked like.

After graduating from high school, Detroit Tigers first-round pick Riley Greene was able to get a taste of what professional baseball is like and start his journey to the big leagues. Greene was not the ideal pick by the Tigers, but bringing in this outfielder with a lot of time to develop is something the organization felt is best at this time. With some skepticism around his abilities, he was able to make the jump from rookie ball to Low-A to Single-A during the summer.

He spent the most time with the Connecticut Tigers and the West Michigan Whitecaps, playing in twenty-four games with both clubs. In total, Greene played in fifty-seven total games between the three affiliates. Greene totaled .271/.347/.403 with five home runs and twenty-eight RBI’s. After a productive summer campaign that resulted in a promotion for himself, Greene has jumped to be the Tigers’ third-ranked prospect behind starters Casey Mize and Matt Manning.

For those who believe Greene could make his debut to the big leagues for the 2020 season, it will not happen. Greene is still at least a few years away from the big leagues, whether he’s a fifth overall pick or not; he needs time to mature and come into his own. To be clear, he’s a highly touted hitter out of high school, who plays at a caliber where he may be able to make jumps between levels quicker than a later round prospect, which is expected.

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The way it stands, and the most likely scenario would be that Greene stays with Single-A West Michigan to start the season considering he is only nineteen years old and will not be twenty until September of 2020.

If Greene can impress the organization, playing to a higher caliber, he could work his way up to the Single-A Lakeland Flying Tigers affiliate and get his shot at the level.  The very best case scenario would see him getting a chance with Double-A Lake Erie Seawolves if he is THAT impressive, but no fan should expect that.

Greene’s summer showed that he can hit, he can play the game to the point where the potential is there, it’s just a matter of tapping into that potential and excelling.

He was able to make two jumps out of rookie ball and has shown that he has the capability of making further jumps, it’s time to hope that this continues and he can make significant leaps in 2020 within the organization.