Detroit Tigers: Top 20 prospects going into the 2020 season
By Tyler Kotila
Nick Quintana, 3B, Single-A in 2019
Back in 2016, the Boston Red Sox would take a flyer on third baseman Nick Quintana out of high school, drafting him in the eleventh round. Quintana would ultimately opt to play college baseball at the University of Arizona, where he developed his tools and became a second-round draft pick by the Detroit Tigers in the 2019 MLB First-Year Player Draft. Quintana is fresh out of his junior year of college, meaning he is only twenty-two years old and has only logged sixty-six games with Tigers affiliates.
The right-handed hitting third baseman spent his time with Low-A Connecticut Tigers who have since rebranded as the Norwich Sea Unicorns, and Single-A West Michigan Whitecaps. He stands 5-foot-10, weighing in at 187-pounds as a former shortstop who moved to the hot corner while with the Arizona Wildcats. Quintana will spend 2020 as his first full season with the organization after being selected.
In his sixty-six games with the two affiliates, he swung himself to a .194/.273/.280 slash line with two home runs, seventeen RBI, walking twenty-five times and striking out eighty-two. During his twenty-five game tenure with the Low-A Norwich, he hit much better, producing a .256/.347/.719 slash line but only popping off only one home run with four RBI. The pop in his bat has not shown up in the minor leagues but should develop as it did during his time in college.
Quintana shows off his pop as a pull-hitter; he can be an aggressive pull hitter. He can go the other way and drive the ball to the opposite field, but generally speaking, he focuses on getting his pitch and pulling it into leftfield or left-center. Looking at him defensively, Quintana fares well, featuring a strong arm and excellent reaction time.
One of the best things about Quintana’s defense is his ability to keep the ball in front of him, similar to current Tigers infielder Jeimer Candelario. The defense may not always be the smoothest, but his quick reaction time allows him to keep the ball in front of him, and having the strong arm helps him recover and still get them out in some situations.
MLB Expectations: Being that Quintana has just entered into the Detroit Tigers system, and this is only his second full season with the team, it is hard to gauge his big-league role. If all goes well, the pop in his bat develops, his defense continues to be reliable and gets better, Quintana can be a corner infield threat for the organization.
Pulling the ball and driving runners in as a middle of the lineup bat. This is all contingent on the idea that Quintana’s talent continues to transfer amongst the minor league levels on his journey to the big leagues.