Detroit Tigers: MLB adding rounds to 2021 MLB Draft only helps draft class
By Tyler Kotila
The Detroit Tigers have the third overall pick in the 2021 MLB Draft, which will only help them as they start to build their rebuild further and further. The Tigers were slated to only see five rounds or ten at most in the 2021 MLB Draft due to COVID-19 changes; however, this has changed.
Commissioner Rob Manfred opted to extend the draft up to twenty total rounds meaning plenty more amateur talent will be selected this summer. The First-Year Amateur player draft has been a blessing for the Detroit Tigers organization in recent years.
The Tigers front office has done a great job with talent evaluation in recent years to help build an all-around sound draft class by making good picks. General Manager (GM) Al Avila has done a phenomenal job in the last two years, even during a COVID-19 season, to build a great draft class.
When you have the first overall selection, the draft class is going to be anchored with the best talent in the draft, but Avila did a good job making decisions on players for rounds two through five to piece together a good group of players.
The expansion to twenty rounds for the 2021 MLB Draft only helps the Detroit Tigers rebuild.
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Looking back on last year’s draft, Spencer Torkelson was the player who got all of the coverage, but day two of the draft was still a great day for the Tigers farm system.
Avila made all-around phenomenal selections that only better the rebuild with players like Daniel Cabrera, Dillon Dingler, Gage Workman, and Colt Keith to close things out in the fifth and final round.
Traditionally the MLB Draft is forty rounds, but the pandemic required high schools and colleges around the world to shut down their 2020 seasons and even have delayed starts to the 2021 season.
These effects meant a change was needed, and in this case, the league opted to drop the number of rounds down from forty but have since been bumped back up a little to twenty.
This means the Tigers will add twenty players to the farm system after the 2021 MLB Draft.
On top of that, the twenty players may not all be studs, but they have a chance to find some diamonds in the rough, and it seems like Avila is going to do a good job of this. With his recent drafting track record, he deserves good grades based on how things have worked out.
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With any luck, the Tigers will continue to stock their farm system for the duration of this rebuild and era of competition with the players they pick in the 2021 MLB Draft. Having 20 rounds and 20 picks to work with will only benefit the Tigers and their lengthy rebuild.