Detroit Tigers Mock Draft of first 4 selections in 2021 MLB Draft

Round 4, Pick 104: Cale Lansville – RHP, Thunder Ridge (Col.)

To close this mock draft out, I have the Detroit Tigers taking a flier on a high-school arm, Cale Lansville from Colorado. Once again, I still prefer the collegiate talent, but some of these high-school players are worth a look.

Lansville is a right-handed pitcher who has been a phenomenal prep school talent out of Colorado. His mechanics look to be pretty clean; he has high three-quarters, nearly over the top, arm action that plays well for his fastball and curveball combo.

He has worked his fastball up to 94 mph and sits in the low-90s. It’s a firm look and appears to have some life to it. It’s a high-spin pitch that is spin efficient as well; he could see a bump in velocity and sit in the mid-90s as well.

The opposing hitters already have enough to worry about with a deceptive fastball; Lansville makes it even tougher by dropping in a 12-to-6 hammer breaking ball. It’s a heavy breaking ball that disappears into the dirt or low at minimum.

There are times where he throws it a bit harder, and it gets some more tilt to it than the 12-to-6 hammer. Nonetheless, it provides trouble for hitters and keeps them off-balance. So even if he were to add a hard and tight slider to his repertoire ad distinguishing these two breaking balls as separate, it would probably work out quite well for him.

The Tigers would have some competition with another Tigers ballclub for Lansville. He is committed to play college baseball for the Louisiana State University Tigers, but they just announced that head coach Paul Mainieri is retiring. It is just speculation but, this may be some extra motive for Lanesville to turn to professional ball.

His stuff projects well, and he may not be the biggest starting pitcher, but Lansville would be a solid addition to the Tigers organization and farm system.

This wraps things up for this Detroit Tigers Mock Draft. Overall I had the team selecting three collegiate talents and two high-schoolers in their first five picks. The breakdown is the two pitchers to three position players as well.

Time will tell, but these are just a few possibilities for the Tigers early on in the 2021 MLB Draft.