Decisions, at least internally, appeared easier a year ago as the Tigers got ready for the 2023 MLB Draft.

The Pirates and Nationals could haggle over Paul Skenes and Dylan Crews — or, if they were so disposed, Wyatt Langford — and the Tigers would take the guy they wanted and were all but sure would be there: Max Clark, the multiskilled prep outfielder from Franklin, Indiana.

This year is different, much different, as the Tigers get ready for July 14 and their 11th overall pick in the 2024 MLB Draft.A first variance is the draft crop. Last year’s was historically loaded. This year’s, by most accounts, is strong at the top but lightens dramatically after the first 10-15 choices.

Unquestioned at this point ahead of the July 14-16, 20-round sweepstakes is that two college superstars rest atop the board: Charlie Condon, a 6-foot-6, right-handed-hitting Goliath from the University of Georgia; and second baseman Travis Bazzana, a left-handed masher and second baseman from Oregon State.

The Cleveland Guardians made off with last December’s first turn on July 14 and will have the distinct pleasure of choosing either Bazzana or Condon, with the Reds everyone’s guess to take whichever of the two is unclaimed.

The next eight picks figure to be spread among college hitters and pitchers, spiced by a pair of prep shortstops.

That should leave the Tigers with a pared cast of consensus top-15 college hitters — or perhaps with their choice of two teenage shortstops: Bryce Rainer, a left-handed bat from Harvard-Westlake High, in Westwood, California; or Konnor Griffin, a big, right-handed hitting jewel from Jackson Prep High, outside of Jackson, Mississippi.

The Tigers are expected to bypass any of the three top-gun college pitchers, in part because those pitchers — Chase Burns, Hagen Smith, and Trey Yesavage — figure to be gone by Detroit’s turn. More to the point, a certain offense-starved big-league team from Motown also could benefit from having more bats on its batting-thin farm rosters.

Surer bats, which tend to be college hitters, figure to be the Tigers’ focus, especially if there are any scouting doubts about Rainer and Griffin.

Where it all puts the Tigers on July 14 is uncertain when top 10 picks are anything but sure to fall as anticipated, straight into draft night.

But a couple of strong possibilities seem aimed at the Tigers and to an organization’s Scott Harris-ascribed creed about the strike zone.

JJ Wetherholt, a dandy left-handed swinger from the University of West Virginia, fits the Tigers’ motif neatly. He hits the ball hard and obeys a game’s laws about balls and strikes. One problem: Wetherholt easily could be gone by the time that 11th turn arrives.

In such an event, the Tigers might decide their guy is James Tibbs III, another left-handed hitter, and an outfielder from Florida State, who is 6-foot, 200 pounds, and who has slammed 23 home runs in 51 games. In those games Tibbs has 40 walks against 22 strikeouts.

Now, you’re talking Tigers. The current Tigers, anyway, with Harris heading a front office that includes two same-minded disciples on the scouting front in Rob Metzler and Mark Conner.

What isn’t clear is if there could be a curveball coming the Tigers’ way — or, more accurately, a left-handed fastball and repertoire that matches what Arizona prep Cam Caminiti offers.

Caminiti is 6-2, 215, and has struck out 199 batters in 93 2/3 innings. Anyone hinting at Caminiti being a left-handed Jackson Jobe is not, by many miles, off the comparative mark.

Harris has his preferences, of course. But he hired Metzler and Conner for a reason and both had their imprints all over those first three Tigers picks from their first Detroit draft a year ago, which happened to see hitters selected.

Metzler and Conner, however, in their previous lives at Tampa Bay and San Diego, respectively, were part of drafts that on occasion saw prep pitchers taken with first turns. So, it’s not a certainty that bats will be grabbed at 11.

A talent regarded as too good to pass up is ever-enticing to draft execs, so the Caminiti option can’t be dismissed. Nor, conceivably, would East Carolina’s right-handed ace, Yesavage, be shunned by Detroit if he were available.

But percentages, tendencies, and needs must be considered in sizing up a particular MLB team’s leanings heading into any draft. Put it all together in 2024 and the Tigers look like a team ready to grab a bat, again, as was their fixation last July when Clark, Kevin McGonigle, and Max Anderson landed within Detroit’s first three slots.

The Tigers, of course, are saying zero about anything relating to the 2024 talent-hunt. Not a clue, not a hint, not a general observation about the 2024 crop — nothing.

But there rarely is any mystery to MLB drafts and to teams’ heavy interests. Scouts and cross-checkers show up, not to be deployed as decoys across the land’s college and prep diamonds, but to critique over and over every facet of a player’s big-league potential.

Tigers snoops have been paying close attention to all of the names considered to be within their sights at No. 11.

Is there a hitter, perhaps, outside the vaunted top dozen or so, who could come the Tigers’ way?

Absolutely. For that matter, there’s no guarantee Wetherholt won’t have been cold-shouldered by 10 teams, or even that Braden Montgomery, a splendid switch-hitting outfielder from Texas A&M, will have been chomped-on by an earlier selecting club.

It’s possible, also, the Tigers might bite on Seaver King, an infielder/outfielder from Wake Forest, and a big right-handed hitter, although King seems to swing at occasional pitches the Tigers don’t recommend attacking.

In addition to Tibbs — assuming Wetherholt has been slurped-up — the Tigers might prefer outfielder Carson Benge from Oklahoma State. Nice pluses, Benge brings, beginning with a left-handed bat that extends from a body 6-1, 185 pounds, and in 50 games for the Cowboys has produced 15 homers, as well as these numbers: .328/.444/.672/1.116, with 43 walks and 40 whiffs.

Nor can one exclude either of the two prep shortstops, particularly Griffin, whose physical toolkit is dazzling, and whose strikeout rate is perhaps less concerning than Rainer’s.

It’s still a bit hazy, even at this point, as high school games and college schedules are either complete or on the wane.

What doesn’t seem to be in great dispute is that Condon and Bazzana are going 1-2, or 2-1, that the top three college pitchers probably will be gone fairly quickly, and that the Tigers could and should be left with a nice college bat to pluck and plug immediately into their Lakeland, Florida, hatchery.

It might be Wetherholt. It could be Tibbs or Benge. There’s a chance, perhaps, that it’s the youngster, Griffin.

Or, a group of scouting minds hired to bring their collective and distinct judgments to the Tigers’ draft room could offer up a July 14 surprise.

But for those expecting a hitter to be nabbed by Detroit, with emphasis on a standout college batter, percentages are always the best bets when a team’s needs and a player’s skills look as if they’ll happily converge.