They like smooth, dynamic swings, the more left-handed the better, with all the high-ceiling, velocity-handling, strike-zone-observing, ball-crunching, power-evolving skills and projections a prep athlete can display on a baseball field.

And if you check the above boxes, while deftly manning an up-the-middle position, it’s even more likely the Detroit Tigers will make you an early-round draft pick, as they did Sunday night in grabbing two prep prizes:

Jordan Yost, a shortstop from Sickles High in Citrus Park, Florida, who went to the Tigers at No. 24 overall, in the first round of the 2025 MLB Draft; and Michael Oliveto, a 6-foot-3 catcher from Hauppauge High on Long Island, New York, who was on his way to Yale, at least until the Tigers made him the draft’s 34th overall pick.

The Tigers reversed course with their next two picks Sunday in the opening rounds of a 20-round draft that will continue Monday. They opted for college pitchers, beginning with Malachi Witherspoon, a 6-3, 215-pound, right-handed fire-baller who pitched this spring for the University of Oklahoma alongside his twin brother, Kyson, who earlier Sunday was the Red Sox’s first-round choice.

They next snatched a left-handed starter, Ben Jacobs, from Arizona State. He is 6-1 and earlier pitched at UCLA before relocating to ASU.

Yost and Oliveto are, of course, left-handed hitters. So, too, are Max Clark, Kevin McGonigle and Bryce Rainer, who happen to be the earliest Tigers picks in Detroit’s previous two drafts, all since Scott Harris arrived as Tigers front-office chief.

Those players likewise were high-school talents. And it was hard Sunday night to miss the common strains, right down to those left-handed bats.

The Tigers are betting in all cases on early-stage brilliance that can reach heights the Tigers’ science-soaked development staff intends to deliver as Yost and Oliveto are molded on Detroit’s farm.

“We feel like we got two really exciting high school players at premium positions, and two pitchers with athleticism,” said Jeff Greenberg, the Tigers’ general manager.

“Honestly,” said Mark Conner, the Tigers’ director of amateur scouting who wasn’t buying thoughts the Tigers particularly favor left-handed sticks, “it’s all about attributes — athleticism, bat-speed, ability to control strike zone. Left-hand hitters, switch-hitters …”

Or, sure, right-handed — the Tigers simply insist on a range of traits Yost and Oliveto had repeatedly shown Detroit’s scouts.

“Jordan, we’ve seen him for a couple of years,” Conner said of an 18-year-old who is 6-foot and 170 pounds, and whose hometown sits just north of Tampa, about 50 miles from the TigerTown complex in Lakeland. “We saw the progression of his body and frame.

“The kid walked into high school and was 115 pounds. Over time, his body has matured. Our guys scouted him during summer, winter, spring, and our group identified him as a target.

“We really liked his swing, and his defensive actions. First and foremost, he’s still a young kid,” said Conner of a shortstop who last spring hit .412, with a .548 on-base percentage, stole 28 bases — and struck out but once the entire season.

“He has wide shoulders and will add strength. We definitely see bat-to-ball skills that are an elite trait. Over time, power will come — he’s going to learn to get to it.”

Oliveto? A different story entirely, as often is the case with players and their limited seasons in the north.

He made something of a 2025 draft debut last October at the WWBA World Championship showcase at Jupiter, Florida, where Oliveto busied himself destroying pitching, tantalizing scouts, and filling laptops with data on how his big body might become something truly lethal at the plate.

There also was the matter of that Yale scholarship waiting — an offer that now is expected to be bypassed in favor of a Tigers seven-figure contract.

“We got to know Michael,” said Rob Metzler, the Tigers’ assistant general manager who oversees scouting. “There were a lot of touch points. But the staff’s done a great job getting to know him well. Makeup is crucial. And that intelligence is going to help him.”

Help, he’ll definitely need, by all accounts, as the Tigers work on a teen’s catching skills that typically are a long way from professional-grade. Oliveto’s background working short seasons on Long Island means there will be especially heavy classroom time ahead.

“We saw him catch quite a bit,” Conner said, gently noting that the pitching Oliveto was catching in the northeast was naturally on the softer side. “He has all the attributes, the athleticism, body movement. We’ll harness a lot of that: throwing, footwork. But all the characteristics and traits are there for him to be a really good catcher.”

In snaring two college pitchers Sunday, the Tigers again appeared to be making talent investments: taking pitchers who might be groomed into something significantly more than now appears, particularly in the case of Witherspoon, whose big right arm perhaps needs time with a lion-tamer.

In his 15 games with the Sooners in 2025, Witherspoon had a 5.09 ERA and 1.39 WHIP, while throwing 74.1 innings, all to the tune of 78 hits, 32 walks and 91 strikeouts.

He has a fastball that can approach triple digits — and a considerable amount of TigerTown doctoring ahead.

“Over the last couple of years, he’s progressed with his strike-zone ability,” Conner said. “But he’s a big, strong, powerful athlete who has a really good arm. He’s a tireless worker who will get the most out of his ability. Everything leads to him trending up.”

Jacobs is more of an artisan pitcher. He does not overpower with his fastball but shows craftsmanship with his overall repertoire. He started 16 games for the Sun Devils, threw 83.2 innings, and had a 4.95 ERA paired with a 1.39 WHIP, built on 71 hits, 45 walks, and an impressive 120 punchouts.

“Ben Jacobs has an athletic body,” Conner said, “and a foundational fastball that we think we can build a starter’s repertoire around.”

The Tigers will attempt Monday to build a multi-dimensional 2025 draft class around a final, exhaustive 17 rounds. This was necessitated when Commissioner Rob Manfred’s office decided to trim the usual three-day MLB draft into back-to-back sessions, Sunday and Monday.

The Tigers have reason to like how it began Sunday, even with those deeper draft turns created by their playoff-strong season in 2025.

But they need more resources on the Tigers’ farmlands. They’re permitted to think they picked up their share in Sunday’s earliest rounds.