COMSTOCK PARK >> Before the 2023 season, the Tigers’ farm system was ranked 25th by MLB Pipeline. After that draft, Scott Harris’ first as the Tigers’ president of baseball operations, MLB Pipeline posted a reranking, and had Detroit 13th.

Today, MLB Pipeline lists the Tigers first.

That’s quite the spring up baseball’s prospect food chain, and the organizational talent boost started when Harris took a high-school outfielder named Max Clark with the third pick of the 2023 draft, then a high-school infielder named Kevin McGonigle 34 picks later. They’re the face of the Tigers’ bottom-up rebuild, and they’re A-OK with that.

“When you look at it, five, six years ago, we were bottom 10, if not the bottom when it comes to in terms of our farm system. And here we are No. 1,” Clark said recently at LMCU Ballpark, where he’s starting a second season with the High-A West Michigan Whitecaps, along with McGonigle.

“We’re surrounded by top-100 prospects, and even guys that aren’t in the top 100 are just electric.

“It’s insane. There’s so many good players at every single level.”

The Tigers entered the season as one of just five major-league teams with six players in MLB Pipeline’s top 100, starting with a member of their current starting rotation, Jackson Jobe, at No. 4. Clark is No. 5, McGonigle is No. 27, infielder Bryce Rainer is No. 50, catcher Thayron Liranzo is No. 79 and first baseman Josue Briceno is No. 92.

Clark, McGonigle and Briceno, the breakout star of this past Arizona Fall League, all are 20 and all are at West Michigan, though McGonigle is on the injured list with an ankle injury after playing just one game. Still, the Whitecaps are off to a 4-1 start in large part to an offense that current Whitecaps have fancied as one of the best in High-A ball.

Not just this year. Perhaps ever. That drew a chuckle from second-year Whitecaps manager Tony Cappuccilli.

“That’s up to them … it looks great on paper,” Cappuccilli said of his Whitecaps, who’ve scored 35 runs in their first five games. “They actually do believe that. They’re not just saying that.

“They probably really believe this is the best roster ever assembled.

“I hope that keep believing it.”

Said outfielder Seth Stephenson, a seventh-round pick out of Tennessee in 2022 who stole 60 bases at West Michigan in 2024: “A lot of young talent here, so it’s gonna be fun.”

Clark, a center fielder, and McGonigle, a shortstop, joined West Michigan last summer, creating big-time buzz in this northern suburb of Grand Rapids. The Tigers gave each of them some cameos in spring training and liked what they saw, and Harris and Co. could’ve started them at Double-A Erie. But McGonigle broke a bone in his hand late last season, after arriving in West Michigan, so his development was slowed a tick.

And the Tigers like the idea of Clark and McGonigle, friends before they were drafted, moving up the chain together.

Neither one has shown a lick of disappointment about being here, rather than in Erie.

“Ultimately, if you don’t like it, play better,” Clark said. “That’s kind of like our motto.”

“I just play where my feet are and play the best I can,” said McGonigle, whose timeline for return from the ankle injury is unclear. “If I stick to that, I’ll end up in a good spot at the end of the year.”

It’s interesting that Clark (homer, nine RBIs, 1.135 OPS in his first five games on 2025) and McGonigle (two hits in the one game he has played this season) are such good buddies, given their personalities differ. Clark is the outgoing one, with the tattoos and the chains and the bandana and the social-media following. McGonigle is much more measured, in his wardrobe and words, and, if you didn’t know better, you’d think he was a coach.

But they’re both ultra competitive, and thrive on winning, Cappuccilli said.

They did a lot of winning last season for a Tigers’ minor-league system that was 396-318 in 2024, for the best overall record in all of baseball. Add that to the fact Detroit made the MLB postseason in 2025, and you see how why the baseball experts are so high on the Tigers.

“We’re obviously heading in the right direction,” said Cappuccilli, standing in front of a new, indoor batting cage at LMCU Ballpark, which also has been outfitted with a new home clubhouse as part of a major, multi-year renovation project for a stadium that opened in 1994 and has been home to a Tigers’ affiliate since 1997. The Whitecaps hitters are especially pleased the fences were moved in as part of the renovations. “And it starts at the top with scouting and bringing in good players. … I mean, we’re better coaches when we have good players. So, it’s nice that we have the quality of players that we have, and it becomes more competitive … from Triple A all the way down.”

Clark feels the same way, especially about Harris. “The guy knows how to draft, he knows how to develop,” Clark said.

The Triple-A Toledo Mud Hens are stocked with a half-dozen or so players who could’ve easily made the Tigers’ roster out of spring training, including third baseman Jace Jung and starting pitcher Keider Montero. That’s also where fellow infielder Hao-Yu Lee is playing, too. Liranzo is at Double-A Erie, as well as right-handers Jaden Hamm and Troy Melton. Rainer and right-hander Owen Hall are among ones to watch at Low-A Lakeland, though Rainer has been sidelined since getting hit by a pitch in the head last week.

Clark said the Tigers’ minor-league system is so loaded with talent that they actually got more out of playing intrasquad games than playing against other minor-league teams this spring.

And Clark is the face of the movement, and it’s a role he relishes, especially when he’s live-tweeting about the Tigers. If the Tigers are playing and he’s not, you’re going to get a tweetstorm ? until he, himself, takes Detroit by storm.

“When the Tigers are playing good baseball each and every night, it’s really fun to just go on and talk with other Tigers fans,” said Clark, who considers his high rankings a blessing more than a burden. “It’s special baseball. You can see it.

“You can see it in the big leagues.”

In the big leagues — and, most definitely, beyond.

1. Jackson Jobe, RHP (Tigers)

2. Max Clark, OF (High-A)

3. Kevin McGonigle, SS (High-A)

4. Bryce Rainer, SS (Low-A)

5. Thayron Liranzo, C (Double-A)

6. Josue Briceno, 1B (High-A)

7. Jace Jung, 3B (Triple-A)

8. Hao-Yu Lee, 2B (Triple-A)

9. Jaden Hamm, RHP (Double-A)

10. Cris Rodriguez, OF (Rookie)