Detroit Tigers add another prospect to Baseball America's top 100 list
Detroit Tigers centerfielder Riley Greene is ranked the No. 1 prospect in baseball by MLB Pipeline and Baseball America.
Sometime in August, he will "graduate" from the rankings after playing in 45 MLB games, the good news for the Tigers is another name in the organization has recently popped onto the list.
Wilmer Flores — younger brother of San Francisco Giants infielder Wilmer Flores (they have another brother, who is also Wilmer Flores) — who was promoted to Double-A Erie earlier this season, comes in at No. 93 in Baseball America's latest rankings.
Jackson Jobe, the Tigers top pick in the 2021 draft, is also on the list at No. 77.
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Flores was named to the MLB Futures Game last week along with his teammate, Dillon Dingler. Dingler was the No. 38 overall pick in 2020 out of Ohio State and is the No. 3 prospect in the organization.
Flores started as a flier, signed for $20,000 as an undrafted free agent in July of 2020 out of Arizona Western College but is now ranked the No.14 prospect for the Tigers, steadily rising in this, his breakout year.
He is the first UDFA in the Tigers organization to make the list.
"The Futures Game, I was waiting for that," Flores said after he was told he was selected. "Seriously, I was waiting for that. After my first month in West Michigan, I was waiting for that because I knew I was doing really well.
"This is something that's really good for me and my career."
Flores made six appearances and five starts to open the season in High-A ball for West Michigan, going 1-0 with a 1,83 ERA and 0.81 WHIP. In his 19⅔ innings pitched, he racked up 35 strikeouts and just two walks before he was called up to Erie on May 17.
His success has continued in Double-A through nine starts, going 3-2 with a 2.54 ERA, 1.13 WHIP and 50 strikeouts with just eight walks.
In his previous two starts, Flores has thrown 8⅔ shutout innings, allowed five hits, one walk and 10 strikeouts. While he has hit eight batters in 58⅔ innings this season, he has more than cut his 2021 walk rate from 3.3 to 1.5 per nine innings.
His strikeouts, which come predominantly via his 98 mph fastball, slider and curveball mix, are up to 13.0 per nine innings.
"It's not an easy at-bat for any hitter," Ryan Garko, vice president of player development, said last week . "He's a big, strong guy, and there's deception in the delivery, and there's a good pitch mix. What's been really exciting is that he's held those numbers he had in West Michigan in Erie.
"He really looks like a horse."
Contact Tony Garcia at apgarcia@freepress.com. Follow him on twitter at @realtonygarcia.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Tigers' Wilmer Flores cracks Baseball America's Top 100 list.
