How Detroit Tigers' Justice Bigbie went from 19th-round pick to doorstep of MLB debut

LAKELAND, Fla. — A frustrated Justice Bigbie walked out of his family's home in Chesapeake, Virginia. His agent had assured him he would be drafted, most likely in the later rounds, but after 18 rounds and more than 500 picks in a 20-round draft, his name hadn't been called.

He held onto hope that he would be drafted in the final two rounds, but he couldn't endure following the pick-by-pick updates on his phone anymore. He had to get outside to clear his mind.

"It was definitely an experience," Bigbie said.

Soon after that, the Detroit Tigers selected Bigbie out of Western Carolina University. His name was called in the 19th round of the 2021 draft with the No. 555 overall pick. The two sides agreed to a $100,000 signing bonus — pennies compared to the million-dollar bonuses for top draft picks, but the money didn't matter. He was ready to begin his professional career.

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Thirty-one months later, Bigbie is at the doorstep of his MLB debut with the Tigers. The 25-year-old outfielder changed his swing with fellow Tigers slugger Kerry Carpenter's personal hitting coach after the 2022 season, climbed three minor-league levels by blending contact and power in the 2023 season, impressed with plate discipline in the Arizona Fall League after the 2023 season and received an invitation to big-league spring training ahead of the 2024 season.

The Tigers think Bigbie, a virtual unknown out of a college in the western mountains of North Carolina who transformed himself into a legitimate prospect, can help them win games — eventually. The plan is for him to start the 2024 season in Triple-A Toledo, where he wrapped up 2023 with 15 games.

"He rakes," said Tigers president of baseball operations Scott Harris, who didn't draft Bigbie but has monitored his development over the past year and a half. "You want to talk about work ethic and adjustability translating into performance, there aren't many better examples than Justice out there. He's put himself in the big-league conversation at some point in the near future."

Learning to launch

Bigbie was at home with his father, Scott, throughout the 2021 draft in mid-July. They were keeping in touch with his agent, Scott Barber from Ballengee Group, in the later rounds. Barber kept promising the family that Bigbie would get drafted at some point.

Barber was right.

The elder Bigbie's phone exploded with calls from some of his close friends, not long after his son went outside to clear his mind, so he knew something was finally happening. He checked the draft board on his phone, saw his son had been drafted by the Tigers and ran out of the house to break the news.

"Really?" Justice asked.

"Yeah, you just got drafted, dude," his dad confirmed.

Joining the Tigers, Bigbie played 29 games in 2021 (in the Florida Complex League) and 100 games in 2022 (with Low-A Lakeland and High-A West Michigan). He always hit the ball hard, but way too many stayed on the ground, with just five home runs in those 129 games at the lowest levels of the minor leagues.

Bigbie wasn't going to advance in the farm system if he didn't elevate the ball.

Michael Cuddyer, a lifelong Chesapeake resident who was a two-time All-Star and the 2013 National League batting champion during his 15 MLB seasons, relayed that message.

"If you hit a ball on the ground, there's a good chance you're going to be out," Cuddyer said. "We don't want sky balls either, but we want to live in that medium-to-high line drive range, and we have to build our bat path to that type of swing."

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Cuddyer was drafted by the Minnesota Twins at No. 9 overall in 1997 out of Chesapeake's Great Bridge High School. That's where Bigbie's father, Scott, now works as a teacher and basketball coach. He began consulting Cuddyer about the MLB draft and professional lifestyle as his son progressed in college.

Cuddyer, now 44, built a private facility in the Chesapeake area. He has opened its doors to pro and college players, including Bigbie for the past two years. It's about 15 minutes from his house. Cuddyer isn't a swing coach and doesn't talk about mechanics, but he likes to share his wisdom in hopes of helping younger players navigate their careers.

In Bigbie's case, Cuddyer stressed the importance of getting the ball in the air in 2023.

To do so, Bigbie overhauled his swing with an offseason visit to St. Louis for a lesson with Richard Schenck, the personal hitting coach for Carpenter, Aaron Judge and other big leaguers. Carpenter, a 19th-round pick in 2019, visited Schenck for three days before his breakthrough 2022 season; Bigbie, a 19th-round pick in 2021, visited Schenck for three days before his breakthrough 2023 season.

"We hit a little bit," Bigbie said. "I went over to his place in the offseason. I went there and had a good time. I felt like I really improved my swing and continued to grow from there."

Carpenter is now a key part of the Tigers' offense, alongside former first-round draft picks Riley Greene and Spencer Torkelson. Bigbie is well on his way to joining the young core of hitters.

'He's got the swing'

Schenck shared his evaluation of Bigbie.

"He's got the swing," said Schenck, who worked with Bigbie for a second time this past offseason. "If he has all of the other stuff, he will be a big leaguer."

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The "other stuff" includes attributes such as vision, athleticism, mental toughness and work ethic.

Bigbie checks all of those boxes.

Vision? He had an above-average 84.4% in-zone contact rate last season, better than fellow prospects Jace Jung, Colt Keith and Justyn-Henry Malloy.

Athleticism? He played quarterback on his high school football team. He also played catcher and shortstop on his high school baseball team. But he was never the best player on any of his teams in any sport growing up, so he didn't get any scholarship offers.

Mental toughness? He went from a grayshirt offer at Western Carolina — basically, a delayed start to his college athletic career, with only classwork for the first season — to the best hitter in the Catamounts' batting order as a freshman in the spring after standing out in fall practices. Four years later, he finally became a professional baseball player.

Work ethic? After all that, Bigbie changed his swing to elevate the ball and hit 20 home runs in 2023, putting himself on the map.

"He did that with tremendous results," Cuddyer said. "He was able to keep the ball off the ground and live in the outfield. That's a credit to him for understanding what the body feels like in the position that he needs to be in to get some lift on his swing."

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Not only did Bigbie hit the ball in the air and create damage, he did so across four levels last season.

He hit .333 with six homers across 37 games in High-A West Michigan, .362 with 12 homers across 63 games in Double-A Erie and .275 with one homer in 15 games in Triple-A Toledo. He then reported to the Arizona Fall League, where he hit .292 with one homer in 20 games.

Bigbie credited several Tigers coaches for influencing his development during his meteoric rise: director of player development Kenny Graham, hitting coordinator Jeff Branson, West Michigan hitting coach C.J. Wamsley, Erie hitting coach Francisco Contreras and Erie bench coach Matt Malott.

"He swings at strikes and hits the ball hard," said Ryan Garko, the Tigers' vice president of player development. "We just had to get the ball off the ground. We worked really hard and he worked really hard trying to find ways to do that, and he found that last year. As he elevated the ball more, he just took off."

In total, Bigbie hit .335 with 20 home runs, 52 walks (9.2% walk rate) and 87 strikeouts (15.3% strikeout rate) across 135 games. He had a 92 mph average exit velocity in the regular season, better than, again, Keith, Jung and Malloy. He posted the best strikeout rate among the four players, with the worst walk rate.

Bigbie profiles like an elite player on offense because of his incredible batted-ball data.

His defense isn't as sharp. He was drafted as a first baseman but has since switched to the corner outfield positions.

"I want to improve my arm as much as I possibly can and work on the route running," Bigbie said. "I think the routes you take in the outfield are the most important thing. I don't have to be the fastest guy in the world. If I have efficient routes and good jumps, I can be a good outfielder."

The next step

As for his offensive profile, the next step in Bigbie's development as a right-handed hitter is handling pitches on the inner half of the plate. His strength is hitting balls the opposite way to right field. His weakness, until he proves otherwise, is turning on high-velocity pitches and pulling them in the air to left field.

Upper-level pitchers will challenge Bigbie with inside fastballs, so he needs to be prepared. The Tigers want him to pass that test in Triple-A Toledo before promoting him to the highest level.

"It's a little bit of mechanics, a little bit of approach, a lot of contact points," Garko said. "We don't ever want a player selling out for pull-side power. That can cause as many problems as it fixes. I think it's just becoming a complete hitter."

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The Tigers showed their belief in Bigbie's potential by inviting him to big-league spring training for the first time in his career. His locker is next to Jung's locker in the clubhouse, but both prospects are close to Greene, Torkelson and Ryan Kreidler.

Cuddyer talked to Bigbie throughout the offseason about the timeline of his hitting program and his approach at the plate, but he also shared advice about big-league spring training.

He told Bigbie to step outside of his comfort zone in his interactions with players and coaches. He wants him to gravitate toward big-league players such as Torkelson and big-league coaches such as outfield instructor George Lombard.

"I think he can be really good," Cuddyer said. "You look at his swing, you look at him at the plate, he matches every single big leaguer. I mean, you don't hit .340 in the minor leagues for a full season by accident."

It's not just Cuddyer.

Everyone around Bigbie — a 19th-round pick on track to make his MLB debut just three years or so from his draft day — is looking forward to seeing what he accomplishes in 2024.

"It's been his dream for a long time," said Scott Bigbie, who waited 554 picks before the Tigers drafted his son in 2021. "I'd be really nice to see all that work pay off with him playing in the major leagues. I'm extremely proud of him."

Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him @EvanPetzold.

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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Tigers' Justice Bigbie goes from 19th round to doorstep of MLB