How Detroit Tigers view top hitting prospects in Triple-A Toledo, including Jace Jung

The Detroit Tigers have four of their top hitting prospects in Triple-A Toledo.

Outfielder Justice Bigbie, catcher Dillon Dingler and infielder Jace Jung were drafted by the Tigers within the past four years, but outfielder Justyn-Henry Malloy was acquired nearly one-and-a-half years ago in a trade.

They're all ranked in the top 12 on MLB Pipeline's list of the Tigers top 30 prospects, led by Jung at No. 3, Malloy at No. 6, Bigbie at No. 11 and Dingler at No. 12.

Jung ranks as the No. 47 prospect in baseball on MLB Pipeline's top-100 list. He was selected No. 12 overall in the 2022 draft; his older bother, Josh, plays for the Texas Rangers.

Ryan Garko, the Tigers' vice president of player development, talked to the Free Press on a recent episode of the "Days of Roar" podcast about the development of Bigbie, Dingler, Jung and Malloy in Toledo. (On the podcast, Garko also discussed his philosophies for player development, why he entered player development and the development plans for players throughout the organization.)

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Justice Bigbie, OF

Age: 25.

Bats/throws: Right/right.

Career Triple-A plate appearances: 227.

The buzz: Bigbie is hitting .250 with one home run, 18 walks (10.7% walk rate) and 32 strikeouts (18.9% strikeout rate) in 41 games, spanning 169 plate appearances. He has a .708 OPS. Bigbie, who jumped from High-A West Michigan to Toledo last season, hits the ball as hard as anyone in the organization while making above-average contact on pitches in the strike zone. His strength is hitting balls to the opposite field, but he struggles to pull high-velocity fastballs, leaving him exposed to inside pitches. He needs to develop into a complete hitter — and improve his defense — at the Triple-A level before joining the Tigers.

What Garko said: "Bigbie flew through the minor leagues last year. Defensively, still working every day. He moved from first base to corner outfield. He is the one guy, the top line numbers didn't start off great in April. All of his underlying numbers, the process and outcomes, his underlying numbers are really good, and you're starting to see his top line numbers get better. He was pretty unlucky that first three weeks. Bigbie, it went so fast. I think now he's starting to realize, you go from the fun story of shooting through the system out of nowhere to an established Triple-A/major-league option. He's got to start to believe that, and the consistency of the performance and the consistency of the at-bat need to equal enough for us to really be like, 'OK, we think we can get this out of him at the next level.'"

MORE ABOUT HIM: How Tigers' Justice Bigbie went from 19th-round pick to doorstep of MLB debut

Dillon Dingler, C

Age: 25.

Bats/throws: Right/right.

Career Triple-A plate appearances: 226.

The buzz: Dingler is hitting .269 with four home runs, eight walks (6.6% walk rate) and 27 strikeouts (22.3% strikeout rate) in 31 games, spanning 121 plate appearances. He has a .740 OPS. He was viewed as an athletic, offense-first catcher when selected No. 38 overall in the 2020 draft, but has developed into a defense-first catcher who works from a one-knee setup. His lack of a hit tool profiles him as a backup catcher in the big leagues, but because of his raw power and arm strength, could be a starter depending on his game-calling abilities. He is the third catcher on the 40-man roster, so he could join the Tigers if there's an injury or prolonged underperformance. He has some similarities to current Tigers catcher Jake Rogers.

What Garko said: "The defense, he receives, he blocks, the throwing is incredible. They're like 75% throwing people out when Dingler is catching, and the pitchers have a big part of that. We really stressed in spring training controlling the running game, but Ding's throws have been strong and accurate. The offensive profile, and with Ding what I like is, he's starting to understand what kind of hitter he is. He's going to walk. He's going to hit for power. He's going to defend. That is a very valuable player in 2024 behind the plate. You can see it. He's starting to gain some confidence. Even when a guy like Matt Manning or Devin Sweet or Andrew Vasquez or Trey Wingenter is pitching, even the older guys, he's calling a really good game. The conversations he's having with our older pitches, he's growing up right in front of our eyes. It's just hitting, making sure there's enough contact between the walks and the power comes without reaching for it too much. I think when you look around the game of baseball, at where the catching position is, it's nice to have a guy like Ding waiting in the wings."

MORE ABOUT HIM: Tigers catcher Dillon Dingler's glove is MLB-ready. His bat, however, needs work

Jace Jung, 3B/2B

Age: 23.

Bats/throws: Left/right.

Career Triple-A plate appearances: 182.

The buzz: Jung is hitting .275 with eight home runs, 28 walks (15% walk rate) and 51 strikeouts (27.3% strikeout rate) in 42 games, spanning 187 plate appearances with an .892 OPS. A better second baseman, but transitioned to third base because Colt Keith — who signed a long-term contract extension — needs to play second. Jung has played 221⅔ innings at third base and 101⅔ innings for the Mud Hens, getting charged seven errors at third and one error at second. He won't join the Tigers until he is steady at the hot corner. It will be interesting to see if the Tigers promote him in the second half of the season or wait until 2025.

What Garko said: "The position change part, or just having some versatility where he can play third and second, it's going really well. He's playing a lot of third base, and the one thing he needed to do was just play third base. We can hit him a million ground balls, and as much as we try to simulate game speed before the game, it's nothing like playing the game. I think the plays where he's learning the most on are the ball off the end of the bat that's got some spin to it or the high chopper where he needs to come get it. The clock is a little bit different at third than it is at second. That's exactly what Triple-A is for. Every inning we can get there over at third, I think he learns something and gets better. The second base defense remains really good.

"And then, look, Double-A to Triple-A is a big jump and Triple-A to the big leagues is a massive jump. I think he's learning, especially in April, most of the pitchers in Triple-A have major-league time, and he's learning that pitchers can land their offspeed whenever they want and don't have to throw you a fastball at all. Fastball usage is way down in Triple-A, just like it is in the big leagues, and Jace hammers fastballs, so he's learning to pick his spots and not miss fastballs, and then he's also doing a little bit better job on hunting some offspeed and having a major-league second-part approach of like, I might need to sit offspeed here, and we're starting to see him do some of the that. But the power has been pretty incredible, especially in April when the ball doesn't really carry that well in Toledo, so he's off to a nice start with stuff to work on and continue to get better."

THE FUTURE: How Ryan Garko is transforming Tigers prospects with player development department

Justyn-Henry Malloy, OF

Age: 24.

Bats/throws: Right/right.

Career Triple-A plate appearances: 801.

The buzz: Malloy is hitting .274 with five home runs, 35 walks (21.6% walk rate) and 45 strikeouts (27.8% strikeout rate) in 36 games, spanning 162 plate appearances. He has a .932 OPS, but the strikeouts are concerning. Malloy, who used to play third base, has spent six games as the designated hitter and the rest of his games in left field (161⅔ innings) and right field (89 innings) as he continues trying to improve on his below-average defense, but he is approaching 1,000 innings in the outfield in his minor-league career. He might not join the Tigers unless there's an injury to Mark Canha or Kerry Carpenter because the roster isn't built for a DH-only player.

What Garko said: "It's all outfield now. I think that's really helped him. He's doing a pretty good job out in both corners. The arm plays much better out there than I think we thought at first, so he just continues to get innings and continues to play both corners and work every day there. Offensively, the only thing left for him to do is pick up the phone and go to Detroit and see if he can contribute there as much. All we can do is get him ready. I think Justyn has proven to all of us that when the at-bats are there — I think regular at-bats are still important for him — that he can contribute."

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

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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: How Detroit Tigers view their top hitting prospects in Triple-A Toledo