Scouting Report on Tigers' 3 New Prospects from Tarik Skubal Trade with Dodgers by MLB Expert

The Detroit Tigers are betting big on their player development with their haul from the Tarik Skubal trade.

ESPN's Jeff Passan reported the Tigers are acquiring outfielder Zyhir Hope along with pitchers River Ryan and Brady Smith from the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Hope ranks No. 25 overall on MLB.com's list of the top prospects in baseball, while Ryan is down in 68th. Smith is No. 17 in Los Angeles' farm system.

The New York Post's Jon Heyman shared one negative assessment on Detroit's haul:

Keith Law of The Athletic struck a more optimistic tone.

"Detroit could walk away with an above-average starter who throws something like 140 innings a year, an above-average everyday right fielder and at least a quality reliever if not another starter," he wrote. "That's quite a return for two months of any player, given how teams presently value years of control."

Hope has a .293/.369/.530 slash line in Double-A this year. He has also hit 23 home runs and driven in 87 runs in 94 games.

Law wrote the 21-year-old "has outstanding bat speed and has turned it into more game power this year," positing he's likely to slot in as a right fielder long term:

"I said before the season I thought he'd hit for a high average with a ton of line drives but not as much over-the-fence power. That has not been true this season, at least not the last part, as he has hit for a high average but also hit the ball over the fence a lot."

Ryan is a real wild card because he'll turn 28 later this month. He has battled injuries across his pro career, most notably undergoing Tommy John surgery in August 2024.

Still, MLB.com gave Ryan a 55 grade on the traditional 20-80 scale, and Law foresees him making an immediate impact once he's cleared from a hamstring issue.

"He's athletic, he repeats his delivery, he's got plenty of weapons, and if you didn't know he'd been hurt so much, you'd watch him and think he was ready to step into a rotation and take the ball 30 times," the MLB writer said. "The Tigers should let him start until his arm says otherwise."

Smith has by far the highest variance of the three prospects. The 21-year-old hasn't pitched above High-A, and MLB.com set his MLB ETA at 2029. Like Ryan, he has a past Tommy John procedure on his medical resume as well.

"Smith has a very fast arm and sits in the mid-90s with a plus-plus changeup that is very deceptive out of his arm and has big tumble to it as it approaches the plate," Law said. "He can also show an above-average slider that breaks mostly downward. The fastball doesn't have a ton of life, and there's effort to the delivery, mostly in its intensity. I could see a mid-rotation starter here, but his probability remains low for now."

The Tigers were in a tight spot with Skubal. Sure, he's the two-time reigning Cy Young winner, but teams weren't going to leverage all of their best prospects for a star who's likely to leave in six months.

By contrast, Juan Soto had two more years of team control when the Washington Nationals shipped him off to the San Diego Padres. That allowed them to get back MacKenzie Gore, CJ Abrams and James Wood.

Maybe Detroit could've waited and held out for more from Los Angeles. There was at least a vision behind the Tigers' mindset as they may have bolstered their rotation for the future while finding an outfielder to slot next to highly touted prospect Max Clark in center.