With the 72nd pick in the 2024 MLB Draft, the Detroit Tigers have selected pitcher Ethan Schiefelbein.
With an unusual amount of current polish for a high schooler, Schiefelbein isn’t what you might expect from an early round prep pitcher. He’s a lefty from Corona High School in California, a not insignificant baseball school on the prep scene, and has a college commitment to play at UCLA. His reputation is built on the fact that he has a remarkably smooth pitching motion for someone so young, advanced control, and a track record of good performance on the showcase circuit.
With a portfolio that’s meant to be greater than the sum of its parts, none of Schiefelbein’s individual traits stand out on their own. His fastball sits in the 89-92 mile per hour range with the ability to reach 95 on occasion. There isn’t the expectation that he will become a pinpoint wizard, but he exhibits a better understanding of how to get strikes with his low-powered heater than most his age and the Tigers will expect to build him up to that top line velocity consistently in time.
All the public draft boards give roughly average grades to his other pitches, with the expectation that he’ll be able to work them into a consistent game plan even if they never overpower the opposition. Baseball America and FanGraphs give his knuckle-curve an above average projection, betting on its ability to pair with the fastball. MLB Pipeline has a preference for his slider instead. Either way, the idea is that he’ll build up to using his out pitch by keeping away from hitter’s barrels rather than blowing them away with eye-popping stuff.
You’ve seen this style of pitcher before. Not to demean what he does well, but he’s cut from the same cloth as a hundred guys who have been given the “crafty lefty” label. The edge he has over others in a similar vein is that, given his youth and the Tigers’ ability to help pitchers perfect their fastball, Schiefelbein may be able to tap into the higher end of his velocity band more consistently. If that happens, and he doesn’t sacrifice his ability to spot the pitch in the process, he may come out the other side with more of a mid-rotation look.
In their pre-draft analysis of Schiefelbein, Baseball America noted that some teams would have liked to see him get to UCLA and reevaluate his progress in a couple years. There’s no questioning his feel to pitch, but everything depends on his projection from here. That is a risky proposition, even if he has the know-how and some notable peripheral fastball metrics.
This isn’t the most exciting pick, but the Tigers know pitching. They clearly think they can make Schiefelbein pop, and my interest is piqued to see how they do it.
Detroit has now selected three consecutive high schoolers to start their 2024 draft class. While most of the conversation will naturally focus on what will happen with Bryce Rainer, their first round pick, it’s worth commenting that, on a broader level, Scott Harris and his team are positioning themselves among the boldest drafters out there. No team drafts players within the top ten rounds unless they have a measure of confidence a deal can be reached. Mark Conner, one of Harris’ top lieutenants, had a hand in San Diego’s similar draft strategy in the late 2010s.
They generally made it work, just as the Tigers did last year despite a couple of prep players deciding to go to college instead. Prioritizing the most talented players in the first few rounds and locking them down is a costly business, but when teams draft this way, they worry about making the money work for the middle and late rounds after the draft. Nevertheless, it’s tough to see how Detroit is gonna seal the deal without effectively burning a few picks to save money along the way. That’s a defensible tradeoff they seem very willing to make.
Follow along with our Day 2 coverage here at Bless You Boys, as the draft starts back up again at 2:00 p.m. ET with the first pick of round three.
