# List of Detroit Tigers first-round draft picks

The Detroit Tigers are a Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise based in Detroit, Michigan. They play in the American League Central division. Since the institution of MLB's Rule 4 Draft, the Tigers have selected 66 players in the first round. Officially known as the "First-Year Player Draft", the Rule 4 Draft is MLB's primary mechanism for assigning players from high schools, colleges, and other amateur clubs to its franchises. The draft order is determined based on the previous season's standings, with the team possessing the worst record receiving the first pick. In addition, teams which lost free agents in the previous off-season may be awarded compensatory or supplementary picks.
Of the 66 players picked in the first round by Detroit, 32 have been pitchers, the most of any position; 25 of these were right-handed, while five were left-handed. Thirteen outfielders were selected, while five shortstops, five catchers, four third basemen, three first basemen, and two second baseman were taken as well. One additional player, Lance Parrish (1974), was drafted as an infielder but ultimately spent the majority of his Major League career at catcher. Thirteen of the players came from high schools or universities in the state of California, followed by Texas with ten players. The Tigers have also drafted five players from their home state of Michigan.
Two of the Tigers' first-round picks have won championships with the franchise. Parrish and Kirk Gibson (1978) won a World Series title on the 1984 championship team. Justin Verlander (2004) is the only first-round pick of the Tigers to win the Rookie of the Year Award, taking the honor in 2006. Two Tigers first-round picks have won the Cy Young Award, both in the American League; Verlander won the award in 2011 with the Tigers and 2007 pick Rick Porcello won in 2016 with the Boston Red Sox. None of their first-round picks have been elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame. Justin Verlander became the first player who was drafted in the 1st round of the draft to win the Most Valuable Player award while with the Tigers in the 2011 season. Gibson won the MVP award in his first year with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1988.
The Tigers have made ten selections in the supplemental round of the draft and have made the first overall selection three times (1997, 2018, and 2020). They have also had eight compensatory picks since the institution of the First-Year Player Draft in 1965. These additional picks are provided when a team loses a particularly valuable free agent in the previous off-season, or, more recently, if a team fails to sign a draft pick from the previous year. The Tigers failed to sign their 1966 first-round pick, Rick Konik, but they received no compensatory pick.

## Key

| Year | Each year links to an article about that year's Major League Baseball Draft. |
| Position | Indicates the secondary/collegiate position at which the player was drafted, rather than the professional position the player may have gone on to play |
| Pick | Indicates the number of the pick |
| * | Player did not sign with the Tigers |
| § | Indicates a supplemental pick |
| '84 | Player was a member of the Tigers' 1984 championship team |

## Picks

| Year | Name | Position | School (Location) | Pick |
| 1965 | Gene Lamont | Catcher | Hiawatha High School (Kirkland, Illinois) | 13 |
| 1966 | Rick Konik* | First baseman | St. Andrews High School (Detroit, Michigan) | 14 |
| 1967 | Jim Foor | Left-handed pitcher | McCluer High School (Florissant, Missouri) | 15 |
| 1968 | Robert Robinson | Outfielder | Thomas Dale High School (Chester, Virginia) | 18 |
| 1969 | John Young | First baseman | Enterprise High School (Redding, California) | 19 |
| 1970 | Terry Mappin | Catcher | Durrett High School (Louisville, Kentucky) | 20 |
| 1971 | Tom Veryzer | Shortstop | Islip High School (Islip, New York) | 11 |
| 1972 | Jerry Manuel | Shortstop | Cordova High School (Rancho Cordova, California) | 20 |
| 1973 | Charles Bates | Third baseman | California State University, Los Angeles (Los Angeles, California) | 19 |
| 1974 | Lance Parrish'84 | Infielder | Walnut High School (Walnut, California) | 16 |
| 1975 | Les Filkins | Outfielder | George Washington High School (Chicago, Illinois) | 3 |
| 1976 | Pat Underwood | Left-handed pitcher | Kokomo High School (Kokomo, Indiana) | 2 |
| 1977 | Kevin Richards | Right-handed pitcher | Roosevelt High School (Wyandotte, Michigan) | 5 |
| 1978 | Kirk Gibson'84 | Outfielder | Michigan State University (East Lansing, Michigan) | 12 |
| 1979 | Rick Leach | Outfielder | University of Michigan (Ann Arbor, Michigan) | 13 |
| 1979 | Chris Baker | Outfielder | Livonia Franklin High School (Dearborn Heights, Michigan) | 23 |
| 1980 | Glenn Wilson | Third baseman | Sam Houston State University (Huntsville, Texas) | 18 |
| 1981 | Ricky Barlow | Right-handed pitcher | Woodville High School (Woodville, Texas) | 17 |
| 1982 | Rich Monteleone | Right-handed pitcher | Tampa Catholic High School (Tampa, Florida) | 20 |
| 1983 | Wayne Dotson | Right-handed pitcher | Estacado High School (Lubbock, Texas) | 15 |
| 1984 | no first-round pick | no first-round pick | no first-round pick | no first-round pick |
| 1985 | Randy Nosek | Right-handed pitcher | Chillicothe High School (Chillicothe, Missouri) | 26 |
| 1986 | Phil Clark | Catcher | Crockett High School (Crockett, Texas) | 18 |
| 1987 | Bill Henderson | Catcher | Westminster Christian High School (Miami, Florida) | 20 |
| 1987 | Steve Pegues | Outfielder | Pontotoc High School (Pontotoc, Mississippi) | 21 |
| 1987 | Travis Fryman | Shortstop | Gonzalez Tate High School (Pensacola, Florida) | 30$^§$ |
| 1988 | Rico Brogna | First baseman | Watertown High School (Watertown, Connecticut) | 26 |
| 1989 | Greg Gohr | Right-handed pitcher | Santa Clara University (Santa Clara, California) | 21 |
| 1990 | Tony Clark | Outfielder | Christian High School (El Cajon, California) | 2 |
| 1991 | Justin Thompson | Left-handed pitcher | Klein Oak High School (Spring, Texas) | 32$^§$ |
| 1991 | Trever Miller | Left-handed pitcher | Trinity High School (St. Matthews, Kentucky) | 41$^§$ |
| 1992 | Rick Greene | Right-handed pitcher | Louisiana State University (Baton Rouge, Louisiana) | 16 |
| 1993 | Matt Brunson | Shortstop | Cherry Creek High School (Englewood, Colorado) | 9 |
| 1994 | Cade Gaspar | Right-handed pitcher | Pepperdine University (Malibu, California) | 18 |
| 1995 | Mike Drumright | Right-handed pitcher | Wichita State University (Wichita, Kansas) | 11 |
| 1996 | Seth Greisinger | Right-handed pitcher | University of Virginia (Charlottesville, Virginia) | 6 |
| 1997 | Matt Anderson | Right-handed pitcher | Rice University (Houston, Texas) | 1 |
| 1998 | Jeff Weaver | Right-handed pitcher | California State University, Fresno (Fresno, California) | 14 |
| 1998 | Nate Cornejo | Right-handed pitcher | Wellington High School (Wellington, Kansas) | 34$^§$ |
| 1999 | Eric Munson | Catcher | University of Southern California (Los Angeles, California) | 3 |
| 2000 | Matthew Wheatland | Right-handed pitcher | Rancho Bernardo High School (San Diego, California) | 8 |
| 2001 | Kenny Baugh | Right-handed pitcher | Rice University (Houston, Texas) | 11 |
| 2001 | Mike Woods | Second baseman | Southern University (Baton Rouge, Louisiana) | 32$^§$ |
| 2002 | Scott Moore | Shortstop | Cypress High School (Cypress, California) | 8 |
| 2003 | Kyle Sleeth | Right-handed pitcher | Wake Forest University (Winston-Salem, North Carolina) | 21 |
| 2004 | Justin Verlander | Right-handed pitcher | Old Dominion University (Norfolk, Virginia) | 2 |
| 2005 | Cameron Maybin | Outfielder | T.C. Roberson High School (Arden, North Carolina) | 10 |
| 2006 | Andrew Miller | Left-handed pitcher | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (Chapel Hill, North Carolina) | 6 |
| 2007 | Rick Porcello | Right-handed pitcher | Seton Hall Prep High School (West Orange, New Jersey) | 27 |
| 2007 | Brandon Hamilton | Outfielder | Stanhope Elmore High School (Millbrook, Alabama) | 60$^§$ |
| 2008 | Ryan Perry | Right-handed pitcher | University of Arizona (Tucson, Arizona) | 21 |
| 2009 | Jacob Turner | Right-handed pitcher | Westminster Christian Academy (St. Louis, Missouri) | 9 |
| 2010 | Nick Castellanos | Third baseman | Archbishop McCarthy High School (Southwest Ranches, Florida) | 44$^§$ |
| 2010 | Chance Ruffin | Right-handed pitcher | The University of Texas at Austin (Austin, Texas) | 48$^§$ |
| 2011 | no first-round pick | no first-round pick | no first-round pick | no first-round pick |
| 2012 | no first-round pick | no first-round pick | no first-round pick | no first-round pick |
| 2013 | Jonathon Crawford | Right-handed pitcher | University of Florida (Gainesville, Florida) | 20 |
| 2013 | Corey Knebel | Right-handed pitcher | University of Texas at Austin (Austin, Texas) | 39$^§$ |
| 2014 | Derek Hill | Outfielder | Elk Grove High School (Elk Grove, California) | 23 |
| 2015 | Beau Burrows | Right-handed pitcher | Weatherford High School (Weatherford, Texas) | 22 |
| 2015 | Christin Stewart | Outfielder | University of Tennessee (Knoxville, Tennessee) | 34$^§$ |
| 2016 | Matt Manning | Right-handed pitcher | Sheldon High School (Sacramento, California) | 9 |
| 2017 | Alex Faedo | Right-handed pitcher | University of Florida (Tampa, Florida) | 18 |
| 2018 | Casey Mize | Right-handed pitcher | Auburn University (Auburn, Alabama) | 1 |
| 2019 | Riley Greene | Outfielder | Hagerty High School (Oviedo, Florida) | 5 |
| 2020 | Spencer Torkelson | Third baseman | Arizona State (Tempe, Arizona) | 1 |
| 2021 | Jackson Jobe | Right-handed pitcher | Heritage Hall School (Oklahoma City, Oklahoma) | 3 |
| 2022 | Jace Jung | Second baseman | Texas Tech (Lubbock, Texas) | 12 |
| 2023 | Max Clark | Outfielder | Franklin Community High School (Franklin, Indiana) | 3 |
| 2024 | Bryce Rainer | Shortstop | Harvard-Westlake High School (Los Angeles, California) | 11 |