No matter the round, or spot, they take their first turn in any year’s baseball draft, rarely do the Tigers pass on pitching.
Nothing changed Monday night during the first round of the 2017 amateur sweepstakes.
Alex Faedo, a 6-foot-5, 220-pound freight train of a starter, was nabbed by the Tigers with the 18th overall pick during Monday night’s opening selections.
Faedo throws right-handed and has been on the Tigers’ short list all of 2017 as he worked for the University of Florida, polishing his status in the nation’s best baseball conference.
The Tigers opted for left-handed power with their second pick, the 57th overall, when they bit on Reynaldo Rivera, a 6-foot-6 outfielder/first baseman and Puerto Rican native who played this spring for Chipola Junior College in Marianna, Fla.