Arizona Fall League Preview: Detroit Tigers
By Sam Bennett ·
The Tigers' AFL contingent checks in at eight players, all joining the Scottsdale Scorpions. The headliners are obvious: Zyhir Hope and Bryce Rainer are two of the better prospects in the AFL field, both 21, both with big tools and clear questions the desert can help answer. Below them are five arms who pitched at High-A this year with very different 2026 résumés, plus an infielder who already got his first MLB taste this season.
Hope Brings His Big Season to the Desert
Zyhir Hope is the centerpiece of this group by a wide margin. He is 80Grade's No. 23 overall prospect and No. 1 in the Tigers' system. Across 124 games at Double-A in 2026, split between Tulsa (as a Dodgers affiliate) and Erie after the trade, he hit .287/.367/.513 with 29 home runs, 26 stolen bases and 111 RBIs. He was 21 years old doing it at Double-A, and that power-speed combination at that age and level is rare.
The swing-and-miss is the complication. Hope struck out in 25.0 percent of his plate appearances, and the whiffs tend to come against quality velocity and breaking balls that tunnel off fastballs rather than from wild expansion. The approach around it is solid: his 11.0 percent walk rate says he is not simply trading walks for contact. The arm is a plus, and the power projection has teeth, with emerging opposite-field carry adding to what is already pull-side damage.
This is his second trip to the AFL. He played for Glendale in 2024 as a Dodgers prospect, and he arrives this time as the headliner of the deadline deal that sent Tarik Skubal to Los Angeles. Scottsdale will give evaluators a clean, sustained look at where the approach stands against pitchers working to his tendencies, as he settles into a new system. The strikeout rate is the thing to monitor. If the walks hold and the whiffs creep down, Hope's timeline to Detroit tightens meaningfully.
Rainer's High-A Breakout Sets Up a Fall Showcase
Bryce Rainer, 80Grade's No. 45 overall prospect and No. 2 in the system, came into the year recovering from surgery on his dislocated right shoulder, which ended his 2025 season in June. He was promoted from Lakeland to West Michigan on April 21, then put together one of the more productive High-A seasons in the system. In 95 games with the Whitecaps, he hit .271/.380/.483 with 18 home runs, 21 doubles and 13 stolen bases, and walked 14.7 percent of the time. That is a strong offensive line for a 21-year-old shortstop at High-A.
The strikeouts are the central question. His 35.2 percent strikeout rate at High-A will get tested hard as he advances. Rainer is selective, which explains the walk rate, but selective and swing-and-miss together put heavy pressure on his ability to do damage when he does commit. The power is there when he connects: the home run and doubles totals point to in-game pop from a left-handed swing with leverage and bat speed.
Defensively, the arm is his best tool and would play anywhere on the left side of the infield. For now he stays at shortstop, though third base remains a possible long-term landing spot. The AFL assignment is a chance to extend his season with the shoulder behind him and face pitching that previews Double-A. Contact is the number to chase. If he can cut into the strikeouts while holding the walks, his trajectory takes a clear step forward.
John Peck, Back from the Majors
John Peck already logged time in Detroit this season, going 11-for-68 with a .162/.275/.176 line in 24 major league games. His Double-A numbers at Erie were a different story: in 58 games, he hit .285/.328/.511 with 10 home runs, 17 doubles, 3 triples and 19 stolen bases. He also went 10-for-21 with a 1.256 OPS in a brief Toledo stint around an injury that cost him much of the summer.
The MLB line reflected the questions in his profile. Peck's hit tool grades as fringy, and he is an aggressive hitter who hunts fastballs and can get exposed by quality secondary pitches, which major league pitchers sequenced against him. What he brings is defensive versatility and a plus arm on the left side of the infield, and his 27 steals between Erie, Toledo and Detroit in 2026 show real instincts on the bases. The AFL is a reasonable place for him to get plate appearances in a lower-stakes setting and find some consistency after the MLB experience. At 24, and ranked 28th in the system by 80Grade, he's working to define a role rather than a trajectory.
The Pitching Bloc: Scott Stands Out, Long Shows Promise
Detroit also sent five arms to Scottsdale. They do not share a profile or a 2026 résumé, so it's worth separating them.
Win Scott is the one to follow. The 23-year-old left-hander signed with Detroit in May and posted a 1.86 ERA across 48.1 innings and 23 appearances between the Florida Complex League, Lakeland and West Michigan, striking out 54 batters against just 8 walks. His 4.2 percent walk rate is exceptional, and he allowed only 3 home runs all season. Numbers like that earn a longer look, and the AFL is a reasonable next step after a season that moved him quickly through A-ball.
Maddox Long is the other arm with a case to make this fall. The 25-year-old joined the organization from the independent Frontier League in late June, then worked across three levels for a combined 3.74 ERA over 33.2 innings. The most useful split was his High-A work: in four appearances (two starts) at West Michigan, he went 17 innings with a 3.18 ERA, 21 strikeouts and only 3 walks, good for a 31.3 percent strikeout rate and a 4.5 percent walk rate. The AFL gives him a chance to extend that into a larger, competitive sample.
Logan Berrier, Jalen Evans and Preston Howey all had rougher 2026 seasons. Berrier posted a 4.45 ERA over 54.2 innings at West Michigan, workable but not polished. Evans struggled most visibly, with a 6.10 ERA over 48.2 innings at High-A, a walk rate above 12 percent and an inefficient 18.1 pitches per inning, though his 27.0 percent strikeout rate offers some encouragement. Howey had the most difficult season of the group, with a 7.63 ERA across 46 combined innings and 10 home runs allowed at West Michigan. He also spent part of May on a rehab assignment, so more innings and better command are the obvious goals. All three are here to add competitive innings and work through what did not go right in 2026.
Bottom line: Hope's fall is the one this organization will watch most closely. The Tigers acquired him as the centerpiece of the Skubal trade, and he has produced at Double-A while carrying a contact question that will define his ceiling. If he exits Scottsdale with sharper pitch recognition against advanced arms and a strikeout rate trending below 25 percent, his ETA in Detroit becomes a lot more interesting. Scott is the secondary name to watch among the pitchers, but Hope is the one the front office will be tracking every night.