LAKELAND, Fla. -- Tigers prospects are gaining a lot of popularity lately, from guys breaking into the Majors like Parker Meadows, Sawyer Gipson-Long and Colt Keith to kids climbing the rankings like Jace Jung, Jackson Jobe and Max Clark. Even Justice Bigbie has drawn attention with a strong Spring Training. With all that publicity, it’s difficult to imagine a really good prospect flying under the radar.

Then there’s No. 19 prospect Josue Briceño, who could be in position to become the next breakout prospect in the system. The way he’s swinging, it could come as fast as some of his hits.

On a day when Jace Jung homered twice, the hardest hit of the Tigers’ Spring Breakout win by far was a line drive that Briceño crushed for a double. It came off the bat at 111.7 mph, bounding to the right-field fence even with a mere nine-degree launch angle. It would’ve been the third-hardest hit by a Tiger recorded by Statcast this spring if he had hit it in a Grapefruit League game.

Worth mentioning: Briceño is 19 years old, bats left-handed and is primarily a catcher. His body is strong enough for a teenager that even manager A.J. Hinch took notice.

Briceño actually did get to hit in a Grapefruit League game Sunday. Hinch brought him over as a late-game DH for the Tigers’ 4-4 tie with the Orioles. He hit another line drive towards right, this one a 97.4 mph liner off the outstretched glove of a leaping O’s first baseman TT Bowens. Though Bowens recovered to gather the ball, Briceño bolted down the line for a single.

This is Briceño’s game. He has been crushing balls since arriving in the U.S. last summer, having signed as a teenager two years ago. He’s from Miguel Cabrera’s hometown of Maracay, Venezuela, and while it’s unfair for any teenager to be carrying Cabrera comparisons, it’s fair to say his style of hitting is similar.

“He has a really nice swing for a big guy,” Hall of Famer Alan Trammell, Tigers special assistant and Spring Breakout manager, said. “He can use the whole field, and for a big guy, he really has a shorter swing. I hate to say Miguel Cabrera-ish.”

Cabrera, now a Tigers special assistant as well, was in the dugout for the Spring Breakout game, and he talked with Briceño beforehand.

“Being from Venezuela, it’s really cool, just how we have a lot of shared places, being able to talk about home, to have things in common,” Briceño said through a translator. “Having those conversations is really meaningful -- one, for who he is as a person, but also being a Venezuelan.”

After an up-and-down 2022 season in the Rookie-level Dominican Summer League, Briceño caught attention with a breakout summer in Rookie ball in the Florida Complex League, batting .325 (55-for-169) with 13 doubles, seven homers, 37 RBIs and a .954 OPS in 44 games. He sprayed fly balls around the field for power while maintaining a 14.1 percent strikeout rate. A late-season promotion to Single-A Lakeland produced a 12-for-41 (.293) performance, with half of his hits going for doubles, and nearly as many walks (seven) as strikeouts (eight).

Asked about his success, he cited a strategy similar to the talking points of hitting across the organization.

“Very much staying with my plan, staying calm up there [at the plate] and trying to find a good pitch to hit,” Briceño said. “A lot of times keeping in mind I need to stay with my plan, not swing at those bad pitches. That really helped offensively last year, for a lot of that success.”

His plan for this season is much of the same. If he can keep it up while still catching, he could be a rare player. Considering his 6-foot-4, 200-pound frame at his age, he could outgrow the position; he played some games at first base last year to prepare for that possibility while limiting wear and tear. But he hopes to stay back there by keeping up his mobility.

“I like being a catcher,” Briceño said. “It’s my favorite position. It is my plan to catch.”

Who is the last left-hander to strike out 200 batters in a season for the Tigers?

A. Matthew Boyd
B. Mickey Lolich
C. David Price
D. Nate Robertson

• Top prospect Max Clark had a ton of praise for the Spring Breakout event, in which he put his athleticism on display. “When you look at how the organization is shaped, and you look at not just ours but others, this is probably one of the best events I think MLB has ever put on, in all honesty,” Clark said afterwards. “I think this is fantastic for the game, because it’s not only growing our organization, our fan base, but also the entire game.”

• Watching Jung and Clark dump a watercooler on Trammell after the Spring Breakout victory was a reminder how much impact Trammell has had on these young players who weren’t alive to see his incredible career.

• No. 9 prospect Keider Montero did not pitch in Spring Breakout because he faced the Blue Jays’ regular lineup in a split-squad start the day before, a tough assignment that had a purpose with a potential MLB debut looming this year.

“We sent him over there to get that feeling of nerves, of recognizable names on the other side that are going to come up. They’re not intimidated by stuff,” Hinch said. “I love how he bounced back. He settled in and actually had better stuff the following inning after getting a little uncomfortable in the first. That’s a good sign.”

A. Boyd

He struck out 238 batters in 2019, the first 200-strikeout season for a Tigers left-hander since Lolich in 1974. Price struck out 271 batters in 2014 and 225 in 2015, but he split both seasons between the Tigers and another club, posting 82 and 138 strikeouts for Detroit, respectively.

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