A decade ago, search parties and prospect-sniffing bloodhounds would have been challenged to find true Detroit Tigers catching prospects anywhere on the farmlands.
Strategies soon changed. Alex Avila was taken in June of 2007. James McCann, Bryan Holaday, Rob Brantly, Curt Casali, Todd Zeile, Kade Scivicque, Grayson Greiner, etc., came by way of subsequent drafts.
Two weeks ago, two more catchers were sniped in the first five rounds of Detroit’s 2017 amateur lottery: Joey Morgan and Sam McMillan.
Not as celebrated, or perhaps much noted, was a 14th-rounder from 2016, Austin Athmann, an all-Big Ten catcher from the University of Minnesota who signed following his junior year for basic 14th-round pay: $100,000.