Jairo Labourt

At 22 years old, Labourt has been seen by some as one of Detroit’s most intriguing prospects due to his powerful fastball and slider. However, his development has been hindered by a lack of pitch control, but hopes were high that Labourt would make progress at High-A Lakeland heading into 2016. On one hand, his level of play remained fairly stagnant and he turned in another discouragingly high walk rate (17.2 percent). While that’s far less than ideal, when dialed in, Labourt was much harder to hit as his opponent batting average plummeted from 2015’s level of .302 to .198. Moving forward, if Labourt fails to show the ability to hone in on pitch location for extended stretches, the Tigers are expected to have him switch from his current role as a starter and develop him as a bullpen option. Regardless of the path they choose, Labourt is likely at least a season away from pitching in the show, as he’s yet to throw above the High-A level.