DETROIT – Casey Mize, the top prospect in the Detroit Tigers' organization, is now the No. 1 pitching prospect in all of baseball.
Mize was moved up to the No. 6 overall prospect by MLB Pipeline when it did its first rankings update of the 2019 season.
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The Tigers drafted Mize with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2018 draft, and he was immediately ranked at the top of the organization's farm system. He was the No. 26 overall prospect last season before rising to No. 16 in the preseason.
Mize received a promotion to Double-A Erie last month after completely overmatching hitters in four Single-A starts. He faced 85 batters in Lakeland, striking out 25 and allowing just nine to reach base.
In his first Double-A start, Mize threw a no-hitter, allowing just one walk and striking out seven batters over nine innings.
In three games with the Erie SeaWolves, Mize owns a 0.95 ERA, 0.579 WHIP and 15 strikeouts in 19 innings. Only 12 of 69 batters have reached base against the right-hander.
The rankings boost comes after Mize's worst start of the season. He allowed two earned runs for the first time all year on seven hits and one walk in five innings.
If there's any legitimate concern about Mize's numbers, it would be his strikeout rate, which is currently eight strikeouts per nine innings. His swinging strike rate is still 13 percent though, so the low strikeouts are more a product of facing so few batters.
In total, Mize has a 0.60 ERA, .260 opponent OPS and 0.422 WHIP in seven minor league starts. He also owns a 45 percent ground ball rate, which is the reason he's yet to allow a home run.
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