This story was excerpted from Jason Beck's Tigers Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.
Gage Workman spent most of three seasons at Double-A Erie before the Tigers lost him to the Cubs in the Rule 5 Draft last December. His long-awaited path to Triple-A Toledo took a wayward route through both sides of Chicago.
And as the red-hot Tigers continue to try to figure out third base, having just optioned former first-round Draft pick Jace Jung to Triple-A Toledo, it would be a plot twist if the answer eventually includes a Rule 5 pick that returned home.
Then again, the Tigers found a big answer in their bullpen that way a few years ago.
Long before Will Vest became a key cog in Detroit’s pitching chaos, the right-hander was a Tigers prospect who climbed three Minor League levels in 2019. The Mariners, looking for bullpen depth, drafted the hard-throwing right-hander in the Rule 5 Draft before the 2021 season and gave him an opportunity.
That’s the purpose of the Rule 5 Draft. For $100,000, teams can select players from other organizations who aren’t on their parent club’s 40-man roster after four or five years of turning pro, depending on whether they signed out of college or earlier. The Tigers hit big in the Rule 5 by selecting outfielder Akil Baddoo in the same winter they lost Vest.
If a team keeps its Rule 5 selection on the active Major League roster for a full season, it gets the player's full rights. But if the team wants to send him to the Minor Leagues, they must place him on waivers first, offering him up to all other MLB clubs under the same rules, then offer him back to his old organization for $50,000, half the price they paid to select him. That’s how the Tigers got Workman back.
For a while, Vest looked like a keeper to Seattle. But after he battled midseason struggles, the Mariners -- who suddenly found themselves in playoff contention that summer -- sent him back to the Tigers over the All-Star break.
The Tigers placed him in Toledo for the rest of the season. But the experience Vest gained in Seattle proved valuable in helping him make the Majors again in Detroit in 2022.
“Any big league experience, I think, is going to help you down the road,” Vest said. “I got to the big leagues in a different way. That in itself was cool. I guess I got a little advantage of a longer leash.
“I learned how to deal with failure at the big league level, which was big. Because it’s going to happen; everybody has a learning curve.”
Workman did not get nearly as much opportunity in his Rule 5 stint as Vest -- just five starts and 17 plate appearances between his Cubs and White Sox stints -- before the White Sox designated him for assignment earlier this week. He went 3-for-16 with a double, two RBIs, a walk and seven strikeouts. But his month in the Majors, plus Spring Training, gave him a glimpse of the preparation and adjustments required to make it in the big leagues. That’s potentially huge for Workman, whose athletic ability has always been near the top of the charts.
Workman caught the Cubs’ attention with an eye-opening season last year in Erie, where he slashed .280/.366/.476 with 29 doubles, six triples, 18 home runs, 89 RBIs and 30 stolen bases. He has three 30-steal seasons in four years of Minor League ball. Plate discipline and contact have always been a question with him, including a 206-strikeout season at Erie in 2022. But while he dropped his strikeout rate to 27.5 percent last year, he posted double-digit walk rates in 2023 and 2024. A shift from switch-hitting to batting exclusively from the left side brought a better approach last year.
With the capability to play third base, shortstop, second base and even outfield in a pinch, Workman has the versatility to fit the Tigers’ mix-and-match strategy. If he can regain momentum in Toledo under Mud Hens manager Gabe Alvarez, his old skipper at Erie the last two years, he could well find his way to Detroit.