Tigers High-A affiliate's winning ways land West Michigan back in the history book

Incredible.

That’s the word High-A West Michigan manager Tony Cappuccilli used to describe his club’s season, and for good reason.

On Sunday, the Tigers affiliate secured its 92nd win of the year -- a 5-0 triumph over Fort Wayne. The victory, which finalized the club's record for the season at 92-39, vaulted the Whitecaps into territory that hasn't been seen in Minor League Baseball in quite some time.

Their .702 winning percentage was the best by a full-season U.S.-based MiLB team since 1997, when coincidentally, the then-Single-A West Michigan Whitecaps rattled off W’s at that same clip en route to an identical record. The last time a team produced a better winning percentage was the High-A Modesto A’s in 1994 (.706).

“It's such a tight-knit group of guys,” said Cappuccilli, affectionately known as “Capp” within the clubhouse. “We always talk about having fun ... enjoy the fact that you're not sitting in a cubicle. We get to do this for a living, and we get to do it with a lot of really good dudes.”

As tends to be the case with most Minor League squads, the Whitecaps' lineup for their 92nd win looked drastically different from their first.

Back on April 4 when West Michigan opened its season with a 7-0 rout of Dayton, the top of the order featured Detroit's top three prospects -- Max Clark (MLB No. 9), Kevin McGonigle (MLB No. 2) and Josue Briceño (MLB No. 31). McGonigle, who slashed .372/.462/.648 over 36 contests prior to his July 8 promotion to Double-A Erie, plated four runs on two doubles. Clark walked three times and laced an RBI single.

“With the roster changes, with guys getting moved up and the new guys coming and fitting into the culture of how things are going here, it's been absolutely incredible,” Cappuccilli said.

That trio helped propel the Whitecaps to a Midwest League East first-half title (44-21). Signature moments from the stretch included a walk-off grand slam by Izaac Pacheco hit in a 5-2 win on May 25, an emotional 14-1 offensive onslaught in which Briceño homered three times on May 29 and a 20-6 outburst on June 13 in which the club punched its playoff ticket on the back of the first five-hit performance of McGonigle’s career.

The most memorable contest, by far, was on May 29. That night, Theo Price, a 13-year-old Tigers fan battling chondrosarcoma -- a type of bone cancer located on the inner wall of his hip -- met the entire Whitecaps squad. Briceño, who was particularly touched, went on to crush three homers in Theo’s honor.

The 14-1 rout was one of a whopping 21 games in which the Whitecaps scored at least 10 runs, leading to a gaudy +294 run differential on the season.

“They've bought into what we've been pushing throughout the organization in controlling the strike zone,” Cappuccilli said. “It's funny because we've had all those high-scoring games, and it seems like it's one inning that sparks it and we just go from there.”

The Whitecaps entered the second half with new personnel after McGonigle, Clark and Briceño earned simultaneous promotions to Double-A. Pacheco -- the Tigers’ No. 21 prospect -- helped take up a lot of the slack on offense. The 2021 second-round pick erupted for 11 big flies in the second half, tying him for the Midwest League-leading 17 for the season.

“We definitely knew that a lot of people outside of our clubhouse thought that we couldn't [replicate] what we did in the first half,” Pacheco said. “I honestly think we played with a chip on our shoulders, and we wanted to just show everyone that we could still do what we did in the first half. And obviously it worked out.”

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From a pitching standpoint, Tigers No. 25 prospect Lucas Elissalt bolstered the staff down the stretch. The 6-foot-4 right-hander was called up from Single-A Lakeland on Aug. 7 and stood out over his six starts. He held opponents to a .221 average-against while notching a 2.59 ERA. West Michigan won five of the six games he started as the club posted a 48-18 second-half record and securing the club's place in history again.

“We all know each other,” Pacheco said. “We've all been here for a couple years, and we have a great clubhouse. I think that's kind of where it started. I don't think we would have had the year we had if we didn't have the camaraderie and the friendships that we had.”