Former Breakout Star Remains With Tigers After Accepting Outright Assignment

Back in 2021, it appeared like the Detroit Tigers had found their next star outfielder.

After selecting Akil Baddoo with the third pick of the 2020 Rule 5 draft, the youngster impressed during his first season in The Show, putting together a .259/.330/.436 slash line with 13 homers, 55 RBI, an OPS+ of 112 and a bWAR of 2.1.

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Coming off that rookie year, Baddoo was the Opening Day center fielder in 2022.

Unfortunately, he was never able to recapture that level of play, with his OPS+ number going from 12 points above the league average to 37 points below across 73 games during that campaign.

Baddoo was then optioned to Triple-A Toledo at the start of the 2023 season, and since then, he's really only been used as a replacement for injured outfielders, never putting together good enough stretches of play that could potentially get him back into the mix for the Tigers.

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On June 6, it looked like his tenure with Detroit was over.

He was designated for assignment to make room on the 40-man roster, and even though a trade didn't seem likely, there was a chance someone could have taken a chance on the 26-year-old with a waiver claim despite his prolonged struggles.

However, he went unclaimed and will now remain with the Tigers after he accepted an outright assignment to Triple-A Toledo, as reported by Chris McCosky of The Detroit News.

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What his future holds will be interesting to see.

Baddoo batted just .137 in 31 games during 2024, and he has gone just 2-for-17 in seven games this season, which is a concerning deterioration from where he was at even three years ago.

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