Less than 24 hours into his professional career, Peyton Graham, the Tigers’ second-round pick in his year’s MLB draft, was already pondering his first big-league brawl.
Actually, he was laughing about the Tigers’ adding more fuel to an already-fiery draft class Monday, with a 10th-round pick that just might stoke a simmering college rivalry. The Tigers closed out Day 2 of the draft by selecting Graham’s Oklahoma teammate, Trevin Michael, a right-handed relief pitcher he describes as “another fireball.”
The first of those, of course, came Sunday night when the Tigers used the 12th overall pick in the draft to select Texas Tech second baseman Jace Jung, a self-described “sparkplug” who “just loves starting things.”
Graham and Jung go back a ways as friends, having spent a few months together as summer-league teammates — and roommates — with the Santa Barbara (Calif.) Foresters a couple years ago.
But Graham was Michael’s teammate this past season, when the Sooners went on a surprising postseason run all the way to the College World Series final. And along the way, there was that Big 12 tournament quarterfinal against Texas Tech where Michael, who has been known to taunt an opponent or two, closed out the Sooners’ win with a strikeout ... and then tossed the ball to the Red Raiders’ dugout.
“Yeah, him and Jace might be a little chippy at the beginning, especially after the Big 12 tournament — there was a lot of words said,” Graham joked Monday on a Zoom call with Detroit media. “But I think they’ll wind up liking each other in the long run. Especially now that they’re playing on the same team, they kind of have to.”
Asked if he was prepared to mediate any disputes when the Tigers’ newest prospects report for duty in Lakeland, Graham laughed, “I guess I’m gonna have to. But I don’t think it’s gonna be anything — it’s just gonna be more of a friendly beef now.”
As for their own friendly reunion, Jung and Graham wasted little time Sunday night after the Tigers brought the two together at the top of their 2022 draft haul, with plans to keep them together well into the future. Said Scott Pleiss, the Tigers’ amateur scouting director: “It’s gonna be fun watching those guys play up the middle.”
They’ve done it before, as Graham noted Monday, a day after the Tigers’ snagged the Sooner’s All-American — a player projected as a potential late first-rounder — with pick No. 51. Among the first texts he received was one from Jung that read, “What’s up, teammate?”
“I know him really well as a person and as a player,” said Graham, a fellow native Texan. “So I’m super excited to get back on the field with him.”
The team they were on in Santa Barbara was a juggernaut in the summer of 2020, piling up a 30-4 record in a season that almost wasn’t because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Longtime coach Bill Pintard, who still works as a New York Yankees scout, cobbled together an independent schedule with the approval of local health officials, and the Foresters rolled to a record eighth National Baseball Congress World Series title.
Future big-leaguers
Jung and Graham were hardly the only future big-leaguers on the roster, which explained why MLB scouts still found a way to come watch games even though spectators weren’t allowed. Five players from that team were drafted Sunday night alone, and a few more came off the board Monday in rounds 3 through 10.
Graham actually spent some time at third base that summer, with shortstop Matt McLain, a first-round pick of the Reds last summer, also on the roster. But he spent plenty of time with Jung — arguably the most boisterous and biggest bat in that lineup —- away from the field.
“He was a great roommate,” Graham said. “I mean, we were five feet apart. So it’s hard to be a bad roommate when you don’t have much personal space.”
But it helps when you’re like-minded, and that’s clearly the case here.
“I love the way he plays,” Jung said. “He gets after it just like me. We were probably the two most competitive people on the team — in the same household. Always trying to battle each other. It was kind of like we came together as brothers a little bit.”
Added Graham: “He’s a fiery player. He loves to win. That’s where me and him are very similar: We’re very competitive. I know I hate losing, and I know he hates losing just as much as I do.”
And when asked to pick who’s the more competitive of the two, Graham couldn’t help pick a fight, albeit with a smile: “I feel like I’m more competitive. He’s just a little bit more vocal about it.”
They’re both vocal about what they think they’ll bring to the table for the Tigers, however.
“I think the Tigers got two really solid picks with us,” Graham said, nodding. “We’re gonna bring a lot of power to the lineup and I’ll be able to steal some bases and we’ll be turning double plays up the middle.”
'Freaky power'
Graham’s slender frame belies what Pleis described as “freaky power” in his post-draft scouting report on the 6-3, 180-pounder from suburban Dallas. He was the first Division I player in nearly 20 years to hit 20 homers and record 30 stolen bases in a season, and Graham’s steely resolve impressed scouts, too.
His late-inning OPS was a whopping 1.745 last season, far and away the nation’s best. Among the highlights was an NCAA regional win over Florida that included a five-hour rain delay. Graham took a nap during the rain-delay in the seventh inning, then woke up and hit a game-tying, two-run homer in the eighth.
“He’s got dynamic athleticism,” Sooners coach Skip Johnson said. “There’s nothing that he can’t do on a baseball field. He can run, he can throw, he can hit. He’s got power, he’s got instincts to play the game, instincts to run the bases. He’s got every tool that you can imagine. For him, the ceiling is incredible."
Johnson went on to say he thinks the Tigers are getting "an All-Star" in Graham, and "a superstar that’s going to play a long time."
Graham, for his part, wasn't making any predictions like that. But a player did take the minor draft-night tumble as another slight, and more motivation to "just prove everyone wrong."
"I mean, I’ve always had to work for what I’ve gotten," he said. "Going into college I only had one offer. So I worked to get to the position I’m in now and I’m blessed to be here."
Happy to have some familiar company, too.
