23-year old righty swinging Austin Jackson came over in the big Curtis Granderson/Edwin Jackson trade over the winter and he will be expected to leadoff and start in CF for the Tigers in 2010. Jackson played in 132 games in AAA-ball last season and he was 151 of 504 (.300 avg, .759 OPS) with 67 runs scored, 4 homers, 65 RBIs and 24 stolen bases. The Yankees don’t usually give up top prospects in trades so it will be interesting to see if Jackson is the real deal or not. He is a solid defensive center fielder.

26-year old lefty swinging Clete Thomas is the fallback plan so the Tigers need Jackson to be for real. Thomas played in 102 games for the Tigers last season and he was 66 of 275 (.240 avg, .709 OPS) with 46 runs scored, 7 homers, 39 RBIs and 3 stolen bases. Thomas played in 7 error-free games in CF last season for the Tigers while showing above average range.

30-year old lefty swinging Don Kelly will be back for the Tigers in 2010. He played in 31 games for the Tigers last season and he was 14 of 56 (.250 avg, .651 OPS) with 8 runs scored, 3 RBIs and 1 stolen base. Kelly didn’t play any games in CF last season for the Tigers but he would be at least average defensively there.

PROJECTED GRADE FOR THE CF IN 2010: C