DETROIT -- The Tigers’ guiding philosophy for years has been that they can never have enough pitching. Their 2019 Draft will go down as the year they broke trend and grabbed hitters.

The change was clear early: Despite the best pitcher in the Draft still being on the board, Detroit went against its recent habits and took Riley Greene, judged by many to be the best pure high-school hitter in the Draft. The Tigers came back in the second round and drafted slick-fielding, power-hitting third baseman Nick Quintana out of Arizona. Detroit began Day 2 of the Draft by taking a pair of versatile college infielders with offensive upside in Tennessee’s Andre Lipcius and UCLA’s Ryan Kreidler. Then the Tigers went with an offense-first outfielder with East Carolina’s Bryant Packard in the fifth round.

• 'Dynamic' Green is Tigers' first pick

The Tigers used their first six picks on position players for the first time. Part of it was a reaction to the talent available; unlike most recent years, this Draft crop was heavy on offense at the top and thin on pitching, especially college arms. But it was also an infusion of bats for a Detroit farm system that is not only deeper in pitching, but also has more defensive strength among its position players than offensive explosiveness.

“Number one, it was a position player-heavy Draft,” general manager Al Avila said Thursday, “as opposed to other years where there was more pitching that we liked better. Luckily for us, too, that’s something we were very aware that we needed. So we were aggressive in that sense.”

When the Tigers have gone the positional route in many years, they’ve trended towards pure athleticism, an understandable reaction to the ground players need to cover in spacious Comerica Park. This year’s early picks trended a little more towards size and power.

“We’re well aware of our needs,” Avila said. “We’re aware of our strengths in the Minor Leagues, which is pitching, obviously. We have a few hitters that we like a lot, and we have a few that we’re hoping come along. But coming into this Draft, we wanted to give it an energy boost of position players. Out of that bunch, we should be able to come up with some good hitters.”

Not until the seventh round did Detroit take a pitcher. And even then, it went towards the club's historic trend of using a second-day pick on a raw but talented arm that seemingly fits best in relief, as LSU’s Zack Hess has shown the past couple years. While his fastball sits around the mid-90s as a starter, it has been upper-90s out of the bullpen, and it will be on display this weekend in the NCAA Super Regionals.

“[Hess] started there as a necessity for them,” said Avila, who once coached under current LSU head coach Paul Mainieri, “but as a reliever he’ll be throwing in the upper-90s. And that’s our intent at this point.”

The Tigers eventually caught up on pitching on Day 3, but they still finished with more position players than pitchers among their 40 selections.

Hess is listed at 6-foot-6, starting a trend of bigger pitchers that carried through the middle rounds. Ninth-rounder Austin Bergner from North Carolina stands at 6-foot-4. UC-San Diego righty Ted Stuka, Detroit’s 14th-round pick, is listed at 6-foot-7. Washington State lefty A.J. Block, selected in the 17th round, stands 6-foot-5. Even 32nd-rounder Jack Dellinger from Virginia Tech is listed at 6-foot-6. Another 6-6 pitcher, UNC’s Gianluca Dalatri, wrapped up the Tigers’ Draft in Round 40.

The other notable trend this year was college talent, position players and pitchers alike. Detroit’s top pick was its only high-schooler until it used its 39th-round pick on Denham Springs (La.) High School shortstop Cade Doughty.

Part of that trend was a reaction to the Tigers' bonus pool. In recent years, they might use a pick in the top 10 rounds on a high-school pick and try to spend above-slot money to coax him out of a college commitment if they signed other top-10 picks below slot. Once they drafted Greene fifth overall and agreed to terms with him for the full slot value of $6,180,700, that option was unlikely.

From the 11th round on, high-schoolers selected are more likely to go to college and try to build their Draft stock over the next few years. When Detroit selects high-schoolers in the back half of the Draft, it’s often a long shot. In many cases, the player opts for college, but the Tigers will keep tracking him in college, as they did with two-time selection Alex Faedo.

In other cases, the Tigers will draft family members of players, coaches or front-office personnel in the late rounds. That didn’t happen this year.