With their fifth-round pick four years ago, the Tigers drafted Alex Avila, a catcher out of Alabama who spent 151 games in the minors, quickly established himself as Detroit's big league catcher and emerged as one of the top-hitting backstops in the game last year.

Now the Tigers have another offensive-oriented catcher on their hands who is quietly rolling through the minors in Rob Brantly, their third-round pick in 2010 out of UC Riverside. Brantly, 22, went 2-for-4 with a walk and hit his third home run of the season yesterday for Double-A Erie, boosting his numbers to .360/.402/.613 in 82 plate appearances.

Brantly has excellent bat control with a compact lefty swing, which helped him succeed last year in low Class A West Michigan before his numbers dropped in a late-season promotion to high Class A Lakeland. Brantly entered the season as Detroit's No. 7 prospect, but given the struggles of fellow Tigers lefthanders Casey Crosby and Andy Oliver in their continued quest to find the strike zone, as well as the eventual graduation of big league lefthander Drew Smyly from the prospect world, Brantly is moving up the ranks.