Tigers Notes: Keith, Jung, Offseason

Tigers second baseman Colt Keith departed yesterday’s game after injuring his shoulder on a diving play. As noted by Cody Stavenhagen of The Athletic, the 23-year-old initially stayed in the game after the incident but took himself out later on after he realized he couldn’t throw at full strength.

Keith will be sent for testing by the Tigers but the club is hopeful the injury won’t prove to be significant. As noted by MLB.com’s Injury Tracker, Keith suffered an injury to the same shoulder as a prospect back in 2022 that limited him to 48 games that year, though the rookie told reporters after the game that yesterday’s issue “felt different” than his old shoulder ailment.

An absence of virtually any length could have a significant impact on the AL playoff picture with just over a week remaining in the regular season and Detroit just 1.5 games behind the Twins for the final AL Wild Card spot. Keith, who signed a pre-debut extension with the Tigers over the offseason that guaranteed him just over $28.5MM over six years, struggled early in his MLB career but has really turned things around in recent months, with a solid .293/.340/.444 slash line in his 403 trips to the plate that’s brought his full-season offensive performance to essentially league average (99 wRC+).

Utilityman Zach McKinstry, who has hit just .224/.284/.352 in 109 games with the club this year, would presumably see an uptick in playing time in the event that Keith misses any time or heads to the injured list. Top prospect Jace Jung is another option. He’s played third base exclusively since being brought up to the majors but has spent more time at second base in his minor league career. Jung is out to a .214/.337/.257 start through his first 83 MLB plate appearances, but he turned in a more impressive .257/.377/.454 slash in Triple-A prior to his promotion.

Both Keith and Jung have split their professional playing careers between second base and third base, with a bit more of an emphasis on the former. There’s potential for Jung to cement himself as the team’s everyday third baseman now that Keith increasingly looks to be the long-term second baseman, but Jung is still adapting at third base after spending his college career at second base. Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic suggests that Jung may not end up as a fixture at the hot corner, in part because the Tigers stand as a viable fit for free agent third baseman Alex Bregman, who obviously has longstanding ties to Detroit skipper (and former Astros manager) AJ Hinch.

That scenario is framed in speculative fashion, to be clear. Conceptually, however, it’s sensible for the Tigers to consider premium free-agent additions and to be willing to move from the top tiers of their farm system. The team only has likely Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal under club control through 2026, and while an extension is always possible, those chances are lessened given that he’s represented by the Boras Corporation. There will surely be efforts to keep Skubal, be they via extension or free agency, but the two remaining years he has with the team do create something of a window.

Skubal headlines a growing core that also includes Riley Greene, Reese Olson, Kerry Carpenter, Parker Meadows and the aforementioned Keith, among others. They’re still hopeful of getting meaningful contributions from former No. 1 picks Spencer Torkelson and Casey Mize, but neither has lived up to expectations thus far (though Torkelson has been productive since returning from Triple-A, hitting .267/.330/.448 — albeit with a 32% strikeout rate and .375 BABIP). Jung and young Justyn-Henry Malloy could both be prominent players, and Detroit has two of the game’s top overall prospects in outfielder Max Clark and right-hander Jackson Jobe.

It’s hard to imagine Clark or Jobe on the table in offseason trade talks, but the Tigers have surged into the postseason picture and figure to have a relatively aggressive offseason in store whether they reach the playoffs or narrowly miss. But with room for additions at third base, on the pitching staff (rotation and bullpen) and perhaps another corner bat in the first base/outfield/designated hitter mold, the Tigers have myriad paths to bolstering the roster, any number of which could be accomplished via trading from their non-Clark/Jobe prospect depth.

In terms of payroll capacity, while the Javier Baez contract looms large as an albatross, he and Keith are the only players signed to guaranteed contracts beyond the 2025 season. There’s considerable room for the Tigers to make a splash or two — if not from the top tier of available names then certainly in the three- or four-year range for mid-market free agents.