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…