Detroit Tigers Boss Speaks Out on Young Star’s Position Future
Detroit Tigers president of baseball operations Scott Harris is quick to say the season is not over. After all, his team is one of the hottest in baseball and has trimmed the gap to the American League’s final Wild Card spot to 2.5 games entering Saturday’s contest with the Baltimore Orioles.
But of all the young players on this roster, one that is truly risen to the occasion is shortstop Trey Sweeney.
In the wake of the injury to Javier Báez, the rookie has taken over the shortstop spot and provided a big bat to the Tigers’ lineup.
“Trey Sweeney has started to establish himself as a left-handed shortstop who can really play the position at an above average level and has power to all fields,” Harris said to MLB Network during a recent interview.
His slash line reveals some of the typical rookie struggles — .224/.278/.433/.711. But he also has four home runs and 12 RBI in 23 games. He’s also batted .273 in his seven games (6-for-22) with two home runs and five RBI.
That’s part of what intrigued Detroit when they made the trade to send pitcher Jack Flaherty to the Los Angeles Dodgers for Sweeney and young catching prospect Thayron Liranzo.
In the minors this season, he started with the Dodgers’ Triple-A affiliate in Oklahoma City before he was traded to the Tigers and spent two weeks with Triple-A Toledo, where he batted .381/.447/.667 with two home runs, nine RBI and four stolen bases.
There, show showed off that power to all fields.
He’s done it again with Detroit, as Harris referenced the left-hander’s recent home runs on the road against the Oakland Athletics, which went up a staircase in right field.
So, the natural question if when thinking about 2025 is — what about Báez?
The 31-year-old is in his third season with the Tigers and plays short stop, but he’s out for the rest of the campaign after hip surgery. In 80 games this year his bat wasn’t there, as he had a slash line of .184/.221/.294/.515 with six home runs and 37 RBI. Báez has hit 34 home runs in one season, which was back in 2019.
He’s also signed through 2027.
Harris was asked about the future of the position and he said, “we’ve earned the right in this organization to talk about ourselves in the Wild Card race for the first time in a long time, and part of the beauty of that is I can just focus on the Orioles today.”
But, he went on to say that Sweeney has a future at that position.
“The future at the position looks a whole lot better with Trey Sweeney as a part of it,” Harris said. “Our future as an organization looks a whole lot better because of some of the trades that we made at the end of July.”
As for Liranzo, he has a slash line of .244/.378/.408/.786 with 12 home runs and 50 RBI in the minors this season. He’s currently with High-A West Michigan.
