Detroit Tigers In Rough Shape at Third Base After Top Prospect's Flop
The Detroit Tigers are just over a week away from Opening Day and they have a couple of major issues within the lineup and on defense.
While the injuries in the outfield have started to stack up and the Tigers may have to look to some unconventional methods in order to fill roles at the start of the season, by far the biggest long-term hole on the roster is the third base position.
Detroit gave it an admirable pursuit when they went after Alex Bregman before he wound up at the final hour with the Boston Red Sox. For as much as it stung, the consensus among the fanbase was largely that they would be alright due to the presence of both Matt Vierling and Jace Jung.
Now just days away from the season actually starting, Vierling finds himself on the injured list - something which obviously impacts the outfield as well - and Jung was optioned back to Triple-A after an absolutely dreadful stretch of hitting this spring.
For as frustrating as it is for Jung to not step up and seize a role which could not have been more there for the taking, the Tigers really didn't have much of a choice in sending him down. After slashing .121/.216/.273 for an OPS below .500 and just four hits in 33 at-bats, Jung simply did not take the step Detroit hoped he would take, at least not yet.
A.J. Hinch spoke honestly on the matter after the decision was made, as the manager told the media that Jung's timing was completely off and that he has not made the necessary adjustments to this point.
Jung not taking a role he was practically handed leaves Detroit in a particularly brutal spot at the hot corner.
The obvious preference from the team was to have Vierling serve in a full time outfield role rather than having to hold his own at third, but regardless he's not going to be on the field at the start of the season anyway.
This leaves a thin and limited situation at the spot without an every day player there. In all likelihood, fans will be looking at a platoon of Andy Ibáñez against left-handed pitching and Zach McKinstry against right-handed pitching.
Ibáñez did destroy lefties in 2024 with a slash line of .292/.357/.445 with 40 hits in 82 games while McKinstry was at least able to somewhat hold his own against righties, slashing .225/.284/.356.
That kind of production between the two extrapolated over a full season is not a complete mess, but the Tigers set out this offseason to find someone they can plug and play daily and they failed to do it.
Even their backup plan with virtually zero competition didn't work out and forces Hinch to do what he does best and play chess in order to make it work.
Now having to move onto Plan C, time will tell how much this limits the overall potential of Detroit as they look to get over that hump and been seen as a legitimate American League contender.
