Detroit Tigers Top Prospect Discusses 'Steppingstone' Season as Big Leaguer
It's every baseball player's dream to become a big leaguer, and the Detroit Tigers have certainly made sure many of their prospects have gotten that experience to close out the year.
That's not just for a feel-good story, though.
The Tigers are looking to see which players in their crop of star star-studded youngsters can turn into the next great player for this francise.
Detroit has undergone a long rebuilding process, and after being able to assemble a strong pipeline, they are ready to come out of that after many of the players on their farm have reached the Major League level, or will be called up in the next couple seasons.
There are plenty of high-profile names in their farm system, so it's going to be competitive when they try to show the organization they should be the ones getting penciled into the everyday lineup.
For Justyn-Henry Malloy, that's why it was so huge for him to get promoted as part of the September call-up period where rosters expand from 26 to 28 men.
Coming into 2024 as the Tigers' No. 7 ranked prospect per Baseball America, he made his debut on June 3 and had a good run with the team until he was optioned back to the minors in late-August. At the time of his demotion, Malloy was slashing .217/.304/.394 with eight homers, 15 extra-base hits, and 20 RBI.
But after getting sent down to work on some things, he has an opportunity to prove he should be in the mix among all the other top prospects currently with Detroit.
"You don't know the big leagues until you are there ... there's not a single guy in this locker room who hasn't taken their lumps. It's all part of the growing process," he told Chris McCosky of The Detroit News.
That's certainly the case for a lot of players who get their first taste of Major League Baseball, but to be able to stick at this level, production has to occur at some point.
Whatever comes out of this final month, Malloy knows how important it is to be back with the Tigers.
"Good, bad or indifferent, it's just a good steppingstone for me. No matter what. It's a good steppingstone for anyone. Just to go into the offseason and be able to assess everything the right way," he said.
Malloy is confident he's done the necessary things during his time back on the farm to get things going during his second stint in the MLB.
"I like the adjustments I've made. It was a good thing because I was able to show myself that you can make those adjustments and you can make them when you need to and there is success on the other side of those adjustments," he added.
So far, he hasn't been given much of an opportunity, getting two at-bats in two games as a pinch-hitter.
Still, he has to stay ready for his chances and take advantage of any situation that is given to him.
BRAD WAKAI