Tigers president of baseball operations Scott Harris and manager A.J. Hinch were effusive in their praise of Colt Keith at last month’s end-of-season press conference. It wasn’t just about his production, but his flexibility.
The Tigers’ 2024 Opening Day second baseman and 2025 Opening Day first baseman was their primary third baseman for the stretch run until a rib cage injury sidelined him in mid-September and limited him to DH duty when he returned in the Division Series.
“What he just did is really impressive,” Harris said. “Like, we just threw him at third. I know he played some third in the Minor Leagues, but he hadn’t played third in a while. We started throwing him at third midseason, and he performed really well, made some plays that I found very impressive, and that’s without a full offseason of focusing on it, without a full Spring Training of working on some of the plays that may happen twice a year. He just kind of got thrown into the fire and was able to really play the position, which is something that I find really impressive.”
Said Hinch: “Oh, and by the way, there’s the offensive side.”
As the Tigers prepare for 2026 with Gleyber Torres back, having accepted Detroit’s qualifying offer, that flexibility from Keith could prove handy once again.
No Tiger is more impacted by Torres’ return than Keith. Had Torres declined the qualifying offer and signed elsewhere, Keith could have lined up as at least the strong side of a platoon at second base, returning to the position where he began his big-league career. Keith began working at first base around this time last year when the Tigers pursued Torres in free agency, then he began mixing in at third in June once Spencer Torkelson slugged his way into the everyday role at first.
“Think about all that happened over the course of a year, which is why it’s hard to capture the entirety of the topic,” Hinch said last month.
With Torres back at second base and Torkelson now a fixture at first, Keith’s most direct path to playing time is at third. That’s where Torres’ return potentially affects the Tigers’ Hot Stove season.
Tigers general manager Jeff Greenberg was asked at last week’s GM Meetings how Torres’ then-looming decision would impact the team’s offseason work.
“It impacts us from the sense of it’s a player on our roster or not at a certain number,” Greenberg told reporters from the meetings in Las Vegas. “Obviously if he’s on our team, it will affect the rest of the infield, the outlook of the offseason.”
It’s not a financial matter; while Torres’ $22,025,000 qualifying offer marks a substantial raise from the one-year, $15 million contract he signed last offseason, it’s not a big enough difference to wreck team payroll. It’s more about opportunity and at-bats.
Under Harris, the Tigers have made opportunities for young players a priority. Nothing they’ve done in free agency or trades over the last few years has blocked a prospect or a young Major Leaguer. They’ve made adjustments when they’ve had to.
Even with two full Major League seasons, Keith is still young, having turned 24 in mid-August. He was the youngest player on the Tigers’ active roster. Even after Tuesday’s flurry of prospect moves, just three players on the 40-man roster are younger than Keith: Jackson Jobe and prospects Hao-Yu Lee (No. 6) and Thayron Liranzo (No. 5).
Keith’s offensive development hasn’t been flashy, but it has been steady. While Keith’s power remains a work in progress, he took steps this season in unlocking it, from big improvements in exit velocity (14th largest improvement among MLB hitters), hard-hit rate (ninth-largest improvement) and barrel rates to an elite rate of balls in play with a launch angle “sweet spot” (between eight and 32 degrees). He unlocked more power while improving plate discipline, including the 12th-largest jump in walk rate and the 18th largest drop in chase rate.
When the Tigers talked last month about internal improvements as part of their offensive upgrades, Keith is a big part of it. Anything the Tigers do in the infield this offseason, whether that involves a free-agent third baseman like Alex Bregman or Eugenio Suárez or adding a shortstop and moving Zach McKinstry back to third, will require a plan for finding Keith the consistent at-bats he needs to continue his development.
Perhaps that’s why the Tigers were open-ended last month about Keith’s position for next year.
“We’re starting to get breakthrough with his comfort level at these positions, and based on how our winter goes, we’ll adapt accordingly,” Hinch said. “But at no point do I think this winter he’s going to be able to say one position. For the best use of our roster and our team, I think he’s a viable option at multiple.”