It’s an irresistible game for those who study the Tigers farm:
When will Colt Keith get his Tigers call-up?
Anyone knows it’s coming, perhaps this season, if, in fact, it’s not a probability.
This is what happens when a 21-year-old, left-handed masher bats .321 in 40 games, with a handsome on-base average (.394), and sports nine home runs as part of his .903 OPS.
Isn’t it time this lad got a promotion? If not to Comerica Park, where good bats are appreciated, but at least Triple-A Toledo?
A ticket to one of those two stops — probably Toledo — is in the cards, even if the Tigers aren’t offering a solitary clue as to when Keith might say adios to Double-A Erie.
A plausible guess:
Keith moves to Toledo at the season’s halfway mark.
Assuming all goes well there, which is an assumption Keith tends to invite, no matter where he plays, he would be an hour’s trek from Detroit.
One question perhaps slows Tigers manager AJ Hinch’s salivary glands:
Where will Keith play?
He has been dealing with a bug the past few days but is expected to return this week, with steady work at second base in the forecast.
While the Tigers aren’t in agreement, officially, that third base has been an issue, second base is an easier sell for Keith’s glove, range, and arm. That’s especially true now that former second-base choice, Wenceel Perez, is shifting to the outfield (see note below).
“I think, right now there are a lot of the infielders we really like,” said Ryan Garko, who oversees Tigers player development. “And if you look at the way we use players in Detroit, that’s the way we want to build our major-league club. So, versatility is important.
“Colt did really well playing second base (in earlier Tigers farm stops). I think the more versatile we can make our players — you’ve got the Zach McKinstry model, the Zack Short model — the more we have all these pieces to help match up against an opponent.”
Keith has played both sides of the infield in his first three years in the Tigers system, although his time at second base has been limited (32 games, compared with 115 at third).
If he and the Tigers find bulk work at second base isn’t compatible, other moves loom — either to the outfield, where Tigers roster life is getting congested, or, first base, which for now is the province of Spencer Torkelson. But those shifts, if ever they’re considered, are down the path.
Add to the long-term picture the fact that last year’s Tigers first-round draft pick, Jace Jung, is absolutely a second baseman, and questions get stickier about just where Keith will land.
What is known is the old Jim Leyland adage about hitters and positions probably applies: “If a guy hits, they’ll find a place to put him.”
Time to try the outfield
The Tigers are saying nothing about it. Nuh-thing.
But there’s a reason Wenceel Perez now is working in center field at Erie.
His throwing issues at second base, reminiscent of historic afflictions known in previous decades by big-leaguers Steve Sax and Chuck Knoblauch, have led to nine errors early this season at Erie.
Perez’s switch-hitting bat has been relatively strong for the SeaWolves (.265/.373/.745 OPS), but throwing issues that cropped up a year ago, for now, seemingly have made second base a no-go for a 23-year-old, high-end prospect who last week had an OK outfield debut.
“He was great,” said Erie manager Gabe Alvarez, who won’t acknowledge that throwing hang-ups have led to Perez’s switch. “He caught all the balls he should have caught, got good jumps on the balls. He seemed comfortable out there.
“He’s been working hard during BP, taking live balls off the bat.”
Trei Cruz’s 2023 bust-out
Talk about a turnaround: 200 points in OPS from 2022 to this season.
Take a bow, Trei Cruz.
More impressive is that Cruz, a switch-hitter, has caught fire to the point he is toiling occasionally at yet another position: center field, after he already had long shown he could handle the basic infield food groups (third base, shortstop, second base).
Cruz arrived Sunday at UPMC Park for a game against Somerset hauling a .283 batting average, .380 on-base, .520 slugging, and .906 OPS, which included seven homers.
He is stronger as a right-handed batter against lefty pitching (.350/.800/1.150) but still carries a .390 on-base and .800 OPS when he shifts to the left side.
Not that any of what’s going on this season was a total shock. It just took a while — quite a while — for Cruz to settle in with the stick, after the Tigers snagged him in the third round in 2020 (Rice University).
“Trei hits the ball hard, and always has,” Garko said. “I think he’s swinging a little bit more this year; he’s more aggressive in the zone. But with Trei, I’ve always liked his tools. He can play shortstop. He has a good eye. He hits the ball really hard.”
What explains the sudden ascent in 2023?
Garko repeats a conviction shared by most development gurus: It can take time for players to blossom, especially when they were caught in the tangle of COVID shutdowns, as was Cruz when he was drafted in 2020.
Garko also believes there has been just enough change in Cruz’s swing in 2023 to put a tad more air beneath the ball — hence, those nine homers.
“Hitting is one of the hardest things to do,” Garko said, referencing again baseball’s timelines. “It just, for so many players, happens at different speeds.”
Nothing petite about Petit
He is 6-foot-8, at least 300 pounds, and as Alvarez says about RJ Petit: “I think he’s an uncomfortable at-bat for hitters.”
No kidding. On top of the fact that Petit looks like a locomotive coming at you, a right-handed reliever at Erie is throwing much the way he did at West Michigan before he was bumped to Double A.
Petit has pitched in eight games for the Sea Wolves, has a 1.25 WHIP, and in 12 innings has been nipped for 11 hits, while striking out nine and walking four. His season stats, combining his five games at West Michigan: 2.12 ERA, 1.05 WHIP, 17 innings, 13 hits, five walks, 17 punch-outs.
Petit was a Tigers pick in 2021 (14th round, Charleston Southern) who wasn’t then known for throwing as hard as his size might imply.
“His stuff has taken a jump,” Alvarez said. “Mid- to high-90s (fastball), with a pretty good little cutter-slider, and a good change. The ball really jumps out of his hands. Even guys, with their (at-bat) takes, you don’t see them very comfortable.”
Short hops
▶ Maybe the most misleading stats anywhere on the Tigers’ farm belong to Toledo outfielder Parker Meadows: .223 batting average ahead of Sunday’s game, with a .323 on-base percentage, .383 slugging and .705 OPS.
Maybe the most misleading stats anywhere on the Tigers farm belong to Toledo outfielder Parker Meadows: .223 batting average ahead of Sunday’s game, with a .323 on-base percentage, .383 slugging, and .705 OPS.
Meadows, 23, a left-handed swinger who has been on something of a Big League Call-Up Watch since spring camp, has had better at-bats than his numbers suggest, which include five home runs.
Word from those who have been paying close attention: Not overmatched, despite 48 strikeouts in 46 games. Can put together a 10-pitch duel. Hitting pitches better than his batting average reveals.
Meadows is a sensational speedster who figures to begin more serious focus on base-stealing — he has six this season — as his Toledo tutoring continues.
▶ Brant Hurter, left-handed reliever at Erie, 6-6 and 250: nine games, 1.99 ERA, 1.08 WHIP, 40.2 innings, 32 hits, 12 walks, 46 strikeouts. Sturdy stuff from a 2021 seventh-rounder out of Georgia Tech.
“All year long,” Alvarez said. “Really consistent, good command, a big step this year. Low-to mid-90s fastball, with curveball, slider and a good change.
“And he throws strikes with everyone. Add in the fact he’s a guy who’s fearless on the mound.”
▶ Dillon Dingler was hot. He was swatting lots of homers and doubles as Erie’s starting catcher.
And now, the strikeouts have returned: 17 in eight games from May 14-25.
The issue: Sliders away continue to kill the Tigers’ second-round pick from 2020.
Dingler was still carrying a heavy .902 OPS in 18 Double-A games, as the SeaWolves got ready for Sunday’s tussle against Somerset. But, until the swerving stuff down and away is conquered, at-bats will continue to be complicated for Detroit’s top starting-catcher hope.
Lynn Henning is a freelance writer and retired Detroit News reporter.