Future Tigers infield

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Mark Pattison

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Apr 4, 2026, 9:22:20 PM (8 days ago) Apr 4
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I can see a Detroit infield of Kevin McGonigle at third base, John Peck at shortstop, and Max Anderson at second base. Colt Keith at first? Possibly, His contract would be a savings for the Tigers -- $24 million and change through 2029, plus another $52 million-plus if he can cash in through 2032. He'd probably have to slug more like a typical first baseman.

Peck would likely have to transition to the Swiss army knife infield backup should Bryce Rainer or Jordan Yost be ready for the big-league grind. And that leaves Hao-Yu Lee the odd man out -- although he was playing first base in the Phillies' system before he was traded to the Tigers, then played second base in Double-A and third base in Toledo. He's injured right now, and down time due to injury could make him trade bait for an immediate need.

Mark Pattison

Peter Welch

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Apr 5, 2026, 10:41:30 AM (7 days ago) Apr 5
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I don't think Lee played any 1B in the Phillies' system.  He played 2B-SS-3B.  He's played mostly 2B/3B (and a couple of games at SS) in the Tigers' system.  

According to Baseball Reference:


Peter

From: 'Mark Pattison' via Detroit Tigers e-mail list <detroit...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Saturday, April 4, 2026 9:22 PM
To: Tigers List <detroit...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Future Tigers infield
 
I can see a Detroit infield of Kevin McGonigle at third base, John Peck at shortstop, and Max Anderson at second base. Colt Keith at first? Possibly, His contract would be a savings for the Tigers -- $24 million and change through 2029, plus another $52 million-plus if he can cash in through 2032. He'd probably have to slug more like a typical first baseman.

Peck would likely have to transition to the Swiss army knife infield backup should Bryce Rainer or Jordan Yost be ready for the big-league grind. And that leaves Hao-Yu Lee the odd man out -- although he was playing first base in the Phillies' system before he was traded to the Tigers, then played second base in Double-A and third base in Toledo. He's injured right now, and down time due to injury could make him trade bait for an immediate need.

Mark Pattison

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Peter Welch

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Apr 5, 2026, 11:03:19 AM (7 days ago) Apr 5
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Peck might be Zach McKinstry's eventual "supersub" replacement, although Peck hasn't played any outfield in the minors yet.  McKinstry's value comes from his ability to play almost every position competently, although his best defensive position is probably RF.  You might see Peck playing some OF in the minors this year.

It will be interesting to see who plays 2B after Torres leaves. I'm pretty sure this will be Torres' final year with the Tigers. 
Max Anderson is supposedly very weak defensively, and there are still questions about how his free-swinging approach will do against major league pitching. 
Maybe they'll give Peck a look at 2B? 
I don't think Keith moves back to 2B because he's pretty bad there, and Keith seems to be transitioning to 1B as well.
Jace Jung is better defensively at 3B than 2B, plus Jung hasn't shown he can hit major league pitching yet.
Hao-Yu Lee seems to be playing more 3B than 2B now, plus he has a lot of trouble hitting breaking pitches so it's questionable he'll be able to hit major league pitching.
I don't think they'll move McGonigle to 2B now that he's shown he's a decent fielder at 3B (not sure about his defense at SS yet).

The Tigers seem to have stockpiled a gaggle of 3B and 2B types.

Peter

From: 'Mark Pattison' via Detroit Tigers e-mail list <detroit...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Saturday, April 4, 2026 9:22 PM
To: Tigers List <detroit...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Future Tigers infield
 
I can see a Detroit infield of Kevin McGonigle at third base, John Peck at shortstop, and Max Anderson at second base. Colt Keith at first? Possibly, His contract would be a savings for the Tigers -- $24 million and change through 2029, plus another $52 million-plus if he can cash in through 2032. He'd probably have to slug more like a typical first baseman.

Peck would likely have to transition to the Swiss army knife infield backup should Bryce Rainer or Jordan Yost be ready for the big-league grind. And that leaves Hao-Yu Lee the odd man out -- although he was playing first base in the Phillies' system before he was traded to the Tigers, then played second base in Double-A and third base in Toledo. He's injured right now, and down time due to injury could make him trade bait for an immediate need.

Mark Pattison

Jeffrey Withey

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Apr 5, 2026, 11:28:44 AM (7 days ago) Apr 5
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McGonigle has looked very competent at both SS and 3B in the limited action so far. Strong, very accurate arm. Range I can’t comment on, but he hasn’t missed anything near him. 

Jeff

From: detroit...@googlegroups.com <detroit...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Peter Welch <pw...@hotmail.com>
Sent: Sunday, April 5, 2026 11:03:15 AM
To: Tigers List <detroit...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: Future Tigers infield
 

[EXTERNAL]

Michael W

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Apr 5, 2026, 5:11:07 PM (7 days ago) Apr 5
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Guys, come on.  No.  John Peck is not the Tigers’ future everyday shortstop, nor their future everyday second baseman.  Hitting well at Advanced A, at age 23, is not qualification for anything, except maybe promotion to AA.  

He’s also very likely not their future utility man.  No reason to think he’d be better than McKinstry himself in the next 2 years.  After that it’s conceivable, but there are probably a dozen freebie-type players available who would be better.

At best, Peck is a future injury fill-in.  More likely he’s organizational filler.

Michael 

Mark Pattison

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Apr 5, 2026, 9:33:15 PM (7 days ago) Apr 5
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Michael, I beg to differ.

Peck's defense is unquestioned. The only issue is whether he can hit. Well, despite it being a limited sample size, he was pasting the ball in spring training. He can be a serviceable placeholder until Rayner or Yost develop. And McKinstry won't be getting any younger.

Also unquestioned is Max Anderson's ability to mash. It's just his defense that's suspect. But if you have a McGonigle and a Peck -- and payroll issues that preclude paying high prices over multiple seasons for talent  -- Anderson can be a decent second baseman.

Mark Pattison

Peter Welch

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Apr 6, 2026, 12:17:09 AM (7 days ago) Apr 6
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Anderson hasn't played the last 5 games for Toledo.  I haven't seen anything about an injury.

Peter
From: 'Mark Pattison' via Detroit Tigers e-mail list <detroit...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Sunday, April 5, 2026 9:33 PM
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Peter Welch

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Apr 6, 2026, 12:28:10 AM (7 days ago) Apr 6
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Sent: Sunday, April 5, 2026 9:33 PM
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Michael W

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Apr 7, 2026, 11:36:14 PM (5 days ago) Apr 7
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Mark, there’s no issue about Peck’s hitting.  Considering age, performance and level, he won’t hit major league pitching.  This is not a prospect.

Michael

Peter Welch

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Apr 8, 2026, 11:20:22 AM (4 days ago) Apr 8
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Zach McKinstry hit .230/.331/.324 at age 22 between mostly A-ball and briefly in AA.
Peck hit .301/.359/.433 at age 22 between mostly A-ball and briefly in AA.

I think you're being a bit too skeptical about Peck.  Not saying he's a future starter or anything, but he could have a McKinstry-type career path.

Peter
From: detroit...@googlegroups.com <detroit...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Michael W <miw...@gmail.com>
Sent: Tuesday, April 7, 2026 11:36 PM
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Michael W

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Apr 8, 2026, 3:49:30 PM (4 days ago) Apr 8
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Peter writes:
> Zach McKinstry hit .230/.331/.324 at age 22 between mostly A-ball and briefly in AA.
> Peck hit .301/.359/.433 at age 22 between mostly A-ball and briefly in AA.
>I think you're being a bit too skeptical about Peck.  Not saying he's a future starter or 
>anything, but he could have a McKinstry-type career path.

Well, if you're not saying Peck is a future starter than we don't have too much disagreement.  That's the main thing I was objecting to.

However, I still think Peck is a long-shot to be a major league utility guy.  Addressing your comments,
(1) I appreciate that you tried for an apples-to-apples age comparison, but in fact, McKinstry was 9.5 months younger than Peck in the seasons you chose.*  That matters because age 22 is a last gasp for Advanced A - older than that, good performances rarely hold up.  
(2) I'm sure you noticed that McKinstry hit much better *every year after* the one you posted.  That's a bit unusual -- players don't typically start to hit much better after 2 full years in the minors.  It was unusual for McKinstry to do it, and it will be unexpected for Peck to do it going forward.  
(3) We could argue that comparing Peck to McKinstry is sort of damning with faint praise anyway.  Zach hasn't been a great major league contributor.  I introduced McKinstry only to say that, as things stand, he'll be the better player in 2026 and 27.  If McKinstry is the comp for Peck (which, as I said, I have reservations about), and the argument goes: "If someone gives Peck parts of 6 seasons in the majors, maybe he'll manage one with a .700 OPS just like McKinstry did," ok.  But not very interesting.
(4) Probably the thing that bothers me the most about Peck is that he didn't hit very well at Pepperdine.  Most future big leaguers rake in college.  Peck's junior (final) season at Pepperdine, he was only 6th on his own team in OPS, and below his team average.  His sophomore year was better than that, but his freshman year was worse.  

I guess we'll see.  He's in AA now.

Michael

*For those who care about the details,  most baseball sites use July 1st as the date of record, which makes players like Peck, with a birthday in July, look younger compared to players like McKinstry born in April.  For a direct comparison, take April 1st of the years in question.  Peck was 22 years 258 days, while McKinstry was 21 years 338 days.  So Peck was 285 days older on Aprils 1st of their respective "age 22" seasons.

Peter Welch

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Apr 8, 2026, 6:17:40 PM (4 days ago) Apr 8
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Never been a big McKinstry fan but I’ve come to appreciate his multi-position value and he was a decent hitter last year and even did ok vs. lefties.  He's been hitting ok early this season as well. He's passable defensively at several positions and is actually a pretty good corner outfielder.  He's got decent speed as well.  A very useful player.

McKinstry has been a bit of a late bloomer.  As Michael pointed out, he made a big improvement in the minors at ages 23-24 and he was considered a decent prospect in the Dodgers' system but he didn't hit when given a chance in the majors with the Dodgers and Cubs. The Cubs gave up on him and traded him to the Tigers late in spring training in 2023 for a low-level pitching prospect.
McKinstry has had a heck of a career considering he was a 33rd-round draft pick out of Central Michigan.

If Peck can do that it would be great, but likely he'll be just a AAAA player and AAA roster filler.  We'll see.

Peter


Sent: Wednesday, April 8, 2026 3:49:29 PM
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