00:00Now it's time to pivot to another guy that could crack an opening day roster,
00:03and it's Kevin McGonigal of the Detroit Tigers.
00:05It's Just Baseball's number two overall prospect that is live at JustBaseball.com.
00:09It's the best list you will find anywhere, not just because the rankings are close to perfect.
00:14I have some Lazaro Montes complaints there, but the detail and the written reports of all these guys
00:21are the most thorough and detailed things that you will find.
00:24But Kevin McGonigal, six for 15 so far in big league spring.
00:28Two doubles, a triple, two walks, a stolen base.
00:31He's punched out four times in 17 plate appearances.
00:34He's hitting the ball incredibly hard.
00:36You see he already popped a 108 against the Philadelphia Phillies, a 108 again, 107.7.
00:41I like rounding up another 107, another 105, and a 104 as well.
00:46He's hitting the crap out of the ball.
00:47He's doing everything the Detroit Tigers are asking him to do.
00:51The Detroit Tigers have legitimate aspirations to win that division and contend for an American League pennant.
00:56But Conor Griffin is a more nuanced conversation because he's so young and he hasn't had that much time in
01:03the upper levels.
01:04Kevin McGonigal, I think, is a more straightforward conversation.
01:06If he's not on the opening day roster for the Detroit Tigers, they are not putting their best foot forward.
01:12Well, and, you know, I think especially after you send him to the Fall League, and I understand that the
01:16Fall League is, you know, a haven for offense.
01:19But, you know, in 19 games there, he proceeds to be Barry Bonds.
01:23It's 362, 500, 710.
01:26Also, you move him around the diamond.
01:27He looked pretty good at short stops.
01:28He looked very good at third base.
01:29He'd never played before.
01:30I felt like to add on to the season there, we wanted to see the workload a little bit, you
01:35know, ramped up because he only played 88 games in the regular season.
01:37You add the 19 on there, get him up, you know, over the century mark and then have him perform
01:43the way that he did.
01:44There's not much else that Kevin McGonigal needed to do other than have a great spring.
01:48And I think he's checked every single box.
01:49And you know that McGonigal is going to rake.
01:51And he's done that in the small sample that we have.
01:54But as you said, sizable compared to some of the others that we're working with where you're six for 15.
01:58But beyond that, he has defended well.
02:01And, I mean, at shortstop, he looks really comfortable there.
02:04He made a couple really good plays in the last couple games, whether it was turning a double play, ranging
02:10to his left and right, making good throws on the run.
02:13McGonigal's one knock is going to be the range potentially.
02:17But he makes all the shorthanded plays that he needs to make.
02:20And the Tigers, you know, as he's making a play, A.J. Hinch is on the broadcast talking about how
02:26much confidence the Tigers as a team and as an organization have gained in their positioning of their players.
02:31So if you are already feeling really confident about the positioning and where you are setting up your infielders, and
02:35that is the one knock on Kevin McGonigal's, maybe the range can get a little bit short.
02:39Well, you hedge that.
02:41He's shorthanded.
02:42He's making all the plays that he needs to make.
02:43And now you feel really good about the development as an organization.
02:47And when it comes to positioning, well, you just hedged maybe the one weakness McGonigal had there, right?
02:52Then he's getting up on the base paths and he's wreaking havoc.
02:55And I think that's something that they really need.
02:58I think Detroit, in terms of manufacturing runs and, you know, not always needing to have the Riley Green Homer
03:04and being able to create runs in different ways, I think is also huge for them.
03:08And I agree with you, like, with the way that Kevin McGonigal has performed, I assume he continues to perform
03:13this spring training.
03:15I don't see how the Tigers were clearly in win-now mode with the Scooble and Fromber tandem as well
03:20that you're only going to have now for one year.
03:22A team that's clearly in win-now mode with the way McGonigal has looked, I don't see how you could
03:26start on opening day, put that lineup card in without McGonigal on it and say, with a straight face, that
03:32this is the best team that the Tigers could have put together on day one.
03:37I'm totally with you.
03:38And the other thing that jumps out to me about that is what they have at the major league level.
03:42If I were to sit here and say McGonigal should be the opening day second baseman, that's just not educated
03:47because Gleyber Torres accepted the qualifying offer.
03:49Gleyber Torres is back with Detroit.
03:51You are not unseating Gleyber Torres because a top prospect is amazing.
03:55Even if they had, like, I'm trying to create this make-believe world where, like, Baez was playing like a
04:00serviceable major league player or Trey Sweeney, for example.
04:03Let's say Sweeney took a big step in 2025, and Sweeney was there, and he looked like the opening day
04:08shortstop, and McGonigal needs to pretty much just bunny hop him or leapfrog him and be better, be objectively better
04:15than Trey Sweeney for it to be their best foot forward.
04:18Their projected opening day shortstop right now, via roster resource and the great John Becker at Fangraphs, is Zach McKinstry.
04:24And Zach McKinstry was an all-star last year.
04:27Zach McKinstry was an all-star because he can play literally everywhere well, and he can be a serviceable bat
04:31while playing literally everywhere.
04:33Don't take the utility out of that guy's game.
04:36He fits really well on this roster.
04:38McKinstry can play everywhere while you have McGonigal playing shortstop.
04:43You don't need to find an everyday spot for a good utility bat.
04:47That's the whole point of utility.
04:48He can give everybody days off.
04:50Don't take the utility away from McKinstry.
04:52Let McGonigal play short, and when McGonigal needs a blow because he's getting acclimated to Major League Baseball, McKinstry can
04:58play there.
04:59When Colt Keith struggles defensively at third base and he needs an afternoon, put McKinstry there.
05:04It takes away from a couple of people, I feel like, if McGonigal isn't on the roster.
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