DETROIT — Colt Keith spent his rookie season in 2024 as the Detroit Tigers\u2019 regular second baseman. <\/p>\n
But he was without a consistent home for much of 2025 after the signing of Gleyber Torres and the resurgence of Spencer Torkelson.<\/p>\n
TIGERS IN 2026: This is the fifth in a series of profiles on the Detroit Tigers\u2019 organizational depth heading into the 2026 season. Previously: Catchers<\/a>, first basemen<\/a>, second basemen<\/a>, shortstops<\/a>.<\/p>\n After Torres\u2019 signing, the original plan was for Keith to take over first. But Torkelson earned an Opening Day roster spot with a strong spring and never stopped hitting, upending the Tigers\u2019 preseason plans.<\/p>\n In 2025, third base was Plan B for Keith and the Tigers\u2019 infield.<\/p>\n In 2026, it looks like it will be Plan A. <\/p>\n Unless something dramatically changes in the coming weeks, it appears safe to pencil in Keith as the Tigers\u2019 regular third baseman after a successful audition last season. The hot corner is not an easy position to learn on the fly, but Keith played third extensively in the minor leagues and looked like a natural after brushing off the rust last summer.<\/p>\n His bat has steadily improved in each of the last two seasons. At only 24 years old, Keith is a popular pick for a breakout year.<\/p>\n Of course, if injuries strike or the Tigers\u2019 needs change, there are other third-base options, including Zach McKinstry, Javier B\u00e1ez, Jace Jung and Trey Sweeney. An injury at first or second could again upend the Tigers\u2019 plans and send Keith to a different position. The arrival of shortstop prospect Kevin McGonigle could also prompt the Tigers to reshuffle their current infield alignment.<\/p>\n But for now, Keith is the man at third base, even if his young career has already taught him that plans can change fast.<\/p>\n THIRD BASEMEN IN THE SYSTEM<\/p>\n On the 40-man roster: Colt Keith, Jace Jung,\u00a0Zach McKinstry, Trey Sweeney, Javier Baez, Matt Vierling, Hao-Yu Lee, Trei Cruz.<\/p>\n Possible assignments:<\/p>\n Detroit: Keith, McKinstry, Baez, Vierling.<\/p>\n Triple-A Toledo: Jung, Lee, Sweeney, Max Anderson, Gage Workman, Cruz. <\/p>\n Double-A Erie: Izaac Pacheco, John Peck, Peyton Graham.<\/p>\n Class A (advanced) West Michigan: Abel Bastidas, Samuel Gil, Cristian Santana, Junior Tilien.<\/p>\n Class A Lakeland: Carson Rucker, Javier Osorio, Maikal Orozco.<\/p>\n Most starts at third base over the last 10 years<\/p>\n 2016: Nick Castellanos<\/p>\n 2017: Nick Castellanos<\/p>\n 2018: Jeimer Candelario<\/p>\n 2019: Dawel Lugo<\/p>\n 2020: Isaac Paredes<\/p>\n 2021: Jeimer Candelario<\/p>\n 2022: Jeimer Candelario<\/p>\n 2023: Nick Maton<\/p>\n 2024: Gio Urshela<\/p>\n 2025: Zach McKinstry <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"DETROIT — Colt Keith spent his rookie season in 2024 as the Detroit Tigers\u2019 regular second baseman. But…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":451979,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[435],"tags":[49,48,462,82],"class_list":["post-451978","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-mlb","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/451978","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=451978"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/451978\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/451979"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=451978"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=451978"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=451978"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}