SAN DIEGO — Kevin McGonigle woke up at 8 a.m. Tuesday and saw the text.

A.J. Hinch and Scott Harris wanted to meet at 8:55.

McGonigle knew he was about to learn the Detroit Tigers’ decision: Have him skip Triple A and make his major-league debut? Or go to the minor leagues for more seasoning?

“All right,” he told himself. “Here we go.”

Before the meeting, McGonigle and some of his teammates had breakfast. He was too nervous to eat. Then he finally sat down with Harris and Hinch. Hinch launched into a long speech, intentionally delaying the verdict.

“It was a buildup,” McGonigle said. “He did a great job of keeping it between ‘Oh, you’re not making it’ or ‘You’re making it.’ So the whole time I was on my toes. I was like, ‘A.J., come on, get to the point, man. I’m stressing over here.’”

Hinch got there eventually. He told McGonigle he is a winning player. And then he told him what McGonigle had been yearning to hear. He made the team, set to make his major-league debut Thursday against the San Diego Padres.

“I think the determining factors for us when considering him for the Opening Day roster were, one, can he make us better?” Harris said. “And two, is he ready developmentally for this jump? I think his performance in games in Lakeland, and especially the work that we saw behind the scenes, convinced us that the answer to those two questions is yes, and so he’s here. We think his command of the strike zone, his ability to execute a game plan at the plate and his ability to help us defensively are going to insulate him from some of the struggles that young players see.”

McGonigle’s first call was to his mother.

“What are you doing Thursday?” he asked her.

“I’m going to San Diego,” she said.

Then McGonigle called his father. He wanted to make plans right away and asked how many tickets he could get. There were more calls to family and friends. There was a bear hug from fellow prospect Max Anderson and a congratulatory text from Max Clark.

All the excitement was hard-earned. But here is the most important thing to know about Kevin McGonigle. Wednesday, 24 hours after getting the news and 24 hours before the biggest game of his life so far, he was back at his locker, talking about a flashpoint moment like it was no big deal. McGonigle was clearly excited. He cracked a slight smile a few different times as he recounted the story of how all this went down. But in what has already become typical McGonigle fashion, he was remarkably composed.

“I’ve always been good at telling myself it’s the same game,” McGonigle said. “I’m going to have the same mindset going into tomorrow. I know it’s going to be in front of 45,000 fans on the biggest stage. But I’ve dreamed about being there my whole life.”

McGonigle handled all the questions like a veteran. And then he was out on the field for a workout at Petco Park, blasting balls into the right-field stands with the compact left-handed swing that got him to this point.

McGonigle is on the team after he posted an .888 OPS in spring training and was just as impressive with his defense at third base and shortstop. He entered spring as the sport’s No. 2 prospect, and the hype only grew from there. He makes his debut as one of the most touted prospects in franchise history.

“We shouldn’t be surprised if there are growing pains here,” Harris said. “He’s 21 years old, he’s going to be in the big leagues. We just trust him mentally and physically to be able to fight through some of the adjustment period here. And the other factor is, we don’t need him to be the savior. We don’t need him to carry us; we just need him to help us. This roster is pretty darn good with or without Kevin. We just think it’s better with him on it. That’s why he’s here.”

McGonigle will wear No. 7 with the Tigers, a uniform that great names such as Hank Greenberg (1933), George Kell (1951-52), Harvey Kuenn (1954-59), Rocky Colavito (1960-63), Eddie Mathews (1967-68) and Ivan Rodriguez (2004-08) wore before him. McGonigle wore No. 7 for most of his childhood, until his high school was missing the No. 7 jersey, so he switched to No. 5. (With the Tigers, No. 5 is retired in honor of Greenberg, who wore the number from 1934 to 1946).

For now, it’s unclear how McGonigle’s playing time will balance out at shortstop and third base. But he will debut in San Diego, the city where Tony Gwynn became a contact-hitting icon.

Fitting, because McGonigle was raised on videos of Gwynn and shares similarities with a simple stroke and strong bat-to-ball ability.

“First pitch, might be a little nervous,” McGonigle said. “After that first pitch, I’m hoping it’s go time from there.”

Worth noting

• Connor Seabold, signed on an $800,000 split contract earlier this week, will be on the Opening Day roster in the bullpen. The 30-year-old right-hander has a 7.79 ERA in 119 career MLB innings, but he raised his arm slot over the offseason and had a strong spring with the Toronto Blue Jays, garnering a 44.8 percent whiff rate and maxing his fastball velocity at 96.1 mph. Seabold gives the Tigers another arm in their organization, but it is also a curious decision for two reasons: The Tigers optioned Brenan Hanifee, a pitcher with a 2.77 ERA in 94 1/3 career innings, in part to clear a path for Seabold. And with Seabold joining the 40-man roster, they had to free up another 40-man spot for McGonigle. The Tigers did so by designating right-hander Dylan Smith for assignment. Last summer, the Tigers were excited about Smith’s uptick in stuff after a move to the bullpen. “I think Dylan has the talent to be an effective reliever in this game,” Harris said. “For us right now, given the young players we added to our 40-man to protect them from getting taken in the Rule 5, given the springs that a number of guys on our 40-man had, we had a tough choice.”

• The Tigers optioned outfielder Wenceel Pérez after the switch hitter struggled through most of spring training. Parker Meadows makes the team in center after coming on strong at the end of camp.  Pérez had been an important contributor for the Tigers over the past two summers, but for now, he will start 2026 in the minor leagues. Pérez at least left camp on a positive note, hitting two home runs in the final exhibition game after learning he was getting sent down. “He’s going to go down and get back in the strike zone the way he did in the last spring training game, and there’s no doubt he’s going to play a big role in this season,” Hinch said.