{"id":542979,"date":"2026-03-24T20:35:07","date_gmt":"2026-03-24T20:35:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/542979\/"},"modified":"2026-03-24T20:35:07","modified_gmt":"2026-03-24T20:35:07","slug":"kevin-mcgonigle-makes-tigers-roster","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/542979\/","title":{"rendered":"Kevin McGonigle Makes Tigers’ Roster"},"content":{"rendered":"

12:43pm: The Tigers announced that infielder\/outfielder Wenceel P\u00e9rez<\/a>, infielder Jace Jung<\/a> and outfielder Trei Cruz<\/a> have all been optioned to Triple-A Toledo. Center fielder Parker Meadows<\/a> has made the Opening Day roster.<\/p>\n

The 26-year-old P\u00e9rez is the most notable among the cuts. He was a key contributor in Detroit last year, giving Hinch a defensively versatile switch-hitter who could be deployed at various spots in both the infield and outfield. P\u00e9rez played exclusively in the outfield last year but has more than 1800 minor league innings at both middle infield slots and another 259 at third base. In 383 MLB plate appearances, he slashed .244\/.308\/.430 (103 wRC+) with 13 homers, 17 doubles, four triples and eight steals. P\u00e9rez will surely get a long major league look this year as injuries and\/or poor performance elsewhere on the roster dictate, but for now he\u2019ll open in Toledo.<\/p>\n

P\u00e9rez didn\u2019t help his case with a dismal .158\/.238\/.158 showing in 46 spring plate appearances. With better production, he might\u2019ve edged out Meadows, who struggled at the plate in 2025 and batted only .222\/.314\/.289 in 52 spring plate appearances. Meadows, however, is a plus defender in center field. Given that he nominally outperformed P\u00e9rez with the bat and has a clear defensive edge with the glove, he\u2019ll get the nod for an Opening Day roster spot and look to get back to his 2024 form at the plate (.244\/.310\/.433).<\/p>\n

11:28am: It\u2019s official. The Tigers announced Tuesday that infielder Kevin McGonigle<\/a>, the consensus No. 2 prospect in baseball, will make their Opening Day roster. The 21-year-old will likely begin the season as Detroit\u2019s shortstop after a spring in which he batted .250\/.411\/.477 with two homers, two doubles, a triple, two steals and more walks (11) than strikeouts (9) in 56 plate appearances. McGonigle is not on the Tigers\u2019 40-man roster, so they\u2019ll need to make a corresponding transaction when they formally select his contract.<\/p>\n

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Selected with the No. 37 overall pick in the 2023 draft, McGonigle has raced through the minors relative to most high school picks. He\u2019s raked at every level from Rookie ball up through Double-A last season despite being one of the youngest players in the league at the most recent stops on his minor league journey. McGonigle totaled 397 plate appearances across three levels in 2025 and slashed .305\/.408\/.583 with 19 homers, 31 doubles, two triples, 10 steals and more walks than strikeouts.<\/p>\n

Scouts rave about McGonigle\u2019s preternatural feel for hitting. He\u2019s never punched out in more than 12.6% of his plate appearances at any minor league stop, and his overall strikeout rate of 10.6% in 908 professional plate appearances speaks volumes about the advanced nature of that hit tool \u2014 especially considering his age. McGonigle only turned 21 in mid-August. He\u2019ll play the vast majority of his rookie season before even celebrating his 22nd birthday.<\/p>\n

Some scouting reports express skepticism about his ability to stick at shortstop, though he\u2019s continued to get reps there this spring and could yet develop into a quality option at the position. Even if a move to another position \u2014 second base, third base, outfield \u2014 becomes a necessity somewhere down the line, McGonigle\u2019s bat is so highly regarded that it doesn\u2019t matter. He\u2019s viewed as a fixture in the top half of the Detroit lineup for the foreseeable future, regardless of his ultimate defensive home.<\/p>\n

Since he\u2019s breaking camp with the club and is a consensus top prospect, McGonigle could net the Tigers some future draft considerations via the league\u2019s Prospect Promotion Incentive (PPI) program. A Rookie of the Year win in 2026 or a top-three finish in MVP voting in any of McGonigle\u2019s pre-arbitration seasons would net the Tigers an extra draft selection after the first round the following season. (Prospects can only net their team one bonus pick overall.)<\/p>\n

Assuming McGonigle sticks on Detroit\u2019s roster all season, he\u2019ll accrue a full year of service and be under club control through the 2031 season. He\u2019d be eligible for arbitration following the 2028 season as things stand. Of course, those timetables are subject to change.<\/p>\n

McGonigle will have a full slate of three minor league option years upon being formally added to the roster, and Detroit could always look to extend its window of club control with a long-term deal, be it early in his MLB tenure or during subsequent springs, when McGonigle is still years from the open market. It\u2019ll take a hefty offer to do so in all likelihood, as McGonigle is currently slated to reach free agency ahead of his age-27 season, which would put him in line for a mammoth contract if he reaches his ceiling (or anything close to it).<\/p>\n

In addition to his work at shortstop, McGonigle also saw time at third base this spring. Detroit doesn\u2019t have set starters at either position, so he could bounce between both spots. McGonigle, Javier Baez<\/a> and Zach McKinstry<\/a> are all capable of playing short and third base. Colt Keith<\/a> can play third base, second base or first base. Matt Vierling<\/a> is capable of playing third base or the outfield. Manager A.J. Hinch will have no shortage of matchup-based options with that contingent on hand, but regardless of which defensive spot he occupies on a given day, McGonigle should be expected to be in Hinch\u2019s lineup.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"12:43pm: The Tigers announced that infielder\/outfielder Wenceel P\u00e9rez, infielder Jace Jung and outfielder Trei Cruz have all been…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":542980,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[242672,21000,122532,99,242673,242674],"class_list":{"0":"post-542979","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-jace-jung","9":"tag-kevin-mcgonigle","10":"tag-parker-meadows","11":"tag-sports","12":"tag-trei-cruz","13":"tag-wenceel-perez"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/542979","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=542979"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/542979\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/542980"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=542979"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=542979"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=542979"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}