Colt Keith back at second base? Only because A.J. Hinch is total mad scientist for Tigers
FORT MYERS, Fla. – You would need a crazy, complicated diagram to map out all the ways the Detroit Tigers defense has morphed this spring.
Colt Keith from second to first.
Justyn-Henry Malloy from outfield to first … and now, he’s getting time again in the outfield.
Spencer Torkelson from first to the outfield.
Riley Greene from left back to center ... back to left ... back to center.
Zach McKinstry all over the place, like normal.
And Javier Báez from shortstop to third – and maybe, someday, even center, although that hasn't happened yet.
It’s one of the trademarks of Tigers manager A.J. Hinch – he loves versatility.
So, on Tuesday afternoon, there was no surprise that it happened again.
But it felt like a blast from the past.
Keith started against the Minnesota Twins at second base – his primary position in 2024.
Wait a second.
What?
“It’s part of covering scenarios,” Hinch explained after the Tigers’ 6-5 victory over the Twins.
So, is Keith going back to second fulltime? Heck no.
Are the Tigers worried about his growth at first? No. That has nothing to do with it.
It’s all about the big picture and planning for different situations that might happen during the regular season.
“Colt is a good second baseman and can handle that position,” Hinch said. “I just don’t know when we are going to use that.”
Let’s be clear: Gleyber Torres is the second baseman for the Tigers.
“But there is gonna be a day when Gleyber (is the desginated hitter) or is off and Colt moves over and we play somebody else at first base,” Hinch said. “It’s preparing him for the fact that anything can happen.”
Here’s the part that Hinch didn’t say: Let’s say the Tigers want to give Gleyber the day off, and they want to get Spencer Torkelson or Justyn-Henry Malloy into the game, assuming one or both are on this roster.
The easiest way is at first base. Or even, if you want both, one could DH as well.
So, the easy fix is moving Keith to second.
But there is something else.
Something important to stress in the big picture.
“The other key takeaway about that is, we are not giving up on second base for him,” Hinch said about Keith. “Today was a good example. He barely did any work at second base this camp and he makes a couple of nice plays. That’s still gonna be part of what he does.”
So, Keith playing second on Tuesday was just preparing for all scenarios that might unfold this season.
But in the future?
Anything is possible.
Contact Jeff Seidel: jseidel@freepress.com. Follow him on X @seideljeff
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Tigers not giving up on Colt Keith at second base in future
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