The Tigers have spent the last three seasons trying to piece together shortstop, and the numbers show just how messy that has been.
Detroit’s infield defense finished the 2026 season with -19 Fielding Run Value, which ranked fourth-worst in the majors and tied the Los Angeles Angels. There was one bright spot in the group: the Tigers were still good at turning double plays, posting the fifth-best mark in Inf.
DP. But the range problem was real.
Detroit fell to 29th in Range, again tied with the Angels.
At shortstop specifically, the damage has piled up. From 2024 through 2026, Tigers shortstops posted -4 FRV, one of the worst totals in baseball at a premium defensive position. The most-used names at the spot tell the story: Javier Baez appeared there 169 times, Trey Sweeney 130, and Zach McKinstry 106.
McKinstry was a key part of the mix in 2026, too, as Detroit spent spring training getting Kevin McGonigle ready to handle third base and shortstop. McKinstry’s role grew when he went on the injured list in April and returned in May, and Baez also missed time because of his own issues.
Even with those absences, McKinstry has stood out as the defender in the group. He was one of the American League shortstop Gold Glove candidates this season, and his numbers back up the case.
Among the three main shortstops, he’s the only one with a positive defensive mark, putting up 6 Fielding Run Value in 756 innings at the position between 2024 and 2026. His 2024 season was especially strong at 4 FRV, and even in 2026, with only 191 innings there, he still finished above average at 2.
The rest of the picture is less flattering. Sweeney and Baez combined for -8 FRV, -3 in Range, and -5 in Inf. DP, a blunt snapshot of Detroit’s trouble covering ground and finishing double plays.
That matters because the Tigers have not exactly been leaning on a rotation full of strikeout weapons. Over the last two seasons, they ranked 18th in the majors with an 8.43 K/9 rate.
And 2027 will bring another challenge, since Tarik Skubal and Casey Mize will not be in the rotation. Still, Detroit has offset some of that by keeping the ball on the ground.
Over the same two-season span, the Tigers allowed the sixth-best ground-ball rate, and in 2026 they were at 44.3%, their second-best single-season mark in the last decade behind only 44.5% in 2021.
Put all of that together, and the path forward gets pretty clear: it is hard to see a workable 2027 plan without McKinstry as the starting shortstop.
McGonigle did get a real trial at the position in his debut season, logging 676 innings at short in 2026. The results were mixed: 0 FRV, -1 in Range, and a positive mark of 1 in double plays.
He shouldn’t be ruled out, and he was better at third base. That leaves Hao-Yu Lee and Colt Keith as the main candidates at third.
If offense wins out, Lee would be the choice, but his defense was among the worst in the league at -5 FRV. Keith, meanwhile, dropped from the 53rd to the 32nd percentile in Batting, but he would bring more defensive value.
Detroit looks set to keep testing its options in spring training as it searches for the right balance. McKinstry’s Gold Glove candidacy this year could matter in that conversation, especially after he averaged 2.8 fWAR and a 117 wRC+ as a shortstop over the last two seasons. The Tigers can’t keep sliding backward on defense, and shortstop is the spot that keeps forcing the issue.
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