The kid got the call.
Kevin McGonigle, the consensus No. 2 prospect in all of baseball, has made the Tigers’ Opening Day roster, the team announced on social media Tuesday ― two days ahead of the season opener in San Diego. The Tigers posted the roster decision on X (formerly Twitter) under the text: “It’s time.”
The news was widely expected, given McGonigle, 21, made the trip with the team to Arizona for the final spring-training games, and given his performance this spring.
Kevin McGonigle can play multiple infield spots
“He continued to demonstrate the ability to handle the moment,” Tigers manager AJ Hinch said Tuesday in Arizona, where the team was set to play its final spring-training game. “He had a lot of moments during camp when he was tested, whether that was playing in a crazy environment in the Dominican or whether it was the first day of spring when I started him at shortstop against the Yankees.
“He continued to hold his own.”
McGonigle, 21, can play multiple infield spots, but he likely will play mostly shortstop early in his Tigers tenure, earning reps along with Javier Baez and Zach McKinstry. Shortstop was McGonigle’s main position at every minor-league stop in 2025, until the Arizona Fall League, when he got more work at third base. Questions remain about the glove, though some clearly were answered this spring.
It’s the hit tool, though, that put him ahead of schedule in the eyes of most talent evaluators. The bat was on full display in the minors last season, then in the Arizona Fall League, and in spring training this year. He’s hit .250 in 19 spring games, but with a .423 on-base percentage and a .500 slugging percentage.
He had two home runs this spring, including a monster 461-foot blast leading off the Tigers’ game in the Dominican Republic in early March.
Last season, between Low-A Lakeland, High-A West Michigan and Double-A Erie, McGonigle batted .305/.408/.583 with 19 homers, 80 RBIs and 59 walks to 46 strikeouts.
That performance helped McGonigle leapfrog his good friend, center fielder Max Clark, in the Tigers’ prospect pecking order. Clark, also 21, will start the season at Triple-A Toledo, after being down March 9.
Clark and McGonigle were the Tigers’ top two picks in the 2023 Major League Baseball Draft, with Clark going third overall out of high school in Indiana, and McGonigle going 37th overall out of high school in Pennsylvania.
Kevin McGonigle skips Triple-A stop
McGonigle has never played above Double-A ball, though that’s about to change, and soon.
“Every time he’s been challenged with better competition … he has continued to improve,” Keith Law, prospect expert for The Athletic, said during an appearance on The Detroit News’ Tigers Today podcast this spring. “You can’t even say that about Max Clark … and I love me some Max Clark.”
The Tigers’ opted to go hard on pitching rather than hitting on the free-agent market this spring, in part with the return of Gleyber Torres, and with the belief that Matt Vierling and Parker Meadows, injured and ineffective much of 2026, could return to some semblance of their production in 2024. But Tigers brass also was intrigued by the possibility of McGonigle’s production, too.
The promotion, met by fans with pure delight, is a risk on some levels, given McGonigle’s age, and the inevitable struggles he will face against major-league pitching ― and how he will handle the ebbs and flows, mentally. For every Mike Trout, there are more prospects like Jackson Holliday, who had a sub-.600 OPS after his much-hyped promotion by the Baltimore Orioles in 2024, before he was demoted back to the minor leagues. Holliday rebounded in 2025, with 17 home runs and 55 RBIs.
Service time is also a consideration with top prospects. The sooner they’re promoted, the sooner the clock starts on their down-the-road eligibility for free-agency, at least a noteworthy consideration for budget-conscious teams that aren’t the Los Angeles Dodgers, New York Yankees or New York Mets. But MLB has addressed this in recent years, incentivizing teams to call up their prospects sooner, with draft-pick compensation tied to performance, should said prospect win rookie of the year.
Kevin McGonigle is favorite for AL rookie of the year
McGonigle is the favorite to win American League rookie of the year, at +400 (bet $100 to win $400), according to the latest odds from DraftKings. Second-favorite is Kansas City Royals catcher Carter Jensen, at +550. The Tigers haven’t had a position player win AL rookie of the year since Lou Whitaker in 1978.
The Tigers are the favorites to win the AL Central (+110), the fifth-favorite to win the AL (+900) and the 10th-favorite to win the World Series (+2000). They haven’t won a division since 2014, a pennant since 2012 and a World Series since 1984, but they’re coming off back-to-back playoff appearances. They are carrying the largest payroll in franchise history, at well over $200 million, in what could be two-time Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal’s final season in a Detroit uniform. Team president Scott Harris has shied away from using the “all-in” phrasing, but that’s the reality ― and, now, McGonigle is officially in, too.
“Fun conversation. Big smile on his face and (he) immediately wanted to call his family,” Hinch said Tuesday, of telling McGonigle he had made the team. “He made no assumptions. He didn’t know where he stood, other than he was given a ton of opportunity.
“He never looked uncomfortable throughout the spring, even though he will tell you there were some nerve-wracking moments. And he should be nervous.
“He’s 21 and has never played with this much attention on him.”
McGonigle was out of the lineup Thursday, and won’t talk to the media until Wednesday, an off-day in San Diego, before the season opener Thursday afternoon.
McGonigle will wear No. 7 in Detroit, the Tigers said Tuesday, joining the likes of such notable Tigers of yesteryear as Pudge Rodriguez, Dean Palmer, Rocky Colavito and Harvey Kuenn.
No pressure.
tpaul@detroitnews.com
@tonypaul1984
Detroit News freelance writer Jack Magruder contributed to this report.
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Kevin McGonigle makes Detroit Tigers roster as top prospect wows
Reporting by Tony Paul, The Detroit News / The Detroit News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
