St. Petersburg, Fla. — Tigers manager AJ Hinch, after answering the final postgame question Monday night, turned back to reporters and said, “Don’t freak out when you see McGonigle out of the lineup tomorrow.”
There was still plenty of time for him to change his mind, but rookie Kevin McGonigle was expected to get a start off Tuesday night against Rays lefty Steven Matz.
The Tigers’ grinding 10-9 win Monday night was the 21-year-old McGonigle’s 25th straight start and his 39th out of the previous 40. He’s played in 59 of the club’s 61 games and started 58 of those.
“It’s the difference between the major leagues and the minor leagues — the schedule is relentless here,” Hinch said two weeks ago when he was planning to rest McGonigle for one of the games against the Guardians. “We don’t want to give him another off day, but we’re going to.”
Two weeks and 14 games later, that off day has come.
“Despite the instinct by us older people who want to say, ‘Oh, he’s 21, he can do this,’ we have to pay attention to everything from his zone control to his bat speed to his diet and weight to his lifting,” Hinch said. “It’s a big adjustment, even though he makes it look easy. It’s something we’re monitoring and paying attention to so he can run the full race.”
But it is very difficult to sit one of your most consistent offensive producers, especially during a what had been the team’s losingest month in 30 years. McGonigle’s 3.2 WAR is fourth best in the American League. He is among the rookie leaders in batting average (fourth, .285), on-base percentage (first, .390), slugging (seventh, .407) and OPS (fourth, .797).
In the win Monday, he was 1-for-4 with a walk, with the walk being a pivotal at-bat in the four-run third inning. He led off the inning with an eight-pitch walk against right-hander Griffin Jax and his seven-pitch arsenal.
McGonigle fell behind 1-2 but never quit on the at-bat. He took two 90-mph changeups off the plate, fouled off a 95-mph sinker, fouled off a sweeper and then didn’t even flinch at another changeup out of the strike zone.
The eight-pitch walk seemed to ruffle Jax. The next three hitters took him out of the yard — Dillon Dingler, Kerry Carpenter and Riley Greene, the first back-to-back-to-back barrage for the Tigers since 2020.
“I think McGonigle’s at-bats bother pitchers every time,” Hinch said. “I watch teams manage against him. I watch guys throw unique sequences to him and he never gives in. He never gives up and he’s never satisfied. I don’t know if it unnerved Jax, but I know it made him work.”
That’s why it’s so hard for Hinch to take McGonigle out of the lineup, not to mention his steady defense on the left side of the infield. But against a veteran lefty and with second baseman Gleyber Torres expected to return to the lineup, the time seems right to give him a day. He’s earned it.
And not for nothing, giving another workhorse a full day off Sunday, paid big dividends. A refreshed Dingler had a career night Monday, going 4-for-5, with a double, two homers and four RBIs. It was the first multi-homer game of his career.
Sometimes there is a cause and effect with this stuff.
chris.mccosky@detroitnews.com
@cmccosky
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Tigers rookie Kevin McGonigle, after 58 starts in 61 games, may get a rest day
Reporting by Chris McCosky, The Detroit News / The Detroit News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
