Detroit Tigers: Christin Stewart, Mike Gerber should be September call-ups

Mike Gerber

While Stewart was a first-round pick and has lived up to the billing with some promising displays, Mike Gerber is outperforming his draft position.

A 15^th-round pick in 2014, Gerber has produced at a high level at every minor league stop he’s made.

In his first full season at Double-A this year, after making a 41-game stop at the level in 2016, Gerber is having one of his best minor league campaigns.

Entering play Wednesday, Gerber was hitting .299 with a .371 on-base percentage, a .481 slugging percentage and an .852.

He’s also added 64 runs scored, 44 RBI, 41 walks, 24 doubles, 12 home runs, 10 stolen bases and three triples.

It’s obviously hard to judge a prospect based on production alone, but it’s also hard to ignore how successful Gerber has been at the plate.

In four minor league seasons he’s hitting .290 with a .357 on-base percentage, a .474 slugging percentage and an .831 OPS.

He’s also contributed across the board, with 251 runs scored, 242 RBI, 104 doubles, 50 home runs, 43 stolen bases and 23 triples in 248 games.

The Tigers will need to add Gerber to the team’s 40-man roster in the offseason to protect him from the Rule 5 anyway, so calling him up now would allow him to get his feet wet in the Majors before taking on a larger role in 2018.

Future implications

Stewart and Gerber, along with JaCoby Jones and Mikie Mahtook, are the future of the Detroit Tigers outfield.

With Mahtook already penciled into the lineup on a daily basis and Jones likely to see more playing time as the season progresses, it makes sense to ease Stewart and Gerber into the Majors down the stretch.

At worst, the team can get them some at-bats in the Majors and send them to Toledo for more seasoning to begin 2018.

However, at this point, the team needs to start playing younger players more often.

Incumbent veterans

With somewhat of a rebuild on the cards, trotting out Alex Presley or Jim Adduci everyday down the stretch doesn’t seem prudent if younger players are ready to see time in the outfield.

Both have proven to be quality under-the-radar finds by general manager Al Avila.

Presley and Adduci are each sporting a 0.2 WAR in limited action (158 plate appearances for Presley, 93 for Adduci).

Additionally, Presley has notched a 1.2 BsR and a .342 on-base percentage, serving as a much-needed table setting option.

Elsewhere, Adduci has turned in a .157 ISO, 10 RBI, 10 walks, nine extra-base hits and a stolen base in his 93 plate appearances this season.

That being said, Presley is 31 and Adduci is 32. It’s possible that they could stick around as bench pieces next season should the Detroit Tigers contend, but the youth needs to be playing at this point.

Of course, there is the possibility that Stewart and Gerber may not be ready. However, if they are, top prospects have skipped over Triple-A before.

The 40-man roster

Neither Stewart or Gerber are on the Detroit Tigers 40-man roster at this point in time.

However, it wouldn’t be too much of a stretch to add both to the active unit.

With the trade of Upton to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, there are currently 39 players on the 40-man roster.

That obviously opens up a roster spot for one of the two, but the Tigers could easily free up another place by designating a struggling reliever for assignment in order to try and sneak the pitcher through waivers.

From a depth standpoint, Detroit has been fortunate to sneak the likes of Edward Mujica, Tyler Collins and Steven Moya through waivers after the trio were designated for assignment.

The Tigers could try and designate a reliever like Arcenio Leon, Drew VerHagen or Blaine Hardy for assignment and see if any can make it through the waiver process.

This is all speculative mind you, but Leon seems like a decent bet to get through waivers considering he allowed nine runs, seven hits and six walks in 6.2 frames of work for Detroit earlier this season.

In the minors, Leon has pitched to a 5.24 ERA, a 4.50 FIP and a 4.49 xFIP at the minors’ highest level.

VerHagen (6.22 FIP, 1.523 WHIP in the Majors, 4.90 ERA in minors) and Hardy (6.05 ERA and 6.08 FIP in the Majors) are other conceivable candidates. Although—again—this is all speculative.

Next: Breaking down the Justin Upton trade

Either way, with Justin Upton gone and a significant number of at-bats becoming available in the outfield, the Detroit Tigers should bring up Christin Stewart and Mike Gerber to get acclimated to the Majors.