Detroit Tigers: Impact of a potential Christin Stewart 2018 call up

Outfield need

As it stands, the Tigers could use the influx of talent in the outfield.

Mikie Mahtook and Nicholas Castellanos are the only established options heading into next season.

Outside of the duo, Detroit also has JaCoby Jones.

However, Jones has yet to establish himself at the plate in the Majors.

Incumbents

After those three, the remaining incumbent options are 32-year-old Alex Presley, 32-year-old Jim Adduci, 31-year-old Andrew Romine and 27-year-old Tyler Collins.

With the exception of Collins, the other outfield candidates don’t fit with Detroit’s rebuild based on their respective ages.

In regard to Collins, the outfielder hasn’t been able to hit consistently since making his Major League debut in 2014.

It wouldn’t be a surprise to see Detroit head into Opening Day with all four of the aforementioned outfielders playing elsewhere.

Trade chips?

Detroit should look to sell high on Presley this offseason.

So far, the veteran has registered a .366 on-base percentage and a 0.7 WAR in 250 plate apperances.

Extracting a prospect for Presley would be a definite win for general manager Al Avila considering the outfielder joined the organization on a minor league deal.

Similarly, Avila should look to trade Romine. Detroit would be better off giving his bench spot to a young player.

Contending teams are always looking for versatile reserve options, so there could conceivably be a trade market for Romine.

That leaves Mahtook, Castellanos, Jones, Gerber and Stewart in the outfield mix.

It also wouldn’t be a shock to see Detroit add a veteran outfielder on a one-year deal.

Either way, Stewart’s presence in the lineup sometime in 2018 would go a long way in boosting the Tigers’ offense.

Offensive firepower

After trading J.D. Martinez, Justin Upton and Alex Avila this season, the Detroit Tigers are a bit thin offensively.

The trades, coupled with Miguel Cabrera and Victor Martinez spending time on the sidelines, have left Detroit’s offense ranking 24^th in runs scored in September.

Other September offensive ranks for the Tigers include checking in at 21^st in ISO, 19^th in wOBA and 18^th in wRC+.

As it stands, there aren’t many in-house options to significantly improve the team’s offense.

A rebound season from a healthy Cabrera would certainly help, but Detroit has lost plenty of the lineup depth that came with the likes of J.D. Martinez, Upton and Avila.

This is all without mentioning that Ian Kinsler and Jose Iglesias could conceivably be traded, so the offense could be in need of more run producers.

One run producer could be Stewart.

The outfielder has the upside to be a run producer for years to come. While he’s a different player than Martinez and Upton, Stewart can fill a similar role in terms of driving in runs behind Miguel Cabrera.

Right now, the only player capable of doing that on the roster is Castellanos.

The lack of options is a far cry from last year when Brad Ausmus could slot in J.D. Martinez, Victor Martinez, Upton or Castellanos behind the future Hall of Famer.

2018

How the Detroit Tigers fare statistically next season probably doesn’t matter too much in the grand scheme of things.

However, the team can accelerate the rebuild somewhat if the younger position players can take a significant step forward at the plate.

This means players like Stewart, Castellanos, Mahtook, catcher James McCann and third baseman Jeimer Candelario having strong seasons.

If those five can play at a higher standard and Cabrera rebounds, that’s a decent base to build on for the future—especially considering Stewart, Castellanos, Mahtook, McCann and Candelario could all be part of the next great Detroit Tigers team.

Next: Predicting Jose Iglesias' trade market

Add in some consistent starting pitching behind Michael Fulmer from pitchers like Matthew Boyd and Daniel Norris and the Tigers will be that much closer to contending.