3 Tigers players whose playoff performances changed their fate for 2025

Barring any huge non-tender surprises, the Tigers 2025 roster should look more or less identical to their 2024 roster. With their improbable August-September run and their first trip to the postseason in a decade, the Tigers have done what they set out to do when they started rebuilding: they laid a foundation of dependable, promising young players that they can build on with free agents in the offseason.

But the postseason was make-or-break for some of them. Although staples like Tarik Skubal, Riley Greene, Kerry Carpenter, Parker Meadows, and Jake Rogers have their futures pretty much assured, there were stragglers who are fighting for their lives in 2025.

3 Tigers players whose playoff performances changed their fate for 2025

Zach McKinstry

McKinstry turned himself into a fan least-favorite this season, as one of the most ineffective pieces of the Tigers' rotating utilityman core alongside Matt Vierling and Andy Ibáñez. He was a top prospect for the Dodgers back in 2021, but all of that seemed to fade when he hit the majors. 2024 was his second full year in Detroit, and he batted .215 with a .614 OPS over 118 games to follow a .231/.653 2023 season, which definitely didn't make him seem like an indispensable part of the Tigers' infield.

But some players just get into their element in October. The Tigers' postseason run this year was McKinstry's first trip (just like every other Tiger on the roster except for Matt Vierling, who appeared with the Phillies in 2022), and he might've bought himself back onto the 2025 roster. In five games, both against the Astros in the Wild Card and three against the Guardians, McKinstry batted .429 with a huge homer in ALDS Game 5 to even the score after a José Ramírez solo shot.

Vierling and McKinstry's places on the roster have been defended by the front office for a long time now, and while Vierling surely earned his keep throughout the regular season, McKinstry was still waiting for a moment just like that one in Game 5 to prove that he shouldn't go out the door this offseason. Maybe he just got hot at exactly the right time, but it definitely had Tigers fans eating their words for a second, and he gave the team a reason to keep him in 2025.

Ty Madden

Madden was another late-season call-up for the Tigers, the latest to join until Jackson Jobe was added in a surprise move at the end of September. Madden was the Tigers' No. 14 prospect this season, and he arrived as Detroit really started to heat up and their postseason chances become more and more probable every day. He got a rare traditional start on Aug. 26, pitching five innings and giving up just one earned run in a respectable debut, and he was used as a bulk reliever through September.

Although his ERA grew to 4.30 by the end of the regular season, it was still decent enough for a brand new call up that the Tigers put him on both the Wild Card and ALDS roster. It was clear that they would leave most relief innings to their big four — Will Vest, Beau Brieske, Jason Foley, and Tyler Holton — but Madden did get a chance during Game 1 of the Division Series. And it went badly. He gave up a leadoff walk, then got two outs before walking another batter and giving up a bases-clearing double to David Fry to put Cleveland up 7-0. The Tigers opted to intentionally walk José Ramírez and then pulled Madden.

It feels likely that he'll start the 2025 season in the minors, especially with fellow late call-up Brant Hurter putting up a better regular season ERA (and in more innings) on top of pitching five scoreless innings in the postseason.

Spencer Torkelson

Torkelson represents one of the biggest conundrums for the Tigers this season. Although he did improve in the majors after his extended stay in the minors this season, it may be time for the Tigers to call an end to that experiment and use some of their newfound spending power to find a veteran shortstop who can give the club 30 homers next year. Torkelson looked like he could've been that guy in 2023, but it all faded away in 2024.

However, like McKinstry, Torkelson's postseason performance will add some intrigue to the Tigers' decision making. Although fans pretty much want him gone and replaced with the likes of Christian Walker (maybe even Pete Alonso), after he suffered an 0-for-12 stretch at the plate in the postseason he got hot during his last three games with a double in Game 3 and two in Game 5.

Is it enough to keep the front office on his side and still believing that their former first overall pick will be able to come back and turn into the player they've wanted him to be next season? If that hitless postseason stretch had gone on any longer, the answer almost certainly would've been no. But now, there's a little more to take into account.