Colt Keith's new role quietly hints at a loss of faith in demoted Tigers rookie

Who's on third base has become a perennial question for the Detroit Tigers, but manager AJ Hinch offered up a new solution ahead of the team's third game against the White Sox. Colt Keith, who was squeezed off of second by Gleyber Torres at the beginning of the season and has been slowly squeezed off of first by Spencer Torkelson while mostly DH'ing lately, could appear at the hot corner for the first time in his major league career any day now.

Hinch opened up the possibility on Wednesday, saying, "We're curious about how we can maximize this roster. I don't know that it will be something that is primary, or I don't know that it's something you're going to see a lot of, but there are a lot of times during games [...] where being able to put him over there could be very advantageous."

Asked when fans might see Keith at third for the first time, Hinch said, "Could see him tonight."

Keith ended up DH'ing on Wednesday and isn't in Thursday's lineup, but Hinch seems prepared to throw him out there either as a substitute or starter at any moment.

It remains to be seen if Keith will be the long-term solution the Tigers have needed, but the move definitely doesn't reflect well on Jace Jung, who was supposed to be that very long-term solution.

Tigers moving Colt Keith to third base is bad news for Jace Jung

Jung was demoted on May 14, after five weeks in the majors when he hit .111 with a .356 OPS. His defense at third was marginally above average, but it was hardly enough to make up for his ineffectiveness at the plate. Andy Ibáñez, Zach McKinstry, and Javy Báez have taken over as a three-man carousel there since Báez was pushed out of center field with Parker Meadows' return.

Jung's been hitting relatively well since he was sent back to Triple-A, with three homers and nine RBI and a pretty good strikeout-to-walk ratio, but it seems that the Tigers are still unconvinced. He's always been decent in Triple-A (he was batting .239 with a .872 OPS before he was promoted this year), but he clearly struggles bridging the gap to the majors.

Through June 4, Jung is hitless through his last 10 at-bats, which doesn't help his case either. If the Keith experiment works out at third, it wouldn't be entirely surprising if we saw Jung dealt at the trade deadline.