Gleyber Torres' return helps address Tigers' third base issue, but doesn't solve it

Gleyber Torres accepting the qualifying offer was the kind of news Detroit Tigers fans have been waiting for all winter. Detroit didn’t just keep a middle-of-the-order bat and a steady defender up the middle — it kept a key piece of its identity.

Under Scott Harris, this front office has talked endlessly about raising the offensive floor without blocking its young core. Bringing Torres back checks those boxes on paper: a proven bat at second base, a familiar presence in the clubhouse, and one fewer hole to worry about in a division that finally feels winnable. 

But as soon as the initial “Torres is back” buzz fades, the roster math comes into focus — and that’s where the third base problem reappears. Torres locks down second. Spencer Torkelson, after slugging his way into everyday status, has first base spoken for. That leaves the hot corner as the logical landing spot for Colt Keith, the 24-year-old the organization keeps raving about. 

Tigers are betting their third base problem on Colt Keith’s rapid learning curve

Torres’ return helps address third base because it pushes Keith there by process of elimination. It doesn’t magically turn him into a finished product at the position, though.

Keith’s story over the last two seasons reads like a crash course in “wherever you need me, skip.” He opened 2024 at second, shifted across the diamond to first in 2025 as the club chased more offense, and then found himself at third for most of the stretch run before a rib cage issue knocked him off the field and into DH duty in September.

The Tigers essentially tossed him into the deep end at third in the middle of a playoff push, and he survived well enough that Harris and AJ Hinch went out of their way at season’s end to highlight how quickly he adapted without a full offseason of reps at the position. That’s the kind of versatility contenders dream about — but it’s also a reminder that he’s still learning on the job.

Offensively, Keith is the reason Detroit can even entertain the idea of letting the hot corner ride with an in-house option. His power is still catching up to the hype, but the underlying trends are exactly what you want to see from a young hitter. Over the past season he nudged his average exit velocity from 87.8 to 90.0 mph and bumped his hard-hit rate from 35.3 percent to 43.7 percent.

That's seen his sweet-spot rate climb from 11.3 percent to 13.3. At the same time, he’s tightened his strike zone, walking more (10.3 percent, up from 6.5) and chasing less (25.2 percent, down from 29.9). In a winter where the Tigers keep pointing to “internal improvement” as a big piece of the plan, Keith is Exhibit A — if his bat takes another step, they suddenly have an everyday middle-of-the-order threat at the hot corner.

The question is whether Detroit should treat that as a solution or a gamble. Torres’ salary bump on the QO isn’t the kind of hit that completely wrecks their payroll, which is why the front office has at least kicked around ideas like diving into the third base market or reshuffling the infield by adding a shortstop and sliding someone like Zach McKinstry back to third.

Names like Alex Bregman or Eugenio Suárez naturally come up when you look at plausible fits, but any outside addition at third only makes sense if there’s a clear plan to keep Keith’s at-bats intact. Harris’ track record is pretty clear: he hasn’t been in the business of burying young players behind veteran stopgaps, and he’s talked openly about making room when a prospect proves he’s ready. 

That’s where Keith’s flexibility cuts both ways. On one hand, the Tigers love that he can bounce between second, first, and third, plus chip in at DH. On the other, that same versatility makes it easy to envision a future where he’s constantly shifting to plug leaks instead of getting to settle in and own third base. If his defense there stalls or the bat doesn’t fully arrive, Detroit could quickly find itself back in the same spot: Torres locked in at second, Torkelson cemented at first, and the hot corner feeling like a patchwork solution rather than a strength.

Torres’ return absolutely helps the Tigers address their third base issue — just not in a way that lets anyone declare it solved. Detroit has turned a glaring infield question mark into a more nuanced one, tightening the depth chart and putting real responsibility on a 24-year-old who’s still figuring out both his swing and his position.