Jace Jung is turning heads in Tigers spring training, but that ship might have sailed

After a long 2025 season of being optioned and recalled three times, Jace Jung made himself an afterthought on the Tigers' roster. He hit just .106 with a .342 OPS in 21 games when the Tigers actually let him off the bench.

In his absence, the Tigers gave Colt Keith more playing time at third base, a change that was partially borne out of necessity but also quietly signaled their loss of faith in Jung. Keith is expected to spend most of the 2026 season at the hot corner, so Detroit gave Jung a first baseman's mitt in spring training.

And he's looked pretty good in camp, hitting .313 with a .827 OPS in 15 games, while maintaining strong defense at both corners.

It was enough to get him singled out by Jim Bowden as the Tigers' No. 1 "player who is turning heads this spring." Bowden admitted he wanted to write about Kevin McGonigle, but because so much has already been written about him, he went with Jung.

He included a quote from Scott Harris: "Jace committed to a significant swing change and his hard work is paying off. The contact and damage we've seen this spring is impressive."

But it might be too little, too late.

Jace Jung's impressive spring training still isn't enough to earn him a place on Tigers' Opening Day roster

At this point, it doesn't look like the Tigers will be motivated to force a position player off the roster for anyone other than Kevin McGonigle. With Keith at third and Parker Meadows struggling, there's an easy solution: Meadows to Triple-A, Javy Báez to center field, and McGonigle to shortstop.

Behind Keith at third base, Zach McKinstry and Matt Vierling are still expected to be Detroit's go-to guys between stops in the outfield. The Tigers don't have a lot of first base depth, so Jung could factor in there if Spencer Torkelson were to go down with an injury at some point during the season, but Opening Day? It doesn't seem plausible.

Besides Meadows, Jahmai Jones might be the most expendable guy on the 26-man, but the Tigers don't seem eager to let go of their lefty killer.

At this point, Jung is just strengthening his case to be the first call-up in the event of an infield injury. Last year, the Tigers were far more eager to give Trey Sweeney opportunities over Jung, so the latter is really just trying to prove that he should be their first call.