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3 Detroit Tigers who shouldn't be guaranteed an Opening Day roster spot in 2024

By Katrina Stebbins |
Detroit Tigers utility man Zach McKinstry
Detroit Tigers utility man Zach McKinstry / Duane Burleson/GettyImages
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There are still four months and some change left to the next Opening Day, but what is there to do in the offseason other than dream about the next time you can watch baseball? The Tigers are 15-8 in home openers at Comerica Park, a dominant .652 win percentage that the team will hope to increase next year. It's been a relatively quiet offseason so far for Detroit, so there aren't too many new factors to consider when dreaming up lineups and roster construction in the hopes that the Tigers will take the AL Central for the first time since 2014.

3 Detroit Tigers who shouldn't be guaranteed an Opening Day roster spot next year

There are some players who have their positions locked up on Opening Day — Spencer Torkelson at first; Riley Greene and Mark Canha in the outfield; regrettably, Javier Baez at shortstop — but there are also a few positions that still might have some competition, for better or worse. Here are three Tigers who shouldn't be on the Opening Day roster.

Zach McKinstry

If you've ever heard the specialist vs. generalist argument, you'll know that it usually splits people down the middle. There are pros and cons to both. The same can be said about the utility man, the generalist of baseball. The Tigers have a few of them — Zach McKinstry, Andy Ibáñez, Matt Vierling — and, as with any generalist, performance tends to be a mixed bag. Ibáñez spent most of his time at second base in 2023 and made a good case for an everyday spot there in 2024; Vierling moved across the outfield and made over 30 starts at third base, where he's expected to start most games next year if the Tigers don't find a replacement.

Then, there's Zach McKinstry, who at some point occupied every spot on the field in 2023 other than pitcher, catcher, and first and second base. He didn't do a bad job at any of them but, and this can be the catch with generalists and utility men, he didn't necessarily do a great job either. His performance at each spot (and in the batters box; he hit .231/.302/.351) wasn't better than the performances of the players who are more likely to get Opening Day starts, including Ibáñez and Vierling, as well as Riley Greene and new acquisition Mark Canha in the outfield.

Utility men can be great for depth and pinch situations, and clearly the Tigers needed McKinstry's services a lot this season. It's entirely possible that he'll still get a lot of playing time as the Tigers shuffle things around and (hopefully) trade and sign new players. However, when constructing an Opening Day roster that will set a tone for the team, Detroit should put its best foot forward, and unfortunately it shouldn't include McKinstry.

Carson Kelly

The Tigers have only made two notable moves so far this offseason: trading for Brewers left fielder Mark Canha, and picking up catcher Carson Kelly's one year, $3.5 million contract. It wasn't exactly unexpected, given that it would be unwise to start the season with just one catcher, but it does present a question: Which of them, Kelly or his counterpart Jake Rogers, will be the backup? Rogers made the most appearances at backstop in 2023 with 99, while Eric Haase had 57, and Kelly, a late-season addition, had 16.

FanGraphs predicts that Rogers will be the Tigers starting catcher 54% of the time and Kelly will perform in the role 37% of the time, which is similar to the split between Rogers and Haase last year. Offensively, Rogers performed better over more plate appearances, and even introduced some sneaky power with 21 home runs on the year. He's also the better catcher, as he's in the 90th percentile for blocks above average and the 80th in framing, as opposed to Kelly's 61st and 43rd.

It might seem, then, that Rogers has catching on Opening Day pretty much locked up, but the contract numbers might suggest otherwise. Rogers is arbitration-eligible and expected to make $3 million this year, while Kelly will be making $3.5 million. While it might be fiscally understandable for the Tigers to get the most out of their larger investment in Kelly by making him their lead catcher, it wouldn't be the best thing for the team. Rogers' numbers are just better on both sides of the plate, and he's had more time to work with Detroit's pitching staff.

Akil Baddoo

There was a moment in 2021 when Akil Baddoo looked like he could turn into a serviceable, everyday outfielder or even occasional DH for the Tigers. He hit .259/.330/.436 with 13 home runs, 55 RBI, and 18 stolen bases in 124 games. But then something happened in 2022 — maybe it was late karma for the fact that he started selling NFTs of himself in 2021 — and by early May, he was in Triple-A after hitting a mere .140 in the majors.

He came back up and went back down a few more times before becoming a more regular presence in April of this year after Austin Meadows stepped away from baseball for mental health reasons. Still, he didn't fare well, hitting .218/.310/.372 as the Tigers' most regular left fielder. Defensively, he was average bordering on poor, with a 0 OAA and an overall arm strength of 85.6, just a few tics above average.

The Tigers signing Mark Canha, another left fielder with a better OBP in 2023 than any Tiger, will probably end up in the team kicking Baddoo back down to Triple-A or keeping him as the occasional bench bat or pinch runner (he does have an elite sprint speed). Either way, Baddoo shouldn't be making as many as 99 starts in left field, and he definitely shouldn't be on Detroit's Opening Day roster.

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