Detroit Tigers prospect is looking to hit his way onto the big-league roster

The Detroit Tigers brought Justyn-Henry Malloy into big-league camp with high hopes for him. The ZiPS projections were quite bullish on Malloy, predicting him for one heck of a rookie campaign. It'll be interesting for the Tigers to see how things actually pan out.

This spring, Justyn-Henry Malloy has been working in with the big leaguers, looking to try and carve out a route to travel north with the big-league club. The Detroit Tigers are putting some stock in the youngster, hoping he can come into Detroit's clubhouse and find a spot.

The hold-up seems to be that his positional value is all over the place. A third baseman during his prep days but has since been working to lock down a role in the outfield. He's got a chance to play in the corner outfield, but even then, that's going to mean he's going to take time away from other players. So it'll be interesting.

Detroit Tigers prospect Justyn-Henry Malloy is on a mission.

However, Malloy has been looking to come out and prove he can hack it. He's taken some solid hacks this spring and caught my attention with his swings. He played all of last year with Triple-A Toledo but is looking to make that final jump to the MLB level.

In 2023, Malloy has played in 135 games with the Mud Hens where he slashed .277/.417/.474 with 25 doubles, a triple, and 23 home runs. He drove in 83 runs while walking 110 times and striking out 152 times over 487 at-bats. The strikeouts have left some cause for concern, but Malloy's known to work counts deep, and part of the punchouts is taking too many strikes.

Either way, Detroit is hoping that Malloy can shake this and continue to improve as he looks to work in with the Tigers at the big-league level. Developing further & simply just being more aggressive and looking to do damage over his passive approach could be something to consider. This spring, the 24-year-old has five trips to the plate where he's picked up two hits, walking one and striking out another.

One of his two hits was indeed a home run. The swing looked the part, too, staying short to it with a good turn-through contact and an uphill path through the zone. The strength off the barrel has been there as part of his prospect profile, but it's good to see Malloy.

Here's the swing...

Malloy has upside, that is certain. The question will be if he can crack the big-league roster or if he has to go back to Triple-A Toledo to get started on the 2024 season.

It will be interesting to see how this spring goes, but Malloy certainly seems like a man on a mission in Lakeland. He's certainly one of the players that fans should watch throughout Spring Training.