Tigers fans definitely have bittersweet feelings about Zach McKinstry's hot August

It's hard to say exactly where hot streaks come from; when things click, sometimes they just click. Players can make small adjustments and hit the batting cage more often, but maybe it just takes some good luck and good timing.

For Zach McKinstry, his most recent hot streak couldn't have come at a better time. The Tigers have made a number of roster moves this month — reinstating Riley Greene and Kerry Carpenter from the IL, promoting Jace Jung, Trey Sweeney, and Spencer Torkelson — but McKinstry has managed to survive roster crunch after roster crunch despite batting .177 by the trade deadline.

However, whatever needed to click has clicked for McKinstry. In August, he's batting .333 with a .908 OPS, making this not only his best month of the season but his best month since he became a Tiger in 2023. His stats over his last seven games (through Tuesday's game against the Angels) are kind of absurd: .500 average, 1.321 OPS.

If he can keep this up through September, it very well might save his roster spot next season. There's little love for McKinstry in Detroit, given his performance through the majority of the season, but he might finally be justifying the Tigers' decision to keep him this long.

Zach McKinstry's last 19 games have been infuriatingly good despite Tigers fans' call for a DFA

McKinstry has been an essential piece of the Tigers' rotating infield, and he was even named a Gold Glove finalist for his work as a utility man last season. But the Tigers keeping a player around for their defense is a song we've all heard before and don't like — Javy Báez is still an elite defender, but that does little to change how fans feel about him. It's been getting harder and harder for the Tigers to justify keeping McKinstry around when he's making millions less than Báez, especially when they have young prospects who could slot in well as bench players.

Maybe McKinstry felt the pressure internally as well. With the amount of promotions and MLB debuts the Tigers have initiated this season, McKinstry has become one of the veterans in clear danger of getting squeezed out. He could easily be tossed aside next year by one of those prospects if the Tigers want to give them more of a run.

He seems to be fighting against fate now. Although it would've been a lot nicer if he could've done this months ago (as this won't probably change fans' feelings about him overnight), at least he's helping the team succeed now.