Tigers give top prospect long-awaited promotion after unexpected Zach McKinstry IL move

Zach McKinstry exited the Tigers' Wednesday game against the Royals after the seventh inning, having tripped while fielding a ground ball at third. AJ Hinch's prognosis after the game wasn't good; not only was it a hip issue, it was also his shoulder and chest.

"He's pretty banged up," Hinch said. "There are a lot of different things going. When you look at the exit of the game, he banged his hip, and then you go back in time, you realize the slide at home was pretty violent and the mini-collision at third base was a little bit of an issue."

The Tigers didn't make a roster move for their series finale against Kansas City on Thursday, so ... maybe everything was superficial?

Nope. On Friday, ahead of their opener against the Red Sox in Boston, the Tigers called up top prospect Hao-Yu Lee and moved McKinstry to the 10-day IL.

Lee was the return from Scott Harris' first ever trade deadline deal as Detroit's president of baseball operations. He sent Michael Lorenzen to the Phillies and got Lee in return.

The Tigers are wasting no time throwing him into the deep end. He'll bat eighth in the lineup and play third base tonight.

Tigers call up top prospect Hao-Yu Lee, move Zach McKinstry to the 10-day IL

Lee has been named variously as a potential call-up candidate and trade candidate for some time now. When the Tigers were in their late-season slide last year, fans threw his name out there a bit, just wanting to see some kind of spark in Detroit's struggling lineup.

It is curious that the Tigers would call up Lee instead of utility man Trei Cruz, who might've been able to take over in McKinstry's jack-of-all-trades role more effectively. Neither are hitting particularly well in Triple-A — .154/.454 for Lee, who started his year in Single-A on a rehab assignment, and .213/.617 for Cruz — but Cruz has long been employed all over the field, just like McKinstry.

It could be a matter of seniority. Lee has spent far more time in Toledo than Cruz, playing a solid 126 games there last year, hitting .243/.748.

Lee is the Tigers' No. 6 prospect, and after Kevin McGonigle's promotion, it was hard to see how either of Lee or Max Anderson (who is on the Mud Hens' IL) would get any runway in the majors ... unless something exactly like this happened.