Advertisement

Tigers shuffle offense with Triple-A call-up while Javy Baez remains in purgatory

Shufflin' deck chairs.
Eric Cole
Eric Cole

Motor City Bengals

Cleveland Guardians v Detroit Tigers / Duane Burleson/GettyImages

The Detroit Tigers enter then waning days of the 2025 season in desperate need of some sort of boost. Winning the AL Central was seen as a formality just a few weeks ago, but that has all changed after a stunning collapse by Detroit, as well as a torrid run from the rival Guardians. While Wednesday's roster move isn't likely to change the Tigers' fortunes much, now is the time to try anything and everything that could work.

While there was some that thought Javy Baez could return to the lineup on Wednesday, that has turned out not to be the case after the latest update.

Instead, Detroit recalled old friend Justyn-Henry Malloy and optioned Jace Jung back to Triple-A Toledo.

Tigers rearrange the deck chairs on the Titanic with move to recall Justyn-Henry Malloy and option Jace Jung

It is an unfortunate, but not completely shocking move for Jung. After coming into the season being considered one of the best young hitting prospects in baseball, Jung has only managed a paltry .343 OPS in limited playing time in the big leagues, and his hit tool has been tested, even at Triple-A. One hopes that Jung will take being optioned well and will use it as motivation to get back on the team's radar for 2026.

As for Malloy, he is a familiar face for Tigers fans, as Detroit seems to love rotating him on and off their roster when they need some part-time help. His career 89 wRC+ leaves a lot to be desired, but Malloy has raked down in the minors this year, with a .955 OPS in 72 games of action at Toledo. If he can be that guy, the Tigers would be thrilled, even though that is a huge ask at this point.

At this point, giving Malloy a shot is as good of an option as any the Tigers have available to them. They are currently staring down what looks like a collapse that could alter the trajectory of the team for seasons to come, unless they turn things around literally right now. If they can rally and put together a few wins to close out the season, we can all get back to hoping for a nice little postseason run. Malloy may not be the answer to all of Detroit's problems right now, but he does seem like a good starting point.

More Tigers News from Motor City Bengals

Eric Cole

Eric Cole

I started my career writing about baseball covering the Atlanta Braves for SB Nation's Talking Chop back in 2015 which has since been renamed Battery Power. After years of writing for those fine folks, I made the decision to take over as Site Expert at House That Hank Built before becoming a full-time MLB Staff Writer for FanSided in 2023. Along the way, I have been a guest on multiple ESPN radio affiliates as well as 680 The Fan and 92.9 The Game to discuss Braves baseball and especially Braves prospects and was a long-time host on the Battery Power podcast. These days, I continue to write about the Braves as well as covering the Astros, Padres, and Angels with particular expertise with minor league coverage, the MLB Draft, and bashing Anthony Rendon when possible. When I am not writing about or talking about baseball (which is seldom), I am an avid baseball card collector (Maddux and Soroka being my primary personal collections) and I also collect shark teeth. All other sports are mostly dead to me as my Bills have broken my heart too many times.