The Tigers are calling up prime infield prospect Jace Jung from Triple-A Toledo, stories Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free-Press. The twelfth general decide of the 2022 draft will make his main league debut tomorrow night towards the Yankees.
Jung joins what’ll be a immediately youthful Detroit infield. The Tigers are additionally citing deadline acquisition Trey Sweeney, a 2021 first-round decide whom they acquired within the Jack Flaherty deal. That duo will be a part of rookie second baseman Colt Keith because the Tigers consider younger gamers who may very well be key items of subsequent yr’s workforce. Keith has had an up-and-down debut marketing campaign on the keystone, as he’s had very poor months of April, June, and August round large performances in Could and July.
As soon as Detroit moved Keith from third to second base, they slid Jung to the recent nook. He has began 68 video games there this season towards 17 begins at second base, which had been his major place at Texas Tech and for his first two years in professional ball. Detroit has used Gio Urshela as their major third baseman. His bat has began to come back round following a tough first half, however the Tigers appear to be turning their consideration towards subsequent season. Regardless of an ongoing four-game win streak, they’re 7.5 again of the American League’s final playoff spot.
Jung, the youthful brother of Rangers third baseman Josh Jung, provides a high-upside offensive expertise. He ranks fourth amongst Detroit prospects and seventy fifth general on Baseball America’s most up-to-date rating of the farm system. BA credit the left-handed hitter with plus energy and a affected person method. Whereas there’s some concern about his pure hit instrument, the walks and energy give him an opportunity to hit within the center third of a lineup.
The 23-year-old is having a pleasant season in Toledo. He’s hitting .257/.377/.454 with 14 homers, 23 doubles and a triple by way of 415 plate appearances. Jung is drawing walks at a large 16.1% clip whereas hanging out at a roughly common 22.4% charge. Whereas he has fallen right into a little bit of a stoop of late, Jung has hit very effectively with the platoon benefit over the course of the season. He’s hitting .272/.402/.510 in 321 plate appearances towards righty pitching.
Jung has predictably had a more durable time with left-handed arms. Detroit has a number of righty-hitting infielders who might take some begins towards southpaws, however Jung figures to play repeatedly over the season’s last six weeks. Urshela is on a one-year free agent deal and at all times felt like a bridge till Jung was able to take over at third base. The Tigers ought to give him close to on a regular basis reps to gauge whether or not they can pencil him in as their starter going into 2025.
Jung won’t come near a full yr of service or the time needed to achieve early arbitration as a Tremendous Two participant. He’s beneath workforce management for at the very least six seasons past this one and received’t get to arbitration for 3 years. A future non-obligatory task to Triple-A might push that timeline again.
The timing of Jung’s promotion, possible not coincidentally, comes simply after the cutoff for him to protect his rookie eligibility going into subsequent season. From tomorrow, there’ll be 45 days remaining on the common season calendar. A place participant stays a rookie as long as they’ve spent 45 days or fewer on an MLB energetic roster and haven’t topped 130 at-bats. As long as the Tigers maintain him beneath the at-bat threshold, Jung can be eligible for Rookie of the 12 months consideration going into subsequent season.
That’s a related issue because of the Prospect Promotion Incentive launched in the latest spherical of collective bargaining. A workforce can earn a bonus draft decide in the event that they carry a rookie prime prospect (one who made the offseason Prime 100 on at the very least two of the lists at Baseball America, ESPN, and MLB Pipeline) for a full service yr. If that participant wins Rookie of the 12 months or finishes within the prime three in MVP balloting throughout his pre-arbitration seasons, the workforce would get an additional decide after the primary spherical of the next draft.
Jung may very well be in consideration for the prospect standards, as evidenced by his placement on BA’s present Prime 100. There’s no assure he’ll make two of the three lists subsequent winter — and it’s definitely not a lock that he’ll win Rookie of the 12 months — however the Tigers would at the very least maintain the chance open in the event that they plan for Jung to interrupt camp in 2025. The Cardinals timed their promotion of prime shortstop prospect Masyn Winn proper presently final season, as an example.
Sweeney isn’t the identical caliber of prospect, however Detroit might give him a take a look at shortstop instead of the struggling Javier Báez. They’ll want so as to add each gamers to the energetic and 40-man rosters. They don’t have any apparent candidates to land on the 60-day injured checklist, so they may have to designate a number of gamers for task tomorrow.
Picture courtesy of USA At this time Sports activities.
