CLEARWATER, FL – Everyone is waiting for an Opening Day roster decision about top prospect Kevin McGonigle, but the Detroit Tigers haven’t made a decision about his immediate future.
Don’t expect any news in the next few days.
The Tigers – led by president of baseball operations Scott Harris and manager A.J. Hinch – don’t plan to make the McGonigle decision until the day before Opening Day or the morning of Opening Day. The 2026 season begins Thursday, March 26, against the San Diego Padres at Petco Park.
“We’ll take that all the way down to the wire,” Hinch said before Friday’s game in spring training. “No decision has been made. If you’ve covered us, these guys will tell you, the morning of Opening Day that we’ve sent down our final decisions. We’re going to take as much time as we need at the end.”
The Tigers will take all of their players still in MLB spring training – including McGonigle and fellow prospects Trei Cruz, Max Anderson and John Peck – to Salt River Fields in Scottsdale, Arizona, for a pair of exhibition games against the Colorado Rockies.
The exhibition games are set for Monday and Tuesday against the Rockies.
The Tigers still have to make roster decisions regarding position players and pitchers in the bullpen, with McGonigle as the biggest decision. The 21-year-old shortstop hasn’t played above Double-A Erie, but he ranks as the consensus No. 2 prospect in baseball.
McGonigle once seemed like a lock for the Opening Day roster, but in recent days, it has felt like a toss-up.
“His ability to stay grounded with where he’s at and continue to learn how to game plan and how to handle the attention has been very, very impressive,” Hinch said. “He’s fit right in with our guys and learned a lot in the six weeks that he’s been here to put himself in a position for us to make a decision as late as possible.”
This spring, McGonigle is hitting .324 (12-for-37) with three home runs, 13 walks and eight strikeouts across 18 games (including two exhibition games in the Dominican Republic), spanning 51 plate appearances. He has played defense at shortstop and third base.
Here’s the bad news: McGonigle is hitting .136 (3-for-22) in his past 11 games in Grapefruit League play, spanning the entire month of March. During that stretch, he has 11 walks compared to seven strikeouts.
For those three hits, McGonigle produced a home run off right-handed reliever Jake Woodford against the Tampa Bay Rays, a home run off right-hander Chuck King against the Philadelphia Phillies and an infield single off right-handed reliever Braxton Ashcraft against the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Only Ashcraft is expected to make an Opening Day roster among those three pitchers, with Woodford projected for Triple-A Durham and King projected for Double-A Reading.
Meanwhile, McGonigle could be headed to Triple-A Toledo.
After all, the infield single in Wednesday’s fourth inning against the Pirates marked his first hit that wasn’t a home run in Grapefruit League play since Feb. 28.
Still, McGonigle has impressed the Tigers.
“It’s really just his overall ability to manage the magnitude of this spring,” Hinch said, reflecting on McGonigle’s spring experience. “This is the most attention he’s had. We have not slow-played him into the environment. We’ve thrown a lot at him.”
This story will be updated.
Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him @EvanPetzold.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Will Kevin McGonigle make Detroit Tigers’ Opening Day roster?
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