Scott Harris, president of baseball operations for the Detroit Tigers, is keen to clarify that the season is still ongoing. After all, his club is among the best in baseball, and going into their game against the Baltimore Orioles on Saturday, they had closed the gap to the American League’s last Wild Card place to just 2.5 games.
Trey Sweeney, the shortstop, is the only young player on this team who has really risen to the situation.
Following Javier Báez’s injury, the rookie has assumed the shortstop position and given the Tigers lineup a powerful bat.
In a recent interview with MLB Network, Harris stated, “Trey Sweeney has started to establish himself as a left-handed shortstop who can really play the position at an above average level and has power to all fields.”
His slash line (.224/.278/.433/.711) shows some of the normal rookie problems. However, in 23 games, he has 12 RBI and four home runs. Additionally, he batted.273 in his six games (6-for-22) with five RBI and two home homers.
That’s part of the reason Detroit was drawn to Sweeney and teenage catching prospect Thayron Liranzo when they dealt pitcher Jack Flaherty to the Los Angeles Dodgers.
This season, he spent two weeks in Triple-A Toledo after being dealt to the Tigers. In that time, he batted.381/.447/.667 with two home runs, nine RBI, and four stolen bases. He began the season with the Dodgers’ Triple-A affiliate in Oklahoma City.
Show displayed that power in all sectors there.
Harris brought up the left-hander’s recent road home runs against the Oakland Athletics, which soared up a stairwell in right field, saying, “He’s done it again with Detroit.”
Thus, the obvious thing to ask while considering 2025 is, “What about Báez?”
The 31-year-old, a short stop for the Tigers in his third season, will miss the remainder of the season due to hip surgery. Despite having a slash line of.184/.221/.294/.515 with six home runs and 37 RBI, his bat was missing in 80 games this season. In the 2019 season, Báez hit 34 home runs in one season.
He has a contract that expires in 2027.
When asked about the position’s future, Harris responded, “I can just concentrate on the Orioles today, and we’ve earned the right in this organization to talk about ourselves in the Wild Card race for the first time in a long time.”
He continued, though, by saying that Sweeney had a future in that role.
“Having Trey Sweeney on board makes the position’s future seem a whole lot better,” Harris remarked. “Some of the trades we made at the end of July look like a whole lot better for our organization’s future.”
Regarding Liranzo, he is hitting.244/.378/.408/.786 in the minors this season with 12 home runs and 50 RBI. At the moment, he plays for High-A West Michigan.
