It may be hard to believe, but Detroit Tigers infielder Kevin McGonigle is still developing. He is still a rookie, after all.
McGonigle was at the center of Detroit's 3-2 loss to the Minnesota Twins on Tuesday, Sept. 8, driving in both runs for the Tigers with a two-run home run in the fifth inning that briefly gave Detroit a 2-1 lead. It was his 16th home run of the season and second hit of the game, giving him 36 multi-hit games this season, second-most on the team behind left fielder Riley Greene (37).
But if you want a more complete understanding of McGonigle's game, watch what he did in the first inning.
It started out in typical McGonigle fashion. Leading off the bottom of the inning, the lefty hitter worked a 10-pitch at-bat off Twins righty
Dean Kramer, fouling off four pitches after two called strikes before pulling a single into right field. He advanced to second base two pitches later off a single from second baseman Gleyber Torres, putting himself into scoring position in the 1-0 game.
But then first baseman Colt Keith roped a line drive to Twins first baseman Royce Lee, who leapt high to snag the ball for the out. Torres was already heading back to his base before the ball was caught, but McGonigle was not, and Lee caught McGonigle away from the bag for the rare 3-6 double play.
"I thought it was a bad read. He looked like he broke late, even," said Tigers manager A.J. Hinch after the game. "The mistakes pile up when you're trying to do a little bit too much. I don't think it's over-aggressive, he made an unfortunate read."
In other words, it was a mistake that a big leaguer shouldn't be making.
For his part, McGonigle owned up to the mistake, calling it a "learning moment."
"I thought it was going to get over his head," he said. "Looking back at it, it doesn't even matter if it gets over his head, I still score even if I'm not being aggressive."
A rookie mistake, for sure. But McGonigle isn't an ordinary rookie, so it didn't take long for him to make up for it.
McGonigle swinging out of a slump
McGonigle has been in somewhat of a slump since the beginning of August, slashing .227/.320/.359 over 147 plate appearances from Aug. 1 through Sept. 6, right before the start of the Minnesota series. But now with home runs in consecutive games, the American League Rookie of the Year favorite might be pulling out of that rut thanks to a little tinkering.
"I made some adjustments yesterday in the cage, good to see them paying off a little bit," he said. "Just trying to get on base, trying to help this team. [The] more times I'm on base, the more times we score, I feel like."
He's right about that. The Tigers are 52-50 this season (.509 winning percentage) when McGonigle records at least one hit in a game, compared to a 10-28 record (.263) when he doesn't. When he records at least two total bases, the Tigers are 30-25 (.545). And when he records five total bases in a game like he did on Tuesday, the Tigers are 7-4 (.636).
GO-AHEAD KEV 🚀 pic.twitter.com/FIJldSaZUV
— Detroit Tigers (@tigers) September 8, 2026
So even when McGonigle is slumping, he still puts together the type of at-bats that keep him in every day and high in the batting order.
"We want him up to bat, you know?" Hinch said. "He's been going through it for a little while now, and even when he does, he finds a way. Whether it's a simple base hit, it's a walk, today the oppo homer ... his consistent at-bat quality is very, very competitive."
That showed in the eighth inning off righty reliever Jeff Hoffman. With the Tigers down 3-2, McGonigle worked a 3-1 count before getting a four-seam fastball (his first of the at-bat) on the high inside corner. And though McGonigle says he got jammed, the ball sailed high and deep into right field and fell within a few feet of tying the game – a big swing in a big moment for a big-time player.
One of the AL's best
Per BetMGM, McGonigle is the overwhelming favorite to win the AL Rookie of the Year award (-500), running away from other AL Central contenders like Cleveland's Parker Messick and Chicago's Munetaka Murakami. And with the third-highest Baseball Reference WAR total (5.9) among AL position players, he should show up fairly high in the final MVP vote, despite his late-season struggles.
So even though McGonigle is still working on his swing, still running into learning moments, still working through the grind of a long baseball season as an everyday player, still developing like any rookie would, he has done nothing but impress even in his down stretches.
It's something that has made an impression on Hinch.
"It's funny, I will get asked about him away from the microphone about him slowing down or he's struggling a bit," he said. "I'm like, 'man, shouldn't we all want to struggle like Kevin McGonigle?'"
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You can reach Christian at cromo@freepress.com.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Tigers star Kevin McGonigle is still learning – and that's a good thing
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