The Detroit Tigers infield isn’t exactly a juggernaut, but while the shortstop position looks like an ongoing weakness that won’t be resolved unless Kevin McGonigle proves he can play serviceable defense
there, the Tigers have a credible enough duo in Javier Báez and Zach McKinstry to hold down the fort until the promised one arrives. They face a similar situation in the outfield, where they’re pretty well set with Riley Greene and Kerry Carpenter handling the corners most days, but center field remains a question mark.
Parker Meadows’ strange, injury plagued 2025 was really not what the doctor ordered at a key position of need. While the Tigers, and much of the league, is less concerned with infield defense these days, preventing extra base hits and covering the still spacious grounds of Comerica Park’s outfield remains a priority. Meadows can certainly handle that part of the job, but only if he hits enough not to be a liability. That’s a pretty wide open question after streaky, but overall mediocre performance over his first 177 games in the major leagues. Now 26 years old, and with only one option remaining, there is some pressure on Meadows to be a much more consistent presence in the lineup this season.
Beyond the likely starting three, assuming Meadows is at least functional at the plate this spring, their other main options in the outfield are Matt Vierling and Wenceel Pérez.
Vierling is returning after missing nearly all of the 2025 season due to a rotator cuff strain that continued to flare up even after a lengthy rehabilitation process. His status is a complete toss-up at this point. In 2024, Vierling showed he could handle center field acceptably, but he’s clearly not an ideal regular out there. He was a pretty steady presence in the lineup as well, but only a little above average despite sitting against tougher matchups for him.
Stll, despite his speed and raw power, the 29-year-old hasn’t established himself as anything more than a useful bench piece, and he’s just average in center field. If Meadows struggles again, the Tigers are going to be a bit hard-pressed with Vierling playing a lot of center field, and of course this assumes that Vierling can get back on track at the plate as well, and that the shoulder trouble is finally behind him. For a possible answer to the Meadows question, Vierling comes with his own set of question marks.
Pérez continues to provide some runs of pretty good production at the plate, with the added advantage of switch-hitting. We have two seasons now to illustrate that he’s basically a league average hitter who takes his walks, doesn’t strike out more than a league average amount, and can provide some power and speed on the bases. He cracked 13 homers in 2025 across just 383 plate appearances. His problem is that he continues to chase quite a bit, particularly as a left-handed hitter, giving pitchers some room to get him out without risking any damage.
More relevant to the discussion is the fact that while Pérez’s speed and solid arm make him a pretty good fit in right field, he continues to struggle a bit as a center fielder. He can play out there, but the need to be able to break both ways and make accurate reads on the more unpredictable trajectories coming his way in center field continue to limit his utility out there to more of a fill-in role. Pérez has two options remaining to Meadows and Vierling’s one, so unless he’s really swinging a hot bat or looks better in center field, he may well spend the season moving up and down between Triple-A and the big leagues.
The final significant option on the likely active roster is Javier Báez. Somewhat shockingly, the mercurial infielder recovered well from his 2024 hip labrum repair, regaining at least average speed. Still, no one expected him to thrive quite as well as he did when A.J. Hinch asked him to take over in center field. He doesn’t have the speed of a true center fielder, but it turned out that his outstanding baseball instincts translated very well to center field, and he was able to make up for the modest speed with excellent reads, routes, and closing ability.
As a hitter, Báez is pretty well reduced to a lefty masher who inexplicably rakes with runners on base and is downright terrible with the bases empty. He may spell Meadows out there a little more once McGonigle arrives, but I suspect we’ll mostly see a Báez/McKinstry platoon at shortstop until that point, meaning that Báez will be occupied playing shortstop against left-handed starters. He may still move to center field as a replacement after pinch-hitting for Meadows against left-handers, but that’s more Vierling’s role if he can reclaim it.
Altogether, these options aren’t terribly inspiring, but at least they do have four players capable of handling the position without being a big problem. Meadows hitting would really erase any concerns, but it’s going to take quite a bit to trust in that at this point. The Tigers should be okay in center field, but to do any better than that, they really need Meadows to thrive.
However, while he won’t start the year with the big league club, there is hope on the horizon in the form of Max Clark. A true center fielder whose instincts and reads continue to improve with pro reps, Clark is the long-term answer at the position. He’s got the hitting ability and plate discipline to handle the majors eventually, and his 2025 season showed him tapping into his average power potential more consistently. Clark has much less chance of breaking camp with the team than McGonigle does, and really could use a good amount of Triple-A at-bats to set him up for success, but we’re almost certainly going to see Clark in center field for the Tigers at some point. Whether that looks like him coming up to take the job from a struggling Meadows, or whether it’s a late season call-up, depends on both players’ performance in the first half.
Finally, while they had to scramble last year to find credible options for short-term help, turning briefly to minor league veterans like Ryan Kreidler and Brewer Hicklen for depth, the Tigers are in a better position this year with both Trei Cruz and Ben Malgeri likely to be on the Toledo Mud Hens roster to start the year.
The 27-year-old Cruz is a switch-hitter who can handle both center field and shortstop, though he’s not quite MLB average in either spot. His lineage shows up in his professional approach to every part of the game. While certainly not as gifted as his All-Star grandfather Jose Cruz, he walks a lot, doesn’t chase much, can steal you a base, and generally gets a lot out of his well-rounded skillset. After missing the 2022 season to Tommy John surgery just as he reached Double-A, Cruz stalled for two seasons trying to get his bearings against upper level pitching. A modest breakthrough in 2025 now has him looking like perhaps the next edition of a Zach McKinstry type player who functions as his manager’s Swiss Army knife. Major league pitching is going to give him trouble, but his ability to grind out long at-bats and do a lot of little things right may earn him enough playing time at some point to get more comfortable in the role.
Malgeri is the final option on the menu, but he too is an interesting veteran minor leaguer with a lot of tools in the, close to MLB caliber, but not quite, range. Drafted in the 18th round back in 2021, Malgeri reached Double-A in 2023 but struggled facing better stuff and struck out too much to have any real prospect status. He returned for another go last year, his age 25 season, and made some minor swing changes to simplify things and handle better velocity more consistently. After striking out 30 percent of the time in his first two looks at the level, he cut that down to just 18.2 percent, while walking 8.5 percent of the time.
Malgeri has some pop, but his line drive approach doesn’t produce much over the fence power. Still, he sprays a lot of extra base hits and puts together consistently professional at-bats. He’s below average in center field but has enough speed and chops to handle the position acceptably well, though he profiles better in right field and moved there once Max Clark graduated to Erie and took over the everyday center fielder role. As with Cruz, things are not going to plan if Malgeri ends up playing much outfield for the Tigers this year, but they won’t be scrambling for veteran minor league options in a pinch this season either.
The looming presence of Max Clark really puts the Tigers in a far better position than they were in last year. They don’t want to rush him, and he’s not quite the wildly precocious hitter that Kevin McGonigle is, but at some point the club is going to have its answer in center field should Parker Meadows struggle again. They should also have more in-house options available in a pinch. Ideally, Meadows manages to stay healthy and relatively productive, the outfield is in good shape, and the Tigers will be able to bring Clark along on the ideal development timetable for him rather than having to rush it. The group covering center field will be a key one to watch this spring.
