The first few weeks of spring training are notoriously fickle in terms of work on the field actually meaning anything. Teams run out hoards of minor league pitchers. A few minor league hitters will be red hot briefly before returning to their mean as Triple-A depth. MLB caliber regulars may struggle as they wait to ramp up intensity levels. Major leaguers only play a couple of innings at a time. It’s easier to be fooled by a brief hot streak or slump than at any other time of the year. However, with
the calendar flipped to March, the first game of the month for the Detroit Tigers felt like the first full look at the starting roster, and it looked pretty good even though the Blue Jays fought them to a tie.
One reason this game felt a lot more “real” was the fact that the Tigers’ first four pitchers were ace Tarik Skubal, making his last spring start before pitching for Team USA in the World Baseball Classic, and the club’s three late innings relievers. Kenley Jansen made his debut for the Tigers and spun a 1-2-3 inning with a strikeout. Kyle Finnegan sat 96-97 mph and cruised through his inning of work. Will Vest gave up a brief parade of hits and two runs before settling in, but what was notable was just seeing that group of three roll out in order for the first time. The Tigers bullpen is going to be vastly improved if they can stay relatively healthy this season.
Of course, the Blue Jays weren’t playing their starting lineup on Sunday either. It was only the first game of March, after all. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. wasn’t in the lineup, and neither was Kazuma Okamoto, the Jays big offseason positional signing. So again, we’re not taking much away from the pitching performances other than that everyone’s velocity looked on track, with the veterans Vest and Jansen just a little below their 2025 averages. That’s about right for guys who aren’t fighting for a job and can build themselves up patiently to Opening Day.
Skubal was pumping 97-99 mph and looked great other than a short stretch in the third inning in which he gave up a walk and back-to-back doubles before settling back in. The second double was a Jonathan Clase drive off a bad first pitch changeup that Skubal left belt high. Clase perfectly placed it up the left center field gap as Riley Greene and Javy Báez coverged on it with the latter just getting the end of his glove on it.
On the pitching side, the game concluded with another impressive effort from minor league free agent signing Emmanuel De Jesus. The left-hander went to Korea after washing out with the Marlins in 2023 and found himself as a starting pitcher. De Jesus tossed 335 innings in 60 starts, with an ERA around 3.80. His stuff looks a little light to profile as more than a depth starter at the major league level, but De Jesus is in full command of a deep, solid pitch mix and capable of getting outs at the major league level.
We’ll see how he fares against better competition as camp progresses and roster are whittled down. At least he looks capable of competing with Brant Hurter and Tyler Holton for bullpen work, but the Tigers will presumably keep him starting in the Toledo Mud Hens rotation to start the year unless pressed to open a 40-man spot for him due to injuries.
De Jesus struck out seven on Sunday in three innings of scoreless work and threw the ball well. It’s just worth remembering that he was facing a pretty weak contingent of Blue Jays prospects and minor leaguers late in the game. There’s no rush to judgement required. If keeps this up he’ll get his chances in the major leagues this year for certain. The 29-year-old Venezuelan is doing everything right, and looking like a solid bit of depth building from the front office in the early going. We saw exactly how important that is in 2025.
Beyond the pitching, the other reason this game felt a bit more real was the lineup. Kevin McGonigle was at shortstop and had another nice game defensively. The main hurdle standing between the Tigers top prospect and his major league debut as their shortstop is making his case defensively. The Tigers know he’s one of their best 13 hitters already. It’s just a question of playing something close enough to average shortstop and letting his bat do the talking.
McGonigle has done a nice job making his actions more efficient during the offseason. His transfer, angles, and footwork have continued to improve, and while making long throws while moving to his right is still going to be a challenge for him in terms of arm strength, that’s not enough of an issue to stop him as long as he’s making the routine to moderately difficult plays. So far, so good.
Check that third play in this clip below, and the way he uses his feet to get around that ball and make the throw with his momentum behind it. As suggested here and elsewhere, McGonigle’s drive and intelligence augered well for him squeezing everything out of his physical toolkit at the position. His hands, range, and accuracy aren’t much of an issue. It’s just a matter of compensating somewhat for his arm strength, particularly on plays to his backhand.
Skubal and A.J. Hinch had nothing but praise to offer.
The Tigers started the game with Jake Rogers behind the plate and Dillon Dingler as the designated hitter. Otherwise this looked like a potential Opening Day lineup. Riley Greene and Kerry Carpenter were at the outfield corners with Javier Báez in center. Gleyber Torres started at second base with McGonigle at short. Colt Keith and Spencer Torkelson handled the infield corners.
McGonigle isn’t a lock just yet, but assuming he makes it, Zach McKinstry, Matt Vierling, Parker Meadows, Wenceel Pérez, Jahmai Jones, and Trei Cruz will all make their cases for the other four roster spots the rest of the way. All of them but McGonigle are on the 40-man roster already. However it shakes out, and there is still a long way to go, and a lot tougher pitching to face as teams stretch out their starting rotation and bullpen from mid-to-late March, Sunday’s matchup was the first game that really looked like the 2026 Detroit Tigers at full strength.
We even got Jason Benetti and Dan Petry on the televised broadcast, the first produced by the Tigers themselves as they continue to work through the myriad issues involved with handling their own broadcasting for the first time.
McGonigle struck out once and had a hard hit out in this game. Spencer Torkelson and Kerry Carpenter had a knock apiece, as did Gleyber Torres. Riley Greene’s opposite field RBI double in the fourth was nice to see. Greene doesn’t need to change his swing, but if he’s going to trim the strikeouts and ascend into the upper tier of run producers in the game, he’s got to use the whole field a little more, and he’s got to be a little more patient in the box, shortening up and battling for contact in two-strike counts rather than continuing to try to crush everything.
Seeing him strafe a double down the left field line was just a little reminder of glimpses of Greene as a truly complete hitter at times in his brief major league career. While it’s worth keeping an eye on the strikeouts, it’s entirely possible that the 25-year-old hasn’t even peaked yet, and that’s an exciting thought.
Beyond the starters, the defensive replacements in the later innings looked pretty good as well. Trei Cruz had another knock as his pursuit of a utility role continues. I think McKinstry does too many things well for Cruz to very easily surplant him in a utility role, but Cruz will get his chances at some point. Eduardo Valencia had a single and nearly homered to right field in another at-bat. John Peck had another hit as well, as did veteran outfielder Austin Slater. Max Clark put a pair of balls in play, but didn’t reach base. Thayron Liranzo had one shaky failed block attempt, but has overall looked improved behind the plate with his stronger, leaner physique.
Of course, as soon as we get a pretty complete look at a starting roster, the Tigers will now scatter to the winds a bit over the next two weeks. Skubal and many others are headed out to play in the WBC. Hao-Yu Lee and Jahmai Jones have already left to join Team Taiwan and Team South Korea, respectively. The Tigers themselves will be leaving for the Dominican Republic on Monday with a 35-man roster for a two-game exhibition series and WBC tune-up for Team Dominican Republic on Tuesday and Wednesday. A split squad will stay in Lakeland with the younger prospects and face Team Panama on Wednesday as well.
So it will be a while until we see Skubal back on the mound for the Tigers and with such a full contingent of Tigers regulars behind him. The consolation is that Framber Valdez will make his Tigers debut on Monday at home against the Atlanta Braves. It will be great to see him even if many of the Tigers regulars will already be en route to the DR. Valdez plans to join them for the trip, but isn’t pitching for Team DR this time around. It will be fun to see Valdez in a Tigers uniform for the first time today.
A final bit of positive news was that ESPN’s Buster Olney was in Lakeland this weekend and reported that Justin Verlander worked up to 94-95 mph in a 35 pitch live BP session. Verlander is expected to make his first start of the spring, and first as a Tiger in any capacity since August of 2017, either on Friday or Saturday this week. The only concern with Verlander in a depth role is his age/health, so hearing that his velocity is right on track was a nice update after a quite week in terms of Verlander news.
If Verlander starts the home opener in Detroit in April, the reception is going to be insane. On a smaller scale, he’s likely to get a taste of it when he toes the bump in Lakeland for the first time this year. He’ll either face the Red Sox on Friday, or the Pirates on Saturday, unless plans change.
Altogether, it was a pretty good weekend in Lakeland. The roster will look a little different until the WBC concludes, but when it does we’ll finally be closing in on Opening Day.
