Kevin McGonigle, the No. 2 ranked prospect in baseball, will begin the 2026 season with the Detroit Tigers, the team announced Tuesday.
The 21-year-old shortstop will get the start when the Tigers begin their season Thursday against the San Diego Padres.
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“He’ll play on the left side of the infield,” Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said, via MLB.com. “We’ve worked him there the entire spring, so I don’t think that you’ll see him at second base. He’ll stay both at short and third. I need to get to the lineup for Opening Day, which means I need to have some conversations about how I’m going to line it up over the next 24 hours, but Kevin will be in the lineup.”
As he prepared for the 2026 season, McGonigle impressed at the plate and in the field during Spring Training. In 52 plate appearances, he slashed .250/.423/.500 with two home runs and six RBI.
“He continued to demonstrate his ability to handle the moment, and he had a lot of moments during camp where he was tested,” Hinch said. “The at-bat quality was as advertised. I think his defense was really impressive with the details of his first step, his pre-pitch and completing plays. He never looked uncomfortable throughout the spring, even though he will tell you there were some nerve-racking moments. And he should be nervous – he’s 21 and he’s never played with this much attention on him.”
The Tigers have not seen a player as young as McGonigle in their Opening Day lineup since Omar Infante in 2003, who was 21 at the time.
Drafted 37th overall in the 2023 MLB Draft, McGonigle signed with the Tigers and played most of his first professional season at Single-A. He landed in Double-A this past summer and will make his major league debut without having played a game at Triple-A.
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McGonigle, who was named MVP of the Arizona Fall League in November, will be the first homegrown Tigers talent to skip Triple-A for the big leagues since Steven Moya in 2014.
