Kevin McGonigle is...

[Sports_Freak]

Were there questions about his defense?

 

[Tiger337]

1 hour ago, Sports_Freak said:

Were there questions about his defense?

 

I have never heard anyone say he was a bad fielder, just that his skills might be more suited to 2b oe 3b long-term rather than shortstop.  

[gehringer_2]

20 minutes ago, Tiger337 said:

I have never heard anyone say he was a bad fielder, just that his skills might be more suited to 2b oe 3b long-term rather than shortstop.  

I'm not sure I follow the difference, when you say a guy can't stay at short, aren't you bascially saying he's a less than average quality SS - either his range or his arm is going to cost you enough there that you are willing to play a worse bat in his place and move him somewhere else?

Just looked back at the MLB scouting lists back to 2024, McGonigle was consistently 50/50 arm/glove. Just for comparison, Sweeney was 55/50 as a prospect for the Dodgers.

OTOH, I think for left side IFs, sometime throwing velo gets over emphasized and total time to 1b may be harder to quanitfy. For instance on the great play last night, a guy with a cannon might have set his feet and made a harder throw, McG looped the throw a bit but got if off very fast. All that matters is total time to the 1B's glove.

Edited Saturday at 01:41 PM by gehringer_2

[Tiger337]

36 minutes ago, gehringer_2 said:

I'm not sure I follow the difference, when you say a guy can't stay at short, aren't you bascially saying he's a less than average quality SS - either his range or his arm is going to cost you enough there that you are willing to play a worse bat in his place and move him somewhere else?

Just looked back at the MLB scouting lists back to 2024, McGonigle was consistently 50/50 arm/glove. Just for comparison, Sweeney was 55/50 as a prospect for the Dodgers.

OTOH, I think for left side IFs, sometime throwing velo gets over emphasized and total time to 1b may be harder to quanitfy. For instance on the great play last night, a guy with a cannon might have set his feet and made a harder throw, McG looped the throw a bit but got if off very fast. All that matters is total time to the 1B's glove.

I didn't personally say he couldn't stay at short.  I was repeating what I have seen from scouting reports regarding "questions about his defense".  I think it is his range that is in question more than his arm though.  In my very amateur view, He is not Mark Belanger, but I have not seen any glaring weaknesses in his game which should force him to move off the position right now. 

[Sports_Freak]

12 minutes ago, Tiger337 said:

I didn't personally say he couldn't stay at short.  I was repeating what I have seen from scouting reports regarding "questions about his defense".  I think it is his range that is in question more than his arm though.  In my very amateur view, He is not Mark Belanger, but I have not seen any glaring weaknesses in his game which should force him to move off the position right now. 

3rd base has been a Tiger weakness for years. We had Inge, played great defense but he's the all time leader in Tiger strikeouts. But his bat still played well enough to be a part of several playoff teams. And Candelario, who hit a boatload of doubles one season but was never good enough to build around. If one of our future prospects can play ML SS, I could see Kevin moving to 3rd. Or one of the prospects playing 3rd and Kevin full time SS. Either way, he appears pretty good on defense. His throws, whether at 3rd or SS, appear extremely accurate.

[casimir]

3 minutes ago, Sports_Freak said:

We had Inge, played great defense but he's the all time leader in Tiger strikeouts.

False.

Riley Greene will make this screen shot before the all star break.

[NorthWoods]

9 minutes ago, Sports_Freak said:

3rd base has been a Tiger weakness for years. We had Inge, played great defense but he's the all time leader in Tiger strikeouts. But his bat still played well enough to be a part of several playoff teams. And Candelario, who hit a boatload of doubles one season but was never good enough to build around. If one of our future prospects can play ML SS, I could see Kevin moving to 3rd. Or one of the prospects playing 3rd and Kevin full time SS. Either way, he appears pretty good on defense. His throws, whether at 3rd or SS, appear extremely accurate.

If Peck continues to hit you could see Peck at SS and McG moved to 3rd.  I think the organizational plan is for Ranier at SS and McG moved to 2B or 3rd wherever most needed.

[gehringer_2]

44 minutes ago, NorthWoods said:

If Peck continues to hit you could see Peck at SS and McG moved to 3rd.  I think the organizational plan is for Ranier at SS and McG moved to 2B or 3rd wherever most needed.

every system has slick fielding SS prospects. Few of them ever hit. I'm sure the Tigers (and we!) will be overjoyed if Ranier or Peck turn out to have an MLB bat that bumps McGonigle to 3b, but the probability of that isn't bankable for deciding anything about KM today.

[gehringer_2]

1 hour ago, Tiger337 said:

I didn't personally say he couldn't stay at short.  I was repeating what I have seen from scouting reports regarding "questions about his defense".  I think it is his range that is in question more than his arm though.  In my very amateur view, He is not Mark Belanger, but I have not seen any glaring weaknesses in his game which should force him to move off the position right now. 

Understood. I was using the 2nd person 'impersonal' "you" there (a glaring deficiency in English un-addressed for a millenia!)

Edited Saturday at 03:34 PM by gehringer_2

[chasfh]

Literally no one is deciding Kevin McGonigle’s future today. The front office has a plan for the future, and nothing that happens this year short of a career-ending incident involving one of the principles will change it, even if McGonigle gets Gold Glove votes at short.

[gehringer_2]

13 minutes ago, chasfh said:

Literally no one is deciding Kevin McGonigle’s future today. The front office has a plan for the future, and nothing that happens this year short of a career-ending incident involving one of the principles will change it, even if McGonigle gets Gold Glove votes at short.

TBF, I didn't posit that anyone was  - other than possibly media or fan speculators. All I said what you don't decide on what to do with a major leaguer based on prospects with better gloves - at least not until they are closer than someone like Ranier.

[chasfh]

9 minutes ago, gehringer_2 said:

TBF, I didn't posit that anyone was  - other than possibly media or fan speculators. All I said what you don't decide on what to do with a major leaguer based on prospects with better gloves - at least not until they are closer than someone like Ranier.

Lack of posit noted. I would bet the current plan is for Rainer to play short and McGonigle second, with the hopes that Colt Keith can stick at third so they can put Briceño at first. To your point, in baseball, plans really work out as planned. But you do have to plan to a best case scenario, and develop adjustments in case it doesn’t happen that way.

[Longgone]

3 hours ago, Tiger337 said:

I didn't personally say he couldn't stay at short.  I was repeating what I have seen from scouting reports regarding "questions about his defense".  I think it is his range that is in question more than his arm though.  In my very amateur view, He is not Mark Belanger, but I have not seen any glaring weaknesses in his game which should force him to move off the position right now. 

I don't think anyone knowledgeable ever said he couldn't play short. I believe they were speculating that he'd probably end up around major league average, which is pretty damn good btw, and if another player came along who could play above average short, it could push McGonigle to 2nd or 3rd, where he'd be above average, and he'd hit enough in any case.

[Tiger337]

55 minutes ago, Longgone said:

I don't think anyone knowledgeable ever said he couldn't play short. I believe they were speculating that he'd probably end up around major league average, which is pretty damn good btw, and if another player came along who could play above average short, it could push McGonigle to 2nd or 3rd, where he'd be above average, and he'd hit enough in any case.

Average defensive shortstop is very good!  Nobody said he couldn't play short, but when I see "might end up at another position", it seems like they usually do get moved off the position.  

[chasfh]

Most everybody gets moved off shortstop eventually, except maybe arguably the worst shortstop in recent history.

[casimir]

Its early.  But he's making a case for the all star game, is he not?

[romad1]

15 minutes ago, casimir said:

Its early.  But he's making a case for the all star game, is he not?

If he played for the Yankees he'd be in the HOF already.  

[Tigermojo]

27 minutes ago, casimir said:

Its early.  But he's making a case for the all star game, is he not?

His stats are right up there but there are some pretty big names on the left side in the AL.

[NorthWoods]

SSS and all....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

sarge@sarge____2h

Through 16 games, Kevin McGonigle leads the Tigers in:

fWAR (0.9)

On-Base % (.412)

Slugging % (.508)

wRC+ (167)

He also has the lowest K% on the team (11.8%).

[1984Echoes]

4 hours ago, casimir said:

Its early.  But he's making a case for the all star game, is he not?

His early stats are making him look like the 2026 AL Rookie of the Year.