The Tigers have re-signed infielder Zack Short to a major league deal. They had an open 40-man roster spot due to Short himself being designated for assignment earlier this week. He cleared waivers, elected free agency is now back. Fellow infielder Jace Jung has been optioned in a corresponding active roster move. Jason Beck of MLB.com was among those to pass along the transactions.
It’s been a bit of a musical chairs situation as the Tigers have been juggling injuries to their middle infield. They have been without Trey Sweeney all year due to a shoulder strain. Zach McKinstry hit the IL a few weeks ago due to left hip/abdominal inflammation. Then Javier Báez sprained his ankle a little over a week ago.
That prompted the Tigers to send cash to the Nationals in order to acquire Short. They then added him to their roster. After a couple of games, McKinstry was reinstated from the IL. Since Short is out of options, he was designated for assignment on Tuesday as the corresponding move. But the very next day, the Tigers placed Gleyber Torres on the IL with an oblique strain. Jung was brought up to replace Torres. Now it seems the Tigers prefer to have Short on their bench, with Jung presumably getting regular reps in the minors.
Short, 31 this month, doesn’t hit much but is clearly valued by teams around the league as a solid glove-first depth infielder. His brief appearance with the Tigers this week made this his sixth straight season with at least some big league action. He has stepped to the plate 597 times across those six campaigns and produced a .171/.269/.295 batting line.
Defensively, he has almost 800 innings at shortstop, over 300 at second and third base, plus brief stints in the outfield. Public metrics don’t rank the glovework especially highly but teams must have internal metrics that like him, since he continues to get opportunities.
The Tigers had been splitting shortstop between Báez and Kevin McGonigle, with McGonigle also mixing in at third base. Since Báez has been out, McGonigle has been at short almost every day. At second and third, Detroit will likely rotate between McKinstry, Colt Keith and Hao-Yu Lee, with Short backing up that crew from the bench.
Photo courtesy of Junfu Han, Imagn Images
