There will eventually be struggles for Kevin McGonigle, certainly times the Detroit Tigers might wonder if they’d gotten a little too excited by naming their top prospect to the Opening Day roster of a club with World Series aspirations.
Yet for one at-bat, anyway, McGonigle showed what all the hype is about.
Baseball’s consensus No. 2 prospect turned on the first pitch he saw in the big leagues and ripped a bases-loaded, two-run double off San Diego Padres right-hander Nick Pivetta, the big blow in a five-run first inning for Detroit at Petco Park in San Diego on March 26.
McGonigle, 21, was picked 37th overall out of a Pennsylvania high school in 2023. And with a rowful of family and friends looking on from shaded seats on a glorious, 74-degree day in San Diego, McGonigle exploited a Pivetta cutter that stayed up in the strike zone and ripped it down the right field line.
He cranked another double in his second at-bat – a Pivetta four-seam fastball in nearly the exact location – that bounced off the wall in the right field corner. He eventually scored on an Austin Meadows two-run single for a 6-0 lead.
McGonigle posted a .922 OPS in three minor league seasons across four levels, yet skipped Class AAA altogether. His poised and powerful spring performance – an .888 OPS and two home runs – won him a job on the Tigers infield, and he started at third in the opener with veteran Javy Baez at shortstop.