Who will start at second base for the Detroit Tigers in 2027?
“I think we have a number of really good options,” Tigers president of baseball operations Scott Harris said at the GM meetings in Las Vegas on Tuesday, Nov. 10.
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Hao-Yu Lee, who made his MLB debut in 2026, is in a fantastic position.
“He’s got a great shot to be our second baseman,” Harris said.
Second baseman Hao-Yu Lee of the Detroit Tigers throws out Spencer Horwitz of the Pittsburgh Pirates at first base during the eighth inning at Comerica Park in Detroit on Sunday, Sept. 27, 2026.
Lee started 53 games at second and 32 at third in 2026, which was an up-and-down season for him. Or rather, it was down, then up. When Lee made his big-league debut, he was overmatched, hitting .205 in 83 at-bats over 32 games.
“So he came up, struggled, sent him down to work on some adjustments,” Harris said.
Lee was sent down on June 2.
After spending about two weeks at Triple-A Toledo, he returned to Detroit and was fantastic, hitting .283 with eight home runs and 16 doubles in 82 games for an .802 OPS.
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“He came back, and he just absolutely raked the rest of the summer,” Harris said.
Lee could also play third base.
“We’ve asked him to do a couple different things,” Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said of Lee during the season. “He’s made progress at both positions.”
Hinch said he has seen Lee improve.
“The turn of the double play has gotten better,” Hinch said. “I have a ton of confidence in him.”
But Lee is not a finished product.
“I think the eye test tells me he’s a really good defender who has to work on the consistency of his fundamentals to be able to be a better overall player,” Hinch said.
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While Lee appears to be the most obvious option at second, the Tigers have several other options, including John Peck, Kevin McGonigle, Zach McKinstry, Javier Báez and Max Anderson, who won a minor league Gold Glove at second base.
“John Peck − really good opportunity to build on the experience that he had this year,” Harris said, running through options at second. “Obviously, we have Kevin. Obviously, we have Zach. Obviously, we have Javy. We have a number of really good options. Max Anderson is forcing his way into the conversation now. I’m sure I missed some guys who play second base. We’re waiting to build the whole team and then make that decision.”
It was interesting that Harris mentioned McGonigle at second. Because Hinch mentioned that McGonigle could play second (as well as short or third) during the season. It’s just based on how the rest of the infield is configured.
“I’m not saying he’s going to be a second baseman, but he did it a little bit in the fall league [in 2025],” Hinch said of McGonigle. “We haven’t asked him to do it this year with Gleyber [Torres] being here. It hasn’t made a ton of sense to put any time there, but I think everything’s open depending on how the team’s built.”
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Another option: Anderson.
Harris has said that he expects Anderson to be in Detroit at some point in 2027.
To be clear, the organization has not made a definitive decision at second.
“Who plays second base, we’re going to wait and build the whole team and then make that decision,” Harris said. “But the fact that we can look out at every position now and know, hey, we have a number of options here, both currently in the big leagues, performing at a high level, and then also guys that are coming and forcing their way into the conversation, that’s a really healthy spot to be in as an organization.”
Contact Jeff Seidel: jseidel@freepress.com. Follow him on X @seideljeff.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Who’s on second? Detroit Tigers have plethora of options for 2027
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: Sports.yahoo.com
