DETROIT — Who knew?
Who knew Tigers rookie Ben Malgeri's superpower was stealing bases? Who knew his sprint speed, as measured in-game by Statcast, is faster than Max Clark's?
True story.
"I didn't know that," Malgeri said, with a smile.
Entering play Friday, Sept. 11, Malgeri was 5-for-5 on steals of second base. And his sprint speed, 29.1 feet per second, ranks in the 91st percentile in baseball.

#malgeri

The Tigers needed some of their big names to get it together and win them a game. Framber Valdez answered the call with seven shutout frames on Saturday, while Riley Greene homered twice and drove in four in a four-hit game. The bullpen only needed to go two innings to hold a 6-0 lead, and they did so with no trouble.
The Tigers already saw the weaker end of the Guardians rotation, so this was only going to get tougher on Saturday against Parker Messick, and then Gavin Williams on Sunday. With Framber Valdez going, the defense would need to be sharp, while Kevin McGonigle and Max Clark both got a needed day off against the left-hander.
Gleyber Torres and Hao-Yu Lee started the game off by striking out, but Riley Greene crushed a Messick cutter over the left center field wall for a solo shot and a quick 1-0 lead.
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Steven Kwan grounded out to Lee to start the bottom of the first. Angel Martinez dumped a little broken bat bliner between Spencer Torkelson and Javier Báez for a single. Báez, playing second, collected it but Valdez wasn't covering first expecting the ball in the air to be caught. Jose Ramirez lined out to Ben Malgeri in right field. Jo Adell got a bat broken as well but fouled off a 1-2 sinker in on his hands. A high fastball missed, but a good curveball whiffed him.

#needed #saturday #riley

The Tigers' woes continue as they dropped their Friday game to the Royals 5-2.
After a, shall we say, unpleasant series against the Pirates, the Tigers had a day to rest and reflect before heading to Kansas City to take on the Royals. Hopefully a break in the city of Hallmark and BBQ would be just what the doctor ordered to get the Tigers back in a winning mindset. To open the weekend series, they had Troy Melton on the mound, and he was up against Noah Cameron for the Royals.
Kevin McGonigle got a two-out single in the first, but the Tigers weren't able to convert the early baserunner. In the home half, Bobby Witt Jr. singled with one out, but Melton turned around to induce two outs in the next two at-bats to keep the Royals off the board.
In the second, Spencer Torkelson got a one-out walk. He was then eliminated in a force out off the bat of Ben Malgeri, and a lineout ended the inning. It was another one-out walk in the bottom of the inning, this time for Nick Loftin. With two outs, Isaac Collins singled. But even with two baserunners on, the Royals couldn't convert a run.
The Tigers continued getting runners on, as Hao-Yu Lee got a two-out single, but as with the previous innings, they couldn't manage to get him home. Melton managed to keep the Royals off the bases entirely with a 1-2-3 bottom of the inning.

#melton #series

Detroit – The Tigers have added some veteran outfield depth to their system, signing 27-year-old Michael Siani to a minor league deal and ******* igning him to Triple-A Toledo.
Siani, a plus-defender, has played parts of five seasons in the big leagues, including one game for the Orioles this season.
In one full season, with the Cardinals in 2024, he posted a .570 OPS in 124 games.
He's struggled offensively in Triple-A this season, .167/.281/.242 with both the Dodgers and Orioles.
The Tigers were left short on outfielders because of injuries to James Outman, Kerry Carpenter and Wenceel Perez. They've already called up Ben Malgeri, Trei Cruz and Corey Julks from Triple-A Toledo.

#siani #orioles #michael

The Detroit Tigers pulled All-Star left fielder Riley Greene after he was hit by a pitch in the second inning of the series-opener against the Cleveland Guardians on Tuesday, Aug. 11.
In his first and only at-bat against Guardians starter Tanner Bibee, a 3-2 fastball came too far inside and hit Greene in the lower right leg. It looked real bad at first, but in the slow-motion replay you could see the pitch at least partially hit the leg guard he was wearing. Greene took a second in the box, but waved off manager A.J. Hinch and ran down to first base with a big applause.
Greene continued his running with a trip from first base to home on an RBI double from first baseman Spencer Torkelson, giving the Tigers the game's first run. Greene sprinted around the bases seemingly without issue.
But he remained in the third-base dugout for the top of the third inning. Ben Malgeri took Greene's place in left field for the top of the third. Cleveland evened the game at 1-1 with a no-doubt Chase DeLauter solo home run off Tigers starter Drew Anderson in the third.
Greene has been an iron man for the Tigers. The three-time All-Star corner outfielder had appeared in 116 of the Tigers' 118 games so far this season, either in left field or as a designated hitter. Greene is hitting .273 with 16 home runs and 54 RBIs on the season.

#first #Third #star #cleveland

Well, we wondered if anyone would be interested after a disastrous first half, and it turns out the Boston Red Sox came calling. The Detroit Tigers have traded pinch-hitting, lefty mashing specialist Jahmai Jones to the Red Sox in exchange for a player to be named later.
Getting anything at all back for Jones is fine, as the Tigers just could no longer float Jones on the active roster considering his brutal performance in the first half of the season. Jones slashed an abysmal .137/.219/.221 with a 33.3 percent strikeout rate, two home runs, and a 27 wRC+, putting him over 70 percent worse than league average.
That came of the heels of a 2025 season where he slashed. 287/.387/.550 with seven homers in 150 plate appearances and a 159 wRC+. Nearly all of these at-bats came against left-handed pitching, but even in such a specified role, Jones couldn’t repeat his 2025 run. Teams started spinning in more breaking stuff while keeping fourseam fastballs out of his sweet spot and he just could not adjust with any success. After seeing 35.1 percent fourseam fastballs in 2025, he saw just 23.1 percent of them this season, and was unable to lay off the breaking stuff well enough to get into favorable counts where pitchers might have to challenge him.
Jones got plenty of leash to try and figure it out in May and early June after a rough April, but things just got worse and his playing time quickly dried up. His plate appearances went from 37 in April and 41 in May to just 25 in June.
The emergence of Ben Malgeri as at least a decently competent hitter who, unlike Jones, is a pretty solid outfielder, cut into his playing time, and the brief hand injury to Dillon Dingler gave 1B/C Eduardo Valencia a shot as well. It’s too early to hope for too much from either, but Valencia makes for at least as good an option as Jones even in the exceedingly specific role of pitch-hitting against left-handers. He also provides more defensive utility despite being mediocre behind the plate and at first base.

The News' Andrew Graham gives his quick takes on the Tigers' 6-2 victory over the Athletics on Tuesday:
To borrow from one Larry David, that two-out rally in the bottom of the sixth inning was pretty, pretty good. And it saved what might’ve otherwise been a quietly bad offensive night for Detroit.
Because entering that inning, absent Colt Keith’s two-run homer in the bottom of the first, Detroit had managed two hits and not much else on offense. But sometimes all it takes is a trickle to start eventually breaking the dam. Against the Athletics on Tuesday, it began with Zach McKinstry working a two-out walk.
Then Spencer Torkelson ripped a single back up the middle and McKinstry advanced to third. Then manager AJ Hinch pinch hit Ben Malgeri for James Outman, and the chess move panned out. Malgeri delivered an RBI double — make sure to watch the video of it below — moving Torkelson to third and easily scoring McKinstry.
Then Matt Vierling doubled, scoring Malgeri and Torkelson as Detroit opened up a 5-1 lead, quickly becoming 6-1 on a Kevin McGonigle single that scored Vierling.

The Athletics took on the Tigers at Comerica Park in Detroit today, hoping to end a three-game skid. J.T. Ginn got the start today against reigning Cy Young Award winner Tarek Skubal for Detroit.
After a walk to lead-off batter Kevin McGonigle, Colt Keith homered to deep right center field giving the Tigers an early 2-0 lead.
After Skubal struck out five of the first eight batters he faced, Henry Bolte launched his third homer of the season into left field bleachers. That cut the Tigers lead to 2-1.
Through four innings, both pitchers have allowed base runners, but since each gave up a homer, they’ve battled through, keeping the opposing team from scoring. Skubal left the game after five innings. He gave up just one earned run on five hits and two walks. He struck out nine.
Jacob Lopez replaced J.T. Ginn in the bottom of the sixth. Lopez was recalled today from AAA Las Vegas. Zach McKinstry walked and Spencer Torkelson singled. Pinch hitter Ben Malgeri doubled on a misplayed fly ball to right fielder Lawrence Butler. McKinstry scored. Matt Vierling doubled to right field, driving in Torkelson and Malgeri. Kevin McGonigle followed with a single, that drove in Vierling. When the inning was finally over, the A’s trailed Detroit 6-1.

Detroit – It doesn’t have to be a big swing that changes a game. The Tigers, when they are playing at their best, prove this time after time.
And they did so again Tuesday night in a spirited, 6-2 win over the Athletics in the first of three at Comerica Park. Sometimes a simple walk can turn the tide.
It was a tight, 2-1 game when lefty-swinging Zach McKinstry stepped in with two outs and ***** ody on against lefty reliever Jacob Lopez in the sixth inning.
McKinstry battled his way to a walk, which set up a run of three straight right-handed hitters who broke the game open.
Spencer Torkelson singled. Rookie Ben Malgeri, pinch-hitting for James Outman, dropped a run-scoring double into shallow right field. Athletics’ second baseman Joshua Kuroda-Grauer and right fielder Lawrence Butler both converged on the ball and both backed off at the last minute.

Freelance writer Andrew Graham gives his quick takes on the Tigers' 4-3 loss to the Yankees on Tuesday:
Let's be romantic about baseball and love Ben Malgeri getting his first MLB hit in his debut after getting called up earlier on Tuesday.
And Malgeri didn't waste any time to do it. The outfielder came up for his first at bat in the bottom of the third inning with Zach McKinstry standing on first base and hit the first pitch he saw, a fastball on the outside edge that Malgeri sliced into right field. McKinstry moved to third and scored on a wild pitch, giving the Tigers a 1-0 lead.
So, on top of getting his first major league hit right away, Malgeri got the Tigers' offense in scoring position to pounce on an error. He ended up scoring a run later in the inning, too.

DETROIT (AP) — Jazz Chisholm Jr. homered, drove in two runs and scored twice and the New York Yankees beat the Detroit Tigers 4-3 on Tuesday night.
Chisholm scored on Jose Caballero's RBI groundout in the fourth inning before hitting a two-run homer in the sixth as New York ended a three-game losing streak and stopped Detroit's four-game winning streak.
Carlos Rodón (4-2) picked up the win, allowing three runs and six hits with two walks in 5 1/3 innings. Three relievers finished, with David Bednar getting the final four outs for his 15th save.
Casey Mize (2-5) gave up four runs and eight hits and a walk in 5 2/3 innings. He struck out six while giving the Tigers their 27th straight game in which the starting pitcher allowed four or fewer runs.
Detroit took the lead with two runs in the third. Zach McKinstry hit a one-out single and took third when Ben Malgeri singled in his first major-league at-bat. McKinstry scored on Rodon's wild pitch and Malgeri came home on Dillon Dingler's base hit.

Detroit — He'd just got out of his car outside Comerica Park early Tuesday afternoon and immediately, he was beseeched for an autograph.
Welcome, finally, to the big leagues Ben Malgeri.
The Tigers purchased the contract of the 26-year-old right-handed hitting outfielder and he is expected to make his big-league debut against the Yankees.
He will replace switch-hitting utility man Trei Cruz, who was optioned back to Triple-A Toledo. To clear a spot on the 40-man roster, right-handed reliever Burch Smith was moved to the 60-day injured list.
Malgeri's is a story of perseverance. Drafted by the Tigers in the 18th round in 2021, he has never carried the label of prospect. In his eight-year climb, he spent parts of three seasons in High A and in Double A.