Previewing the Detroit Tigers September call-ups

At midnight, ok 11:59 p.m. ET to be exact, all major league teams must finalize their 40-man rosters for postseason eligibility. Any player not currently on the 40-man roster at that point will be ineligible for the postseason. At the same time, active rosters will expand to 28 players from 26, allowing teams to call-up a pitcher and a position player. For a Detroit Tigers club that rides high atop the American League but has shown some fraying around the edges over the past month and a half, these could yet prove to be important decisions, particularly on the pitching side of things.

Now, players on the 60-day injured list are qualified, as well as anyone on the 40-man as of midnight. So possible returnees like RHP Reese Olson, RHP Jose Urquidy, RHP Paul Sewald, RHP Jason Foley, and LHP Sean Guenther, currently on the 60-day injured list, are all eligible should any of them get healthy enough to help the club. They would need a 40-man roster spot re-opened to add them back to the active roster, but they’re all eligible already, as is RHP Codi Heuer and RHP Keider Montero.

So on the pitching side it’s just more of a matter of who they call up to add an extra arm to the bullpen. Right now, the most obvious candidates are RHP Alex Lange, and RHP Sawyer Gipson-Long. I would expect one of them to get the call, and for both of them to be in the bullpen at some point down the stretch in advance of the postseason. LHP Bailey Horn is a possibility as well. LHP Brant Hurter is dealing with a back issue and there hasn’t been much news on that front, but Hurter could still get back in time to pitch for the Tigers in September and try to earn a postseason roster spot.

If the Tigers decided to add someone to the 40-man roster, there’s an easy solution by moving RHP Beau Brieske to the 60-day injured list since he’s been shut down for the year as well. If we look at the Toledo Mud Hens roster, right-handed pitchers Troy Watson and Tanner Rainey have both been pitching well and could be options to get a look in September at some point. RHP Matt Seelinger is another option with a slim chance of a call-up and addition to the 40-man roster. Right-handed reliever RJ Petit has also been throwing well for the Triple-A affiliate, and has a tiny chance of getting a call as well, though his ETA is more likely in 2026. Any of those four would need a 40-man roster spot, and giving them Brieske’s spot, at least temporarily, is probably the simplest way to proceed.

In terms of position players, there are really only three players likely to get consideration. I’m going to assume that Parker Meadows will be back up when he’s ready, and he’s tracking to be back during the homestand this week. The Tigers can then option down Trey Sweeney, who isn’t doing much of anything at the plate, and play Javier Báez and Zach McKinstry as a shortstop platoon the rest of the year.

So, leaving Meadows aside, the Tigers can still add one more position player. The two most obvious candidates are 1B/OF Justyn-Henry Malloy and 2B/3B prospect, Hao-Yu Lee. Of the two, Lee would need a 40-man spot opened up for him. He’ll have to be protected from the Rule 5 draft in December anyway, so he’s a lock to be on the 40-man roster by then anyway. If the Tigers want to get him some major league experience this year, and potentially have him as an option in the postseason, he’ll get the nod.

Malloy just continues to dominate the Triple-A level. His work in 348 plate appearances in the major leagues so far isn’t very impressive, but even at the major league level he walks a lot, and holds a 118 wRC+ against left-handed pitching. So if they add him it’s mainly to pinch-hit against left-handers. Malloy is still subpar as a corner outfielder and is just learning some first base, so this is a real specialty weapon who doesn’t run or defend well. He’d just be there to hit.

Lee is more versatile player. He’s a decent but slightly below average second baseman and is working on third base with some growing pains there as well. However, Lee is a pretty good, aggressive baserunner who has 21 steals despite average speed. He hasn’t exactly torn it up in Triple-A this year, but he’s also just 22 years old and just got there a lot sooner than most hitters. He walks and his strikeout rates are likely to be above average in the majors right now but manageable. Like Malloy, Lee would mainly be there as an additional pinch-hit option against lefties who can handle himself in the infield other than at shortstop.

Lee holds an 11.6 walk rate against a 21.5 percent strikeout rate. He is adept at using the whole field though he still doesn’t get to his above average raw power enough and needs to drive some more balls in the air. However, he had hammered left-handed pitching this season, posting a .402 wOBA against southpaws with a .239 isolated power mark. He does struggle a bit against breaking balls from southpaws, but Lee is a good all-around fastball hitter who needs to continue to handle breaking balls and changeups better to reach his ceiling as an average to above average hitter.

I think Lee does offer something in a lefty masher right now. He’s as good a fastball hitter as Malloy is, but Lee’s issues with breaking stuff and offspeed aren’t as extreme as Malloy’s either. It’s just a lot to expect him to come right up and be productive in September and particularly in October. If the Tigers go this route, it’s mainly to get him the experience and because they don’t have any confidence in Malloy, or their other obvious option in Jace Jung.

So the final possibility for a position player call-up is Jung, who, like Malloy, is on the 40-man roster already. Unfortunately, he’s had a pretty poor year at Triple-A after struggle in his early looks at major league pitching. He walks a lot too, but like Malloy he also strikes out a lot and hasn’t shown any signs of doing more damage, handling high end velocity, or generally ticked any of the boxes required to really look deserving of another long look in the major leagues yet. Because he’s fairly slow and a mediocre defender at 3B and maybe close to average at 2B, their isn’t any utility here unless Jung hits.

My best guess is that Alex Lange will be on Monday along with Malloy. Sawyer Gipson-Long is certainly one of the Tigers 13 best arms, and I expect he’ll get his opportunity in September as well, but for the Tigers current needs, getting Lange as much time with the major league coaching staff to see if he can get himself dialed in makes the most sense. The Tigers could really use the swing and miss Lange can provide in some kind of a fireman role.

The Tigers may just consider Hao-Yu Lee’s development more important than anything Malloy or Jung is going to likely do for them right now. In that case, Lee getting some time in the show is the move. But if the Tigers are really looking for a bat that might be productive in a specific role, Malloy against left-handed pitching makes the most sense.

Sunday is the deadline for waiver claims, but the Tigers are right toward the end of the priority list because of their record. The Phillies have already collected lefty Tim Mayza and RHP Walker Buehler on waivers today before the Tigers had a chance at them. Probably not much of interest is going to be available here in the final hours.

So, we’ll see what the Tigers decide, but I wouldn’t expect too much of consequence. The 40-man roster is pretty close to set, other than the possibility of making Hao-Yu Lee eligible in the postseason. Meanwhile the bullpen experiments on the active roster will continue unaffected by today’s deadline.