Detroit – Permanence, for Tigers’ super utility man Zach McKinstry, has always been an elusive concept.
He was 20 years old in 2015 and having himself a fun summer. He’d just finished a very successful freshman season at Central Michigan University and was raking for Waterloo in the Northwoods summer league.
Then everything changed. His parents’ house in Fort Wayne, Ind., his boyhood home, burned to the ground. Fortunately, his parents weren’t home, but three dogs and two cats were killed.
“That was tough,” he said. “We came back to Battle Creek. They ended up getting a house pretty quickly and moving out. They rented a place at first. But, except for the pets, nobody was hurt.
“You lose all your stuff so you just start over.”
Starting over. That’s been a far too recurring theme for McKinstry. A 33rd round pick of the Dodgers in 2016, McKinstry had a strong first year in Low-A for the Great Lakes Loons. Which is why he was a little shocked when they sent him back to Midland to start the 2017 season.
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“I thought I had a good spring training,” McKinstry said. “I went over to the big-league side a few times and I had good at-bats. But they ended up sending me back to Great Lakes.”
That’s when his father Alex stepped in.
“My dad told me I could be mad about it for 24 hours and then you’ve got to figure it out,” McKinstry said. “This is reality. You can be mad as much as you want, but if this is what you really want to do, you have to figure out a way to prosper from this situation.
“He was like, ‘You’ve got 24 hours; nobody is going to feel bad for you.’”
McKinstry answered that challenge like he’s handled all the others that came after – he dug in and went to work. He went back to Midland and slashed .308/.478/.500 with a .989 OPS and ended up climbing all the way to Double-A before the end of that season.
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He debuted for the Dodgers in 2020 but barely had chance to unpack his bags. That impermanence thing again. He was yo-yoed between Los Angeles and Triple-A Oklahoma City five times in 2021 despite getting off to a hot start (.296 average, .596 slug through April 20).
He was yo-yoed five times more times in 2022 and then the trades started happening.
First to the Cubs at the trade deadline last year. Then to the Tigers three days before the start of this season.
Three teams in eight months.
But dare we say, it feels like he’s found a home in Detroit.
“From a personality standpoint, he’s fit in perfectly,” said manager AJ Hinch, who is hitting him in the leadoff spot against right-handed starters and playing him all around the diamond. “He’s a gamer and he will do anything to help us. He’s taken on the role of being a Mr. Super Utility knowing he’s going to be in every game at some point.
“He’s taken to it very well.”
Still, you can’t blame McKinstry if he doesn’t take anything for granted just yet.
“I do a little bit,” he said when asked if he finally felt settled. “I still got to go. I still have to come to the field with that little chip on my shoulder knowing that, hey, you’ve moved around a lot. Nothing is going to be given.”
That’s exactly the energy he’s been playing with; like he’s fighting for every at-bat and every inning.
After the Tigers were shutout on Saturday and he took a rare 0-for-4 from the leadoff spot, he led off the bottom of the first with a single Sunday and scored on a ground out by Javier Baez.
After the Tigers were shut out 2-0 in Cleveland on Tuesday, he led off the game Wednesday with a ringing single to center, keying a two-run first inning in a 5-0 win.
Catalyst.
“It just sets the tone,” he said. “You hit that first pitch, right back up the middle. The guys feed off that energy right away. It’s a good feeling when you can get on top early.”
In 13 starts in the leadoff spot, McKinstry is hitting .302 with a .375 on-base percentage.
“He’s been huge,” Hinch said. “He’s been versatile to the point where he helps me make any decision I want to during the game knowing he’s an answer somewhere.”
He typically plays two and even three positions in a game, going from second or third to either right field of left field, depending on how Hinch is maneuvering matchups.
“Playing three positions over the course of one nine inning game, that’s not as easy to do as he makes it look,” Hinch said. “There’s a lot to like about him on how he goes about it and the production that’s come with it.”
For now, McKinstry is going to keep his head down and keep grinding. But he’s absolutely carving out a niche for himself in this new Tigers’ culture. Shoot, he’s been given Miguel Cabrera’s old locker stall in the corner of the Tigers’ clubhouse.
“Yeah, they say there are a lot of hits in this locker,” he said, laughing. “High expectations. But, no, I’ll just hang out and do my thing over here.”
It’s been working.
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chris.mccosky@detroitnews.com
Twitter: @cmccosky