The Detroit Tigers are sliding, mired in a five-game losing skid that has dropped them from a few games out of the lead in the American League Central Division, to third place, four games behind the front-running Minnesota Twins — and seven games below .500.
The good news for the Tigers: One of their top prospects appears to be heading in the opposite direction.
Colt Keith rocketed 60-plus spots up Baseball America’s updated Top 100 list Wednesday, its first major update since the preseason rankings were unveiled. Keith, an infielder playing second and third base at Double-A Erie, is No. 30 on the list, up from No. 93 on the preseason list.
It represents the largest jump from a prospect within Baseball’s Top 100.
“Keith’s 2022 breakout season was derailed by a shoulder injury, but every offseason gives Keith a chance to get even better than he was the previous season,” Baseball America writes in a companion piece with the rankings that noted the biggest risers and fallers in the rankings. “He’s showing a very advanced bat for Double-A Erie while playing both second and third base. He’s the Tigers’ most promising and polished minor league hitter, and isn’t all that far away from being ready to help in Detroit.”
Keith, 21, is hitting .325 with a .965 OPS for the Seawolves this season, with 10 home runs, 13 doubles and 41 RBIs. He was red-hot in May, hitting .374 with a 1.107 OPS. That included a six-hit performance May 16 in which he hit for the cycle — including two home runs — and drove in seven runs.
Keith was a fifth-round draft pick in 2020 out of Biloxi (Mississippi) High School. He was drafted as a third baseman, but has seen time at second base as well.
“Colt did really well playing second base (in earlier Tigers farm stops),’ Ryan Garko, who oversees Tigers players development, told Detroit News contributor Lynn Henning for a story posted in late May. “I think the more versatile we can make our players — you’ve got the Zach McKinstry model, the Zack Short model — the more we have all these pieces to help match up against an opponent.”
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