DETROIT -- Could the onetime third baseman of the future become the Detroit Tigers’ shortstop of the future?
Well, that’s probably getting ahead of ourselves.
But 22-year-old Isaac Paredes will get to play shortstop in the big leagues for at least one night. He’s in the starting lineup as the Tigers open a three-game series against the Chicago White Sox on Friday at 7:10 p.m. at Comerica Park.
Paredes played plenty of shortstop during his early years, but he had more recently been groomed as a third baseman. He also played quite a bit of second base in spring training.
But shortstop?
Why not? As manager A.J. Hinch pointed out, the nature of the shift sometimes requires the third baseman to position himself a shortstop or second baseman, and Paredes has handled himself well. He played a handful of games there in Triple-A Toledo and looked fine.
“We want to continue to give him a look,” Hinch said. “The fact that he had played shortstop at Triple-A and the favorable reviews that came with it made me feel pretty comfortable with it.”
Adding another position to his resume would also give Paredes a better opportunity of sticking around when Jeimer Candelario returns from bereavement leave on Monday.
It’s probably way too early to think beyond this year (or even this weekend), but the Tigers still don’t have a long-term solution at shortstop. Willi Castro is no longer playing regularly at the position after some shakiness defensively earlier in the year. Niko Goodrum, 29, might not be back next year.
Maybe Paredes could give the Tigers something to think about.
“It’ll be interesting to see how that plays out,” Tigers general manager Al Avila said before Friday’s game. “He was a shortstop his entire career until we traded for him (in 2017). And since then he’s played short, he’s played second, he’s played third.
“There are other guys in the minor leagues who could also fill that gap. At the end of the day, we might even look into the free-agent market or make a trade. You never know. But that’s a position we’re looking at as we move forward. Who’s going to be that guy, or do we have to go outside the organization?”
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