The huge contractual agreement by the Detroit Tigers given to outfield prospect Colt Keith was a gamble, to say the least.
The 22-year-old agreed to a six-year, $28.6 million deal last month and has yet to play one out of a Major League Baseball game.
While that appears to be quite the wager for the organization, there’s something the Tigers see in him that stretches beyond what the production numbers show on a computer screen.
ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel said there are a couple of factors that go into these decisions.
For starters, some of the numbers should translate well at the next level. The off-the-field aspects are just as imperative.
“The other part is you can hear or know or as the team have a good idea that a guy has good makeup,” McDaniel told media, including The Comeback on Tuesday. “Once you’ve got him in your system for two or three years, you know if this is the kind of guy that’s going to make adjustments and be good in the clubhouse and be good in front of the media and handle getting a bunch of money, especially if it’s a low bonus guy who hasn’t always been famous and had a lot of money.”
Last season in Double-A, Keith slashed .325/.391/.585 with 14 home runs and 50 RBI. He was promoted to Triple-A Toledo in June where he batted .287 with 13 home runs and 51 RBI in 67 games.
The left-handed infielder was a fifth-round pick in the 2020 MLB Draft out of Biloxi High School in Mississippi.
He was credited in his scouting report for being a pure left-handed hitter with control and balance at the plate with above-average bat speed. Keith rounds it off with athleticism and was projected to be an MLB All-Star with a lot of upside.
McDaniel said there are typically talks with the front office whether a guy is ready or not. Can he handle it?
While there isn’t a crystal ball involved, there are things you can sense about a guy that you can’t get from a page of stats.
“That’s the variable you don’t know when you acquire the guy that then two years later or three years later after you have him in the system, that you know that,” McDaniel said. “That’s the most important thing, and you just don’t know it until he’s in your system.”
