Watch: Detroit Tigers First Baseman Takes Reps at New Position

The Detroit Tigers made this position change to accommodate a free agency signing and he’s starting to get in work down in spring training.

Tigers' Colt Keith runs after batting a double against Guardians in the 7th inning at Game 5 of ALDS at Progressive Field in Cleveland, Ohio on Saturday, Oct. 12, 2024. | Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Detroit Tigers position players don’t have to officially report to spring training in Lakeland, Fla., until Monday. But many of them have already filtered down to the facility to get a head start on the 2025 season.

One of them is Colt Keith, and he has good reason to be there early.

This offseason, the Tigers signed former New York Yankees second baseman Gleyber Torres to a one-year contract. He signed the deal for two reasons. First, he wants to enter free agency again next offseason and is betting on himself to get a better deal.

Second, the Tigers told him he would play second base. Other interested teams, including the Washington Nationals, wanted to move him to another position.

Signing Torres should help the offense. But it also created a problem because the Tigers already had a second baseman, and it happened to be Keith.

Plus, Detroit and Keith are committed to each other for the long term. Before he even played a Major League game last offseason, he and the Tigers agreed to the largest deal the franchise ever agreed to with a player that had no MLB experience.

Keith and the Tigers agreed to a six-year contract worth $28,642,500 that includes club options for the 2030, 2031, and 2032 seasons. With options and escalators, it could be worth $82 million.

So, Keith isn’t going anywhere. Plus, after a solid rookie season, he needed to be on the field.

The solution? Move him to first base.

On Saturday, Cody Stavehagen posted video of Keith getting reps at his new position.

Here is the video of Colt Keith at first base America has been waiting for pic.twitter.com/6UCwcY8wby

— Cody Stavenhagen (@CodyStavenhagen) February 15, 2025

Keith responded with a solid rookie season in 2024, with a .260/.309/.380/.689 with 13 home runs and 61 RBI. He projects as a player that has more power than he displayed last season, so moving him to first base plays well into the team’s future. His left-handed swing also fits in well at the position and at Comerica Park.

He was the Tigers’ fifth-round pick in the 2020 MLB Draft who eventually rose to baseball’s No. 2 prospect before the 2024 season. He displayed tremendous batting average in the minor leagues, as he slashed .300/.382/.512/.894. He slammed 38 home runs and drove in 174 RBI. In 2023 he hit a career-best 27 home runs and drove in 101 runs.

That’s a display of the type of power Keith could bring to the position. Now, he must learn to field a position he hasn’t played at professionally.