​Detroit Tigers utilityman Zach McKinstry won’t be as immersed in activity during the 2026 All-Star break as he was last season, but the lead-up to the break has kept him busy in its own way. The 31-year-old enjoyed a breakout campaign in 2025, posting a career-best 3.2 fWAR (per FanGraphs) in his sixth MLB season and earning his first All-Star nod. This year has presented more challenges, with his OPS slipping to .593 over 208 plate appearances after he finished 2025 at .771.
Yet McKinstry remains a versatile contributor in Detroit’s lineup, and in recent weeks he has started to produce at the plate again. Following a May in which he posted a microscopic .372 OPS across 24 games during a month that helped fuel Detroit’s 6-22 skid, McKinstry has rebounded. He went from that rough stretch to posting a .731 OPS in June and .768 in July as he moved toward a series opener against the Philadelphia Phillies on Friday, July 10. Since June 21, he has slashed .286/.338/.460, delivering solid production from the bottom half of the order—an area the Tigers have leaned on for offense.
While the turnaround looks dramatic, McKinstry isn’t crediting it to sweeping mechanical changes. “I feel like I went through a stretch where I was just putting balls in play, but they weren’t great pitches to hit. So now I’m getting good pitches to put in play, so I can contribute to that,” he explained.
One of those favorable pitches came on a 3-2 fastball in the fifth inning of Detroit’s 4-1 win over the Athletics on Thursday. McKinstry launched a low, in-the-zone fastball from Jack Perkins over the right-center field yellow line for a 399-foot homer, staking the Tigers to a 3-1 lead and recording his fourth long ball of the season. Although a rookie, Eduardo Valencia, later homered to momentarily steal the headlines, it was McKinstry’s swing that might have been the key moment, providing the lead that the Tigers would not relinquish.
Tigers manager A.J. Hinch has noticed the consistency fueling McKinstry’s surge. “I know during the first part of the year it wasn’t quite there. He’s now playing arguably every single inning of every game,” Hinch said. “I think he’s staying with it and continuing to put in the work to find the cues for better swings and smarter swing decisions, and to contribute every day.”
What stands out in McKinstry’s resurgence is not just the quantity of playing time, but his steadiness in a single role. He has seen action across a range of positions this season, starting at least four games at six different spots. He has spent the most time at second base (24 starts) and shortstop (16 starts). In recent weeks, though, he has shed his outfield responsibilities to focus exclusively on the infield, primarily occupying second base and shortstop during a stretch of 20 consecutive games.
The Tigers have leaned on McKinstry’s versatility as a backbone asset: capable of handling multiple spots, delivering productive at-bats, and providing a steadying influence as a middle-infield option when the lineup needs a reliable, gap-to-gap contributor. As Detroit continues to navigate the balance between development and results, McKinstry’s return to form offers a reliable source of offense from the bottom third of the order and an adjustable defensive piece that can align with different lineup configurations as the season progresses.