After a hot stretch at the end of April, McKinstry is now 4-for-31 (.129) with 13 strikeouts and just four walks in nine games to start May. He doesn’t need to be held in shallower formats.

McKinstry has split time between the outfield corners for Detroit over the first six-plus weeks of the regular season, so it’s notable that he’s back at shortstop, not newly-minted starting center fielder Javier Báez, for Sunday’s showdown with Trey Sweeney getting a rare day off. It certainly appears that Báez is going to stick in center field until further notice, even when Sweeney is out of the lineup.

The Tigers probably would have non-tendered McKinstry over the winter had he not agreed to a deal before the deadline. They’re awfully glad he did now, as he’s come through with a .314/.424/.471 line while getting a whole lot more time than expected in the early going. We’re not at all optimistic that he’ll keep it up, but it’s been a fun time thus far.