Delco’s Kevin McGonigle makes opening day roster with Detroit Tigers
The Aldan native and Bonner-Prendergast grad spent the last three years in the minor leagues after being drafted by the Tigers in 2023. Now the top infield prospect is set to make his MLB debut.
Less than three years after earning Catholic League Player of the Year honors as a senior at Bonner-Prendergast, Kevin McGonigle is set to make his major league debut with the Detroit Tigers.
McGonigle made the Tigers’ opening day roster, the team announced Tuesday. McGonigle, a shortstop from Aldan, is the top prospect in the Tigers’ farm system and the No. 2 prospect in all of baseball, according to MLB Pipeline’s prospect rankings.
The Tigers selected McGonigle 37th overall in the 2023 MLB draft after he hit .474 as a senior at Bonner-Prendergast. The shortstop, who hits left-handed and throws right-handed, spent three seasons in the minor leagues, including with the double-A Erie Seawolves starting last July, hitting .254 with 12 home runs, while slugging .550 in 169 at-bats.
McGonigle, 21, was included on the Tigers’ spring training roster and earned his call-up to the 26-man roster after hitting .250 and slugging .477 in 44 at-bats in Florida, skipping triple A. The Tigers open their season Thursday with a three-game series in San Diego against the Padres.
McGonigle has now emerged as an early-season betting favorite to win the American League’s Rookie of the Year award over other top prospects, including Toronto Blue Jays pitcher and Boyertown native Trey Yesavage, who played in the big leagues last season but did not exceed the maximum of 50 innings pitched.
McGonigle grew up a Phillies fan and has fond memories of the team’s World Series win in 2008. He models his game after former Phillies second baseman Chase Utley.
“I study a lot of films from guys from the past, and Chase Utley is my main guy that I like to watch,” McGonigle told The Inquirer in 2022. “I also like watching Tony Gwynn, but growing up in Delaware County and watching the Phils win in ‘08 and the great teams they had for those years was awesome to watch. The one guy who stood out to me was Chase Utley, and that’s who I try to model my game after.”
McGonigle played three games against his childhood team in the Grapefruit League this spring, logging three hits, including a three-run homer, in eight at-bats.
» READ MORE: Delco’s Kevin McGonigle models his game after Chase Utley | From 2022
“Very balanced, strong, uses the entire field,” said Phillies manager Rob Thomson of McGonigle. “He’s got a lot of bat speed, plays hard. There’s nothing really bad about his game at all.”
McGonigle will not play at Citizens Bank Park this season, but will face the Phillies in a three-game interleague series at Comerica Park in Detroit beginning on July 10.