What Detroit Tigers rookie Colt Keith is doing to snap out of career-opening slump

When St. Louis Cardinals right fielder Lars Nootbaar raised his glove in a vain attempt at catching Colt Keith's shot to right-centerfield, Detroit Tigers manager A.J. Hinch thought at first someone would have to console Keith again.

"I do think if they were to run down that ball in right-center, we would've needed a status check on Colt," Hinch said about his rookie second baseman. "Everything that he's hit hard has gotten out and then some rough at-bats."

The ball was well wide of the outfielder's glove, bounced on the edge of the warning track and careened off the angled wall in right-centerfield for a standup double. The ball was deep enough to score Matt Vierling, who contributed the other three RBIs in the Tigers' 4-1, series-clinching win over the Cardinals Wednesday.

Keith finished the day 1-for-3 with the RBI double and turned in a handful of solid plays at second base as the Tigers moved to 18-13 in the early season.

"I was just really happy he didn't catch it and I was able to get an RBI for the team," Keith said. "I felt like it's been tough for me to contribute and I was really happy I was able to get that RBI."

It was Keith's sixth RBI as a major leaguer through his first month with the Tigers. Keith has struggled mightily out of the gates with a .154 batting average and .387 OPS at the plate through 26 appearances in March and April. Keith's average is now .160 (15 hits in 94 at-bats) and the RBI double bumped his OPS up to .406, still the lowest across the MLB for qualified hitters.

"It's been a tough, tough little stretch for me but I feel Like if anybody's going to come out of it on top, it'll be me," Keith said. "I come to the field every day ready to go out there and help the team win."

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Keith, who signed a nine-year contract extension in Detroit worth up to $82 million before ever playing a major league game, said he hasn't felt like himself through the team's first 31 games because he hasn't been able to hit, or "when I don't miss pitches" as he put it, while explaining how he adjusted for Wednesday's hit.

"Mikolas threw a changeup today and I fouled it off straight back," Keith said. "But it was really close, I was able to adjust to it. ... I think it's getting closer every day."

The 22-year-old rookie has made two changes to his routine in his first month as a major leaguer. The first, delete social media from his phone. The second, keep a hitting journal.

Keith said he has deleted X (formerly Twitter), Facebook and Instagram (outside of the reels option) to try to live more in the moment as a player.

"I just watch reels, just like memes on there," Keith said. "There's some swings on there that I click on every once in a while but I just try to stay away from it when I'm away from the field."

Keith said he deleted social media to block out the negative comments from the disgruntled Tigers fans fed up with his lack of offensive production so far.

"It's just part of it," Keith said. "Getting at-ed on Twitter on all that stuff. I like to read that stuff, I used to, but when it's going really bad I try to keep the negative out."

The hitting journal allows Keith to write about his hitting that day so he can flush those days swings from his memory and move on to the next game.

"I kind of just write in there and then after the day is over, I just kind of flush it," Keith said. "Look to the future."

Even without Keith, the Tigers have found a rhythm in the opening weeks of the season. Detroit moved to 18-13 with their fourth straight series win over St. Louis, making it the first time since 2016 they have a winning record entering May.

Though the bat has been quiet, Keith has proven to be consistently strong option as a defender at second base.

"I was really happy I was able to make those plays the last couple days just because I'm able to have a positive impact on the team's win," Keith said. "That's been the most frustrating part. Like, we're winning and I feel like I'm not contributing or if we lose, I leef like I could have done something else."

Keith got the contract extension after proving he was one of the best hitters in the minor leagues, hitting .306 with 27 home runs, 60 walks and 121 strikeouts across 126 games with Double-A Erie and Triple-A Toledo in 2023. Hinch hasn't lost faith that the sweet-hitting second baseman is still inside of Keith waiting to come out.

"He's going to be a really good hitter and he's going to look back at this time — he might not look back at this time because he won't want to remember it — but it's going to be good for him," Hinch said. "Like any sort of adult, parental-type advice, he doesn't want to hear it. He wants to hit."

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Tigers' Colt Keith 'getting closer every day' to ending slump