Offense-ready prospect Justyn-Henry Malloy knows defense opens door to Detroit Tigers

Detroit Tigers prospect Justyn-Henry Malloy, acquired more than a year ago in a trade with the Atlanta Braves, fits best as a corner outfielder on defense. Not as a third baseman, as the Tigers once suggested, but a corner outfielder with an advanced approach at the plate.

Malloy has the potential to be a good hitter in the big leagues.

But Malloy needs to show improvement on defense if he wants to play for the Tigers at Comerica Park. At least that's what president of baseball operations Scott Harris said last season, less than two weeks before Malloy wasn't called up as rosters expanded in September. Therefore, Malloy worked on his outfield defense for the entire offseason.

"It's like putting a treat in front of a dog's face," Malloy said. "That's it. You want that. You want to just get good at defense because you know that's a part of the game that needs to be locked in. I'm a realist. I'm not shying away from it whatsoever."

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Malloy was invited to MLB spring training for the second year in a row and has already arrived in Lakeland, Florida, for early work on the TigerTown backfields. He turns 24 on Feb. 19, the second day of mandatory full-squad workouts in Lakeland, where he will battle for one of the final spots on the Opening Day roster.

He spent all of last season in Triple-A Toledo, hitting .277 with 23 home runs, 110 walks (18% walk rate) and 152 strikeouts (24.9% strikeout rate) across 135 games.

He is lauded for his plate discipline.

"I don't ever want to give a pitcher freebies," Malloy said. "I'll say it forever: I'm not the sexiest player when it comes to a million tools. That's fine. I have my tools like everybody else. Being able to compete, I think that's probably my best tool."

Malloy, a right-handed hitter, received 611 plate appearances with the Mud Hens, the second most in the International League (behind only Baltimore Orioles prospect Connor Norby's 633). His .417 on-base percentage ranked seventh, and his .891 OPS ranked 12th.

He doesn't have anything else to prove at the plate at the Triple-A level.

"All we kept hearing about was how mature the approach was," said Ryan Garko, the Tigers' vice president of player development. "I think it was better than advertised. This young man does not waste an at-bat. I mean, he grinds out five at-bats a night."

He still has a lot to prove on defense, however.

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His outfield defense will be under a microscope in spring training, with a spot on the Opening Day roster hanging in the balance. It could be his roster spot to lose coming into camp.

"I'm ready," Malloy said. "There will always be nerves until you go out there and get multiple at-bats in multiple games, but in my head, I need to cross that bridge. I'm busting my tail every day so that I'm able to get that opportunity to put myself in the best possible position for that opportunity. I'm ready to help our team in any possible way that I can. I don't care which way it is, as long as it helps us win baseball games. I think that's all that matters at the end of the day."

'Like he's been around for 15 years'

The Tigers traded for Malloy, a sixth-round pick by the Braves in the 2021 draft out of Georgia Tech, because he could help reshape the team's offensive identity.

So far, Malloy is trending in the right direction.

He posted an elite 16.7% chase rate in Triple-A Toledo last season, which would have ranked third among MLB players, behind only Juan Soto (16.6%) and Mookie Betts (16.6%). Even his 37.3% swing rate, which means he rarely swings compared to league average, sat between Soto's 35.8% and Betts' 38.1%.

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"I'm very stubborn," Malloy said. "If you throw a ball, I'm going to take it. I don't care how close it's going to be. I don't care if it's a centimeter or a millimeter off the plate, a ball is going to be a ball, and I'm going to take it. I think that allowed me to get in those plus counts to be able to do more damage."

Steve Teel, a personal player development specialist in New Jersey, was the first person to describe him as a stubborn hitter.

Malloy embraced the evaluation.

"I want to take those close pitches because that's what flips the count," Malloy said. "It's either going to make the count a 3-1 count or a 2-2 count. I'm going to take those coin-flip-type of pitches because if they go my way, I can start to do damage. If they don't go my way, that's baseball and you strike out."

The electronic strike zone was used for Triple-A games last season. In the challenge system, the home-plate umpire calls balls and strikes per usual, but each team starts the game with three challenges. Only the batter, catcher and pitcher can challenge calls.

Malloy impressed older teammates by winning his challenges.

"It's insane to see somebody have the at-bats that he's having," said 28-year-old infielder Zack Short, who has played in 177 MLB games. "We joke that we're having the ABS and the challenge system, and it's based off of him. Ask him if it's a strike or not."

Malloy even worked a walk in the All-Star Futures Game in July when he successfully challenged a down-and-in fastball in a 3-1 count that was incorrectly called a strike. His challenge overturned the call, and he jogged to first base.

"He takes pitches, and it's close, and it's a ball," said Short, now with the New York Mets. "If he takes it, it's a ball. He's 23 years old and he has at-bats like he's been around for 15 years. It's crazy."

He averaged 4.3 pitches per plate appearance throughout his third professional season, a testament to his advanced approach, while hitting 23 home runs and 25 doubles despite below-average contact rates, including an 78.4% in-zone contact rate.

Malloy hits home runs by capitalizing on pitcher mistakes in hitter-friendly counts.

He draws a lot of walks, but he also puts himself in a lot of two-strike counts because of his extreme patience. Too many two-strike counts leads to too many strikeouts by way of both swinging strikeouts and called strikeouts.

It's the only downside of Malloy's stubborn approach.

"I want to be able to have my zone and be able to stick to it," Malloy said. "It goes back to being super stubborn. I'm not leaving my zone. You might want me to leave, you might want me to chase, but I'm not leaving it. I think that's being stubborn, even more so being a competitor."

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'Trusting the route'

The Tigers acquired Malloy (and left-handed reliever Jake Higginbotham) from the Braves in December 2022. The Tigers traded away right-handed reliever Joe Jiménez, who posted a 3.04 ERA last season and re-signed with the Braves this offseason on a three-year, $26 million contract. At that time, the Tigers viewed Malloy as a third baseman and a corner outfielder.

He isn't in the mix at third base anymore.

The Tigers instructed Malloy to spend his entire offseason working on his outfield defense, so that's what he did. He even traveled to Miami, joined by teammates Andy Ibáñez and Akil Baddoo, for a week of outfield lessons from bench coach George Lombard.

"It's trusting the route," Malloy said. "I need to get my first step, and I need to get it fast, and I need to trust it. Not second guessing, just going out there and being an athlete. Trusting the route, getting back on balls, making the routine plays and letting my athleticism take over on balls that are elite plays."

In 2023, Malloy took the field for 60 games at third base (510 innings), 29 games in left field (254⅓ innings) and 15 games in right field (128 innings), plus 31 games as the designated hitter. He made 12 errors at third base, one error in left field and one error in right field.

The Tigers moved him off third base for the first time on the last day of May and kept him in the outfield for more than two months, signaling his future would be in the grass. He returned to third base for the final month of the season, but the Tigers determined he will be a corner outfielder moving forward.

Outfield defense was an offseason obsession.

"Every day, I'm out here shagging fly balls and making throws to bases," Malloy said. "I want to be a player that my pitchers can trust. The work isn't done. It'll never be done. It's something that I circle on my day, that we're going to do some defense and get better. That's been my mentality all offseason."

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The Tigers have six true outfielders in the mix to win a job on the Opening Day roster: Malloy, Baddoo, Mark Canha, Riley Greene, Kerry Carpenter and Parker Meadows. The good news for Malloy is the designated hitter spot is wide open for the first time in a long time, so his defense — if below average — could be hidden from getting exposed too often.

That's if the bat plays in spring training.

Malloy was one of the best hitters in Triple-A last season with an advanced approach, so unless the Tigers are planning to hold him back for service time reasons, he could already be well on his way to accomplishing his lifelong ambition.

"It's really a dream to even be in the conversation to be a part of the big-league team," Malloy said, "and I really do think it's attainable. That's a goal of mine."

Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him @EvanPetzold.

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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Tigers prospect Justyn-Henry Malloy knows glove is key to MLB