SARASOTA, Fla. — The Detroit Tigers are keeping multiple avenues open for infield prospect Jace Jung, the No. 12 overall pick in the 2022 draft, to contribute at the highest level.

For Jung, that means second base and third base.

Second base appears to be Colt Keith's long-term home on defense, which is why Jung has played more third base than second base throughout his nine games in spring training. The Tigers have prioritized Jung's development at third base for the past four months.

Make no mistake, Jung remains a developing third baseman and an above-average second baseman. Manager A.J. Hinch explained the reasoning for the way he has used Jung on defense in spring games, and recently, that's been more at second base than third base.

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"The reason is that we have a lot of guys that I'm trying to get at third base who are factoring in faster than Jace is," Hinch said, "but he's getting work every day at both positions."

Look no further than Thursday's game against the Toronto Blue Jays for an example. Jung played a complete game and stepped to the plate four times, all while bouncing between two positions on defense.

He started at second base, then switched to third base.

In the ninth inning, Jung — a left-handed hitter — launched a 404-foot solo home run to right-center field off a 95.4 mph fastball from Blue Jays right-handed reliever Hagen Danner. The opportunity for multiple at-bats on offense, especially at this point in spring games, is more important than a few extra innings at third base.

"As I told Jace, that doesn't mean he can't play one or the other," Hinch said, "but he sure would like two shots at getting called up at some point than just one position."

This spring, Jung has played 27 innings at third base and 16 innings at second base. He also owns a .357 batting average with three walks and three strikeouts across 19 plate appearances.

On defense, he hasn't made an error yet.

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The Tigers sent Jung to the Arizona Fall League after last year's regular season to begin his education of third base in a low-stress environment. The lessons have continued with infield coach Joey Cora in spring training workouts.

In 2023, Jung won the minor-league Gold Glove, awarded by Rawlings, for his work at second base with High-A West Michigan and Double-A Erie. The 23-year-old also hit .265 with 28 home runs, 79 walks and 139 strikeouts across 128 games.

Jung received most of his innings at third base during the first week of games, but with Opening Day less than three weeks away, he is now receiving most of his innings at second base. That's simply because the Tigers need to play their potential big leaguers at the hot corner: Gio Urshela, Matt Vierling, Andy Ibáñez and Zach McKinstry, as well as Buddy Kennedy.

"As the spring goes, you see less and less of that because the bottleneck toward the season starts to shrink," Hinch said, "and we got to play the guys who are competing for a job."

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Soon, the Tigers will reassign Jung to minor-league spring training.

He will continue to play both positions.

"It's been really fun to show up every day and be with these guys and get to know a bunch of these big leaguers," Jung said. "I look forward to keep growing. I'll keep picking their minds about stuff, the hitting coaches, the fielding coaches. I'm trying to get better every day with these guys."

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

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Why Detroit Tigers' Jace Jung is still getting second base reps