Josue Briceno is not going to be the Detroit Tigers‘ Opening Day first baseman in 2027. He is the most interesting name standing behind the two players who will compete for the job, and the distance between a spring training look and real at-bats in Detroit comes down to what the Tigers do with Spencer Torkelson this winter.
Briceno is the fourth-ranked prospect in the Tigers organization, and he is a catcher by trade. That is what makes a first base conversation necessary in the first place: Dillon Dingler has the job behind the plate, so the at-bats Briceno needs have to come from somewhere else on the diamond.
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Writing for Detroit Tigers On SI, Dominic Minchella put Briceno in the 2027 first base mix for exactly that reason, and sees him in Detroit by early summer:
“With Dillon Dingler and Eduardo Valencia likely the catching duo in 2027, Briceño could spend time at first base, competing with Spencer Torkelson or Colt Keith. Briceño’s power, having hit 20 home runs in 2025, is needed in the Detroit lineup, and it’s one the front office can’t put off any longer.
Briceño reached the Triple-A level at the end of 2026 but struggled, hitting .197 at the plate with 10 hits to 19 strikeouts. If Briceño starts the season in the minors, it wouldn’t be surprising, but once he proves he’s reached his minor league ceiling, the Tigers better be ready for him on the MLB roster.”
Two things are in the way, and only one of them can realistically move. Colt Keith is signed: his six-year extension guarantees him $28.6 million through 2029, pays him $4 million in 2027, and carries club options into 2032. Detroit is not clearing a roster spot there.
Torkelson is the decision. He played out a one-year, $4.08 million deal in 2026 and is arbitration eligible again for 2027, with free agency not arriving until 2029. MLB Trade Rumors projects that raise at $7.7 million, a number Detroit has to decide whether it wants to pay for a first baseman who hit .230 with 26 home runs, 77 RBIs and a .331 on-base percentage over 159 games this past season.
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So the job opens one of three ways. The Tigers trade Torkelson, they decline to tender him that salary, or he keeps it and Briceno waits for the first cold month. Nothing about a spring training look changes that math.
The other half of this is on Briceno. He played 42 games across four levels in 2026, batting .250 with nine home runs, 29 RBIs and a .349 on-base percentage. The Double-A stretch was the good part, eight of those home runs in 17 games at Erie. Toledo was not: 15 games, a .196 average, no home runs.
That is a small sample, not a verdict, and it is also the reason Briceno almost certainly opens 2027 with the Mud Hens rather than in Detroit. Minchella’s timeline has him up in late May or early June. If the bat that produced 20 home runs in 2025 shows up in Toledo, the Tigers will have a decision to make at first base whether they planned on one or not.
