Isaac Paredes’s fall-off is detrimental for his future with Detroit Tigers

As Spring Training winds down, the Detroit Tigers are putting the finishing touches on their roster for the 2022 season. One of the names that will likely be absent from their 26-man roster is Isaac Paredes, who has not lived up to the expectations.

The Detroit Tigers traded for Isaac Paredes in the Alex Avila and Justin Wilson trade with the Chicago Cubs. He was the second part of the package that brought infielder Jeimer Candelario to the organization.

The former prospect shortstop has bounced around and is yet to find a home that seemingly works for him on the field, though versatility is not the worst thing. Paredes is likely to start the season in Toledo and will be nothing more than a depth infielder and someone who gets trapped due to roster constraints.

Paredes not being able to make the 2022 roster is likely going to be detrimental to his future with the Tigers. He is on the team’s 40-man roster but could become trade bait if the opportunity presents itself.

Paredes is yet to show his stuff in the big leagues, and the Tigers have to be running low on opportunities for him now that Spencer Torkelson is knocking on the door and Jeimer Candelario has solidified a first base/third base role with the team.

Detroit Tigers prospect Isaac Paredes’s struggles are concerning.

There was a lot of hype surrounding Paredes when he was acquired, and over time that has slowly not panned out the way many would have hoped. Paredes has fallen off a bit when it comes to the hype train around him and it’s hard to think he’s much more than a trade asset anymore.

He saw the field in 2020 and 2021 for the Tigers at the big league level. In the COVID-19 shortened season, he was a part of the monumental call-up that brought Casey Mize and Tarik Skubal to the big leagues.

However, Paredes would play in 34 games in 2020, where he logged 108 plate appearances, hitting .220/.278/.290 with plenty of room for improvement. There was some hope that Paredes was going to end up showing some breakout performance in 2021, but that was not the case.

Paredes would play in 23 games last summer, totaling 85 plate appearances, where he slashed .208/.306/.319 for the Tigers. It was a bit of a step back from his first big-league performance, which was not exactly super exciting either.

For the Tigers, the fall-off has to be concerning. Given that his performance was not super exciting or worthy of a big-league spot, there must be a concern that he will be unable to live up to the expectations.

The fall-off of Paredes might even mean that the team begins exploring trade opportunities for Paredes. The lack of performance is on Paredes, but the roster jamming him certainly does not make it any easier on him.

But as the team heads into 2022, the Tigers have to think that Paredes’s fall-off will be detrimental to his future with the organization.