By CURTIS ROCKWELL/Sports Director

The American League Division Series between Detroit and Seattle will be decided Friday night as a pair of All-Star pitchers face one another in a do-or-die fifth game finale.
But in addition to Mariners starter George Kirby and Tigers Cy Young Award winner Tarik Skubal, a Detroit infielder with heavy ties to The Mississippi Gulf Coast hopes to have a key role in the big game as well.
Biloxi’s Colt Keith has started in the infield for most of the season for the Tigers. Keith hit .256 with 13 home runs, 48 walks and 102 strikeouts across 137 games in the regular season. He started 32 games at third base, 21 at second base and 17 at first base, along with 43 as the designated hitter.

He ended the regular season on the Injured List, but made Detroit’s postseason roster for both the current ALDS affair with Seattle after sitting out the AL Wild Card Series win over Cleveland.

“It’s been horrible having to watch from the couch,” Keith told reporters. “I always want to go out there and help the team win.”
And he did just that. He was immediately inserted into the starting line-up at DH for game one against the Mariners in Seattle and Keith proceeded to deliver a hit in in his first at bat in a 3-2 win in 11 innings.
Detroit staved off elimination Wednesday with a big 9-3 win at home to force the decisive game five Friday night.

For now, he is confined to designated hitter.

“I’m able to field and throw,” Keith said. “The risk of me going out there and diving or taking a weird ground ball and re-aggravating it — it’s just a little too high. The way I can help the team right now is in the box.”
Keith ended his prep career at Biloxi High after transferring in from Arizona. As a junior in 2019, he quickly established himself as the one of the best young prospects in the state of Mississippi. He was named the state’s Gatorade Player of the Year for 2019, hitting .527, with eight homers and 49 RBIs as a third baseman. He also developed into quite the right-handed relief pitcher, going 6-0 with a 1.47 ERA and five saves in 16 appearances. In 38 innings, he struck out 74 and walked nine.
After his senior season was cut short by the Covid pandemic in the Spring of 2020, the Tigers selected him with the first selection of the fifth round in the Major League Baseball Amateur Draft— the 132nd overall pick.