DETROIT — The Detroit Tigers clearly needed help at shortstop all season long, but hesitated to rush one o their two minor-league prospects to fill the gap.

Until now.

According to the Minor League Baseball (@MiLB) Twitter account, the Tigers have promoted Eugenio Suarez from Triple-A Toledo.

The Tigers have not yet announced the promotion, nor the corresponding move. [UPDATED: The Tigers recalled the contract of Suarez from Toledo, and designated Danny Worth for assignment.]

Suarez started the season at Double-A Erie, but was promoted to the team’s top farm club on May 21.

Suarez hit .284 in 42 games at Double-A Erie (.347 on-base percentage, .503 slugging percentage, .850 OPS) with 14 doubles and six home runs. He hit .302 (.404 OBP, .535 SLG, .939 OPS) with two home runs and four doubles in 12 games at Toledo.

DETROIT — No doubt about it, Corey Knebel is one of the Detroit Tigers’ hottest minor-league commodities.

But when the Tigers decided Thursday they were bringing him up, there was one snag: He was not yet on the 40-man roster.

The Tigers took care of that Friday, when they actually made the transaction, outrighting the contract of Francisco Martinez to Double-A Erie. Robbie Ray was sent to Triple-A Toledo after Thursday’s start to clear room on the active roster.

According to MLB.com’s preseason list, Knebel ranked as Detroit’s 16th-best prospect (Ray was No. 3). Martinez used to be perceived that well.

When he was included in the trade to bring Doug Fister to the Tigers from the Seattle Mariners, Martinez was ranked as the No. 4 prospect in the Detroit farm system. After a disappointing stint in the Mariners’ system, Martinez was sent back to Detroit in trade, after being designated for assignment last June.

The Tigers had to designate Quintin Berry for assignment to add Martinez to the 40-man at that time, and ended up losing him, before seeing him again in the playoffs with the Red Sox.

After hitting .295 with 13 doubles and three home runs with Hi-A Lakeland in his return to the Tigers’ system last season, Martinez is hitting .228 with one home run and five doubles in 37 games with Erie this year.

No matter the solution the Detroit Tigers have tried at shortstop this season, they’ve never acted like they were permanently married to it.

They traded a pair of players to acquire Andrew Romine and Alex Gonzalez, releasing the latter after just nine games. Danny Worth has gotten a shot — but not an endorsement.

And now — the same day that free-agent Stephen Drew re-signed with the Boston Red Sox — the next two who might get a chance to fill that gap for the Tigers might both be at Triple-A Toledo.

Eugenio Suarez was promoted after Tuesday’s game, going from Double-A Erie to the Mud Hens, where he’ll pair with Hernan Perez.

Manager Brad Ausmus told reporters he was “very satisfied” with the play of his current shortstops, despite the fact that the position had produced a combined batting average of .189, a slugging percentage of .220 and an OPS of .470.

Suarez went 3-for-5 in the Seawolves’ 7-6 loss Tuesday, driving in three runs, and hitting his 14th double. In 42 games, he hit .284, slugged .503 and posted an .850 OPS. Dixon Machado was sent to Erie in the corresponding move.

Worth got the nod over either Suarez or Perez when Gonzalez was released, primarily because the Tigers didn’t want to force either of them into a platoon situation.

“Hopefully this combination will help us, and we can continue to analyze our situation. We’ve got, again, two young guys that we’re just not quite ready to bring up and ready to let them play, but they’re playing very, very well for us,” Tigers general manager Dave Dombrowski said at the time.

“It gives them an opportunity to continue to play on day-in, day-out basis, which we think will benefit our organization in the long run.”

The long run may not be that far off, at this point.

DETROIT — Once the post-draft experiment with converting Corey Knebel to a starter was scrapped, you kind of had to expect that he was going to be a fast-riser through the Detroit Tigers’ system.

The former University of Texas closer, drafted by the Tigers in the sandwich round of last summer’s MLB Draft, was moved up to Triple-A Toledo after last night’s game for the Double-A Erie Seawolves.

Knebel, 22, had 15 saves for West Michigan in 31 games after last year’s draft, posting an 0.87 ERA, and striking out 41 in 31 innings. This year at Erie, he’s 3-0 with a 1.20 ERA in 11 appearances, striking out 23 and walking eight.