When former Detroit Tigers’ general manager, Al Avila, hired A.J. Hinch in November of 2020, the move felt like the real beginning of a new era. Somehow we’re now entering year five of his tenure as manager and Hinch is on his way to becoming a Detroit institution. Over four seasons, Hinch has been the lynchpin for the Tigers evolution from a fragile roster with a handful of good prospects and not much else to show for themselves, into one primed for both short and long-term success. It didn’t come fast and it didn’t come easy.
If we were to make a sweeping statement about the AL Central as spring camps get underway this week, it’s that there are four teams with pretty equal chances to win the division. The Chicago White Sox are obviously the odd man out here for the foreseeable future. The Tigers, Royals, Guardians, and Twins all look like 81-85 win teams to me. Someone will emerge from the dogfight, and probably at least one of those four teams will underperform, but suffice it to say it’s a very competitive AL Central division again this year without a true powerhouse that everyone has to chase down.
Unless some shocking trade from out of left field is about to drop, the Tigers as constructed are a competitive roster, but still flawed in a few areas. The left side of the infield is weak, and overall the infield defense isn’t shaping up well. They’re strong defensively at catcher but probably aren’t going to get a whole lot of offense out of the position. They have a lot of quality players but only a couple who are far above average.
They are going to be heavily dependent on younger players improving enough to outweigh any fall off of performance elsewhere. The addition of Jack Flaherty puts them in even better position to win with pitching and they certainly showed they could smother teams with pitching and outfield defense, and scratch out runs with timely hitting and smart baserunning last season. Still to really be a major threat in the division and the league in general, they have to score more runs in 2025. Winning tons of close games for eight weeks straight to snatch a surprise Wild Card berth as a rival implodes, is incredibly fun, but it’s a hard way to do business year to year.
A.J. Hinch showed just how much he could squeeze out of a roster with as many flaws as strengths in 2024. The partnership with Chris Fetter and the rest of the coaching staff provides an extra boost in the Tigers chances of returning to the postseason and trying to make another run this year. The offense needs to be more productive in just about every way this season to really give them a good chance to take down the division. But barring a really bad season in the injury department, they should have enough to stay in the divisional chase to the end.
It’s relatively easy now to be confident that the coaching staff can manage rough seas over the course of a six month major league campaign, and get them in a position to win the division coming into the final weeks of the season. It’s hard to ask more than that without adding another real impact player to the roster. Of course, we wouldn’t say no to a 35-5 start either, but the Tigers are at minimum in a far better place than they were in 2021 when Hinch took over.
In Hinch’s first year, Riley Greene and Spencer Torkelson were in their first full pro seasons in the minor leagues while Tarik Skubal, and Matt Manning struggled through their first full major league seasons. Casey Mize had a solid year, but his vaunted splitter was already proving ineffective at the major league level. The success of pitchers like Wily Peralta and Tyler Alexander was the first inkling that Chris Fetter was going to do well in Detroit, while the last vestiges of the Ron Gardenhire years faded away with players like Buck Farmer and Niko Goodrum.
This was the season of a surprising run by Drew Hutchison, and Michael Fulmer’s transition to the bullpen. It was also the scene of Al Avila’s best trade, as he flipped a struggling Daniel Norris to the Milwaukee Brewers for pitching prospect Reese Olson. Heck of a trade there. You could call that one downright Dombrowskian, if on a little smaller scale.
In terms of position players, Akil Baddoo’s exciting debut would sadly prove the high water mark for him, while the Tigers offense was led by Jonathan Schoop, Jeimer Candelario, Robbie Grossman, and a breakout season for veteran minor league catcher Eric Haase. Meanwhile, a modest 15 home run campaign from Miguel Cabrera served final notice that we weren’t going to get a late career resurgence from the all-time great.
2021 was also the first year that we saw the pattern of a solid start and then a deep swoon in late May and through June. We also got the second part of the “Hinch pattern” as the Tigers pulled themselves together, developed solutions, and then went on to finish with a better than .500 record in the second half. That ability to improve a flawed roster throughout development and creative managing has been a consistent theme in Hinch’s time in Detroit. So too the communication skills to get players to buy in despite the versatility and selflessness in terms of playing time that Hinch demands.
One of the biggest changes that season was the long overdue removal of Dave Littlefield as player development chief. Hinch was part of the search that identified fellow Stanford grad, Ryan Garko, as the man to build up the Tigers’ moribund player development system. From that point to the present things have improved radically in that department.
The pressure to start turning things around after four and a half years of a stalled rebuilding effort finally pushed Avila to start spending in the 2021-2022 offseason. That effort was a failure. After coming up short in pursuing Carlos Correa, the Tigers pivoted to Javier Báez with miserable results. Eduardo Rodriguez disappeared for much of the season as things fell apart, and a year later in 2023 Scott Harris was just happy to be rid of his contract. Between that and the disastrous, if largely unlucky, trade of Isaac Paredes for Austin Meadows, the 2022 season marked a final low point organizationally for Al Avila. When Avila was fired later that year, it came out that Hinch and assistant GM Sam Menzin had functioned as a decision-making triumvirate throughout the season, with Avila’s power already limited by ownership.
Hinch then played a role in the hunt for Avila’s successor, flipping the typical power dynamic of manager and front office leadership. It was Hinch who became the Ilitch family’s spokesman during that period, and Hinch beside Scott Harris when he was hired and introduced to the media as the Tigers’ new president of baseball operations.
The partnership with Scott Harris has so far been pretty successful, and the two seem to have forged a good relationship. Indeed, most major announcements for the Tigers now feature Harris and Hinch fielding questions and making statements to the media. The banter and the underlying sense of thousands of ongoing baseball debates proceeding between them makes them feel like a well matched pair. And finally in 2024, they were able to really celebrate a truly successful season.
Throughout Hinch’s tenure we’ve seen the contrast between Hinch’s analytical nature and his outstanding feel for both the game and for the more subtle arts of a baseball manager in terms of managing the media and messaging to the fanbase. Think of the way he managed Miguel Cabrera’s final season and the touch for the moment Hinch displayed there. Or the way he steered his young players through the stretch drive and their first postseason, keeping his team focused while still taking time to soak in the moment with his young players. He was quotable when it suited the moment, but he also showed a light touch in allowing the team’s culture to develop organically from within.
Contrast that with the mix of creativity and calculation behind his decision making and coaching style. The ability to keep the players working on the fundamental elements of the game. The understanding of matchups that allowed he and Fetter to guide the pitching staff through a litany of injuries while getting league leading results in many categories. Or the deft use of pinch-hitters and platoon advantages to squeeze every bit of offense from a young team without much established talent. To be capable of all that, showing a ton of feel for combining the old school and the new, is a pretty impressive combination.
When Hinch was hired, there was plenty of understandable concern about his character and ability in the wake of his one year suspension for the Houston Astros sign-stealing scandal. In fact, as those who followed the Astros understood, the Tigers were absolutely handed a gift when Hinch became available. Not only did they land a talented manager, they got one with plenty of scouting and player development experience who understands the game from the front office and ownership levels all the way down to developing teenaged players in rookie ball and everything in between. Add in his interpersonal and media skills and the intense desire to rebuild his legacy in the game, and they couldn’t have found a better man for the job.
Finally, after years of concerted effort the Tigers are in a position where they know they can win in October. The offseason turned out to be a little underwhelming, but the offense should be improved by the addition of Gleyber Torres. The pitching staff looks strong. A young roster gives realistic hopes for improvement from a lot of players. With a little luck and continued good leadership from Hinch and his staff, they have a chance to build on their 2024 run and take the next step in 2025.