UNLOCKING PLAYER POTENTIAL

by Holly Horning

Ever since Scott Harris was hired after the 2022 season, we’ve been watching the Tigers evolve as an organization.

The franchise went through a much-needed modernization while multiple entire departments were also broomed.  The ineffective farm system was blown up, re-invented and re-organized.  Rosters at every stage of development were edited.

There has been much discussion about what was done at all these levels.  Except for one.

The Tigers’ MLB coaching staff.

And it’s a worthy discussion as we sit and watch what is going on in spring training.  A. J. Hinch’s coaches are front and center.

But to understand just how dramatically the coaching staff has change, we need to revisit what passed for a coaching staff from the earlier years.

First of all, until Hinch came along, the Tigers had only 5 coaches (bench, hitting, pitching, 1B and 3B).  Six if you count the bullpen coach who had minor responsibilities.

And most of them rotated their coaching positions – holding down several different positions during their tenure. It wasn’t unusual for 1 to man 1B and then become the hitting coach the following season.

Today? 

There are 11 of them.  More than double what the Tigers used to have.

But these guys are all specialists.  No more expectations that the 3B coach is going to be the bench coach the next year. The jobs are not interchangeable.

And gone are the expectations that a single coach can handle an entire roster of hitters – or pitchers.  There are 3 hitting coaches, 3 pitching coaches and the new catching coach.  Even George Lombard, the bench coach, has company in the dugout with Gary Jones.

The other huge difference we’re seeing in the coaches is their ages.

Gene Lamont was in his 60’s and 70’s when he handled 3B and bench coach.  Lloyd McClendon was in his 60’s.

Their successor, George Lombard, is in his mid-40’s.

Hitting coach Joe Vavra was in his early 60’s.  Keith Beauregard is 40 and Michael Brdar is 29.

Pitching coach Jeff Jones was 59 when he was with the Tigers.  Rich Dubee was 60 and Rick Anderson was in his mid-60’s.

Today’s pitching coach, Chris Fetter, is 36.  Robin Lund, with a full professor’s experience, is 51.

The Tigers’ youngest base coach was Omar Vizquel at 50.  The oldest were Lamont (early 70’s), McClendon (early 60’s), Tom Brookens (60) and Dave Clark (58).

Their replacements, Anthony Iapoce is 50 and Joey Cora is 58.

As for Cora, you’d never know he was in his 50’s.  He is the Tigers’ highest octane coach.

The man is literally everywhere.  Out early in the morning running fielding drills with young players before the day even starts and spending afternoons putting players through defensive exercises. 

One of his highly-inventive exercises got the attention of the media. Video of him jumping up and down in front of pitchers waving a baseball bat in an attempt to get them to hone their pickoff skills.

Did anyone ever see Lloyd McClendon in the outfield working with players?  Or even Gene Lamont showing he was capable of physical movement?

Yeah, me neither.

And when he not running the daily drills, Cora is relentlessly pushing players like Jace Jung to make the roster this year.

He’s got his fingers into every part of the Tigers’ spring training program.

But Cora is just 1 example of what is going on with this coaching staff.

Unlike past ones, these guys are all very active on the field. And all day long, too.  They’re not sitting on the dugout steps watching the action or yelling instructions.

They are physically part of the action.

Like Cora, George Lombard is in the outfield working extensively with players on their defensive skills.  He is credited with the improvement we are seeing with Kerry Carpenter and others.

And unlike past years, all of these coaches travel extensively throughout the off-season.  They don’t go home and spend months not talking to the players unlike the previous coaching staffs.

They are talking with their players on a weekly basis.  They are traveling from region to region, holding small group training sessions for weeks at a time.  One coach bragged that his workouts go 5 days/week, each lasting for a full day.

I mention all of this not with a focus on the huge age difference.  Rather it’s a focus on energy and hands-on involvement that the new group brings.

It’s all about the value added by these new coaches.

Becasue it’s one thing to tell players what to do.  It’s entirely different when you are out there with them showing them what to do.  And keeping them motivated.

When you have a system that is full of energized coaches, your players pick up on that and mirror them.

And when your coaches also have specialized backgrounds, instead of just having played the game on their resumes, you get more quantifiable results.

Likewise, when you have a younger staff, they have the most updated information to share with players.  And most of them have official credentials which require regular updating via training.

We can’t overlook this aspect of the Tigers’ rebuilding process although it is easy to do so.  Coaches remain in the background and we only see just how much they really contribute when the doors are open during spring training.

But they are one of the most crucial parts of this organization right now.  There are a number of Tigers who got most of their player development under the old system which has been deemed to be an incomplete and ineffective one.  They are being brought up to speed.

Plate discipline and defensive skills are now being emphasized. So is pitching form which created a number of injuries in the past and necessitated the hiring of Robin Lund.

The roster the Tigers currently have is not a stagnant one.  It is still very pliable.  Some of these players will show marked improvement unlike past years.

And that’s why the Tigers have now invested in quality coaching.  The days of hiring older retired buddies is officially over. It’s now about what you know instead of who you know.

Today’s game belongs to the go-getters who have specific training and clear visions about their work.

We may not hear from them publicly (and it is SOP to have only 1 spokesperson in an organization) but that doesn’t mean they aren’t 100% invested in coaching their players during the season as well as 365 days a year.

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