FIVE FOR FRIDAY

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by Holly Horning

Now that Scott Harris and some of A. J. Hinch’s coaches have a year of experience with the Tigers under their belts, now is the time to start looking at this team to see if any fundamental changes have been made.

Changes that are different than their previous m.o. . And yes, there are, including some noticeable ones.

Without further adieu, here are the 5 most prominent and positive changes I am seeing.

1. BULLPEN -Remember when the Tigers didn’t know what a bullpen was and then believed they had one headed by a 40-year old as their closer?  Their bullpen is ranked #1 with a minuscule 1.76 ERA (through Wednesday).  No other team is even close.  They even have the best WHIP at 1.01. Teams are hitting under .200 against them which is also the lowest in the league.  And it’s this bullpen that is keeping them in games despite their uncertain offense.

2. CLOSE GAMES – In 15 games (through Wednesday) so far this season, the final scores were decided by 1 run in one-third of those games.  They’ve won 8 of 10 victories by 1 run or via extra innings.

3. COME FROM BEHIND – In the past, the Tigers would score early and then their bats would be silenced for the rest of the game.  Now, Detroit is consistently scoring in the late innings after trailing.  Half of their wins were come-from-behind ones earned late in games.

4. DEFENSE – The Tigers have moved all the way to the top, ranking #1 (through Wednesday) for best overall defense.  Separately, they are consistently ranking in the top 3 for most defensive categories.  They were just around league average last year but ranked near the bottom for many years from 2000 through 2021.

5. PLAYING CHESS – In the past, there was a standard formula used by the last 3 managers in the late innings.  A. J. Hinch is now planning his strategy innings in advance and surprising opponents with moves they didn’t expect.  He forces opponents to bring in a certain reliever and then creates an ultimate match up that ends up negating or weakening the opponent’s move.  He’ll also pull one of his better hitters for another player who has a better track record against the opposing pitcher.  Hinch has essentially created a chess vs checkers strategy that creates pitcher/batter match-ups favoring the Tigers and hamstringing the opponent.

Is there another positive change in how this roster is functioning that you’ve witnessed?

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11 thoughts on “FIVE FOR FRIDAY”

  1. No serious injuries so far. Perhaps better training/conditioning/nutrition is responsible. This from a guy who can pull a muscle when he coughs. 😉

    Liked by 9 people

    • McWatt, I was at Dow Diamond for the Caps and Loons tonight and observed warm up. The Whitecaps went through an entire set of calisthenics before most of the Loons were out warming up. Then after these calisthenics they went through all their normal warm-ups.

      Liked by 6 people

  2. Holly our Momager, your 5 are spot on and are what excites me about this young team which has a bought-in culture very visible in their play. All 13 are prepared for their roles every day and become viable chess pieces for AJ. Also, the way he is using his bullpen that has five viable closers, (Foley, Miller, Chafin, Holton and Lange), is strategic and being played when the situation calls.

    Liked by 4 people

  4. Alex Faedo has a WHIP of 0.95, and Matt Manning has a WHIP of 0.89. That’s another positive thing about this roster. Two former first-round draft picks might be establishing themselves as reliable members of the roster long-term.

    Liked by 6 people

    • Good point, andy… and another first rounder, Casey Mize (WHIP 1.17), is finally showing that he too may be a contributor.  Let’s hope all 3 can stay healthy.

      Liked by 2 people

  5. Sparky always said he only figured in 1 run games, so Hinch is looking good right now. The pitching has been really good other than Maeda and maybe the bats will warm up. But you can’t sustain not scoring until the 8th all season and think over 162 games you can win 64 games that way.

    Liked by 8 people

  6. what I like is for a while now people were complaining AJ was an overrated analytical bean counter has been who never was. Now with a young under talented team that is more to his style many are seeing him as ‘thee old Astro’s genius chess player.’ As an old psychology academic baseball player spitting a wad of chew I’m sure he’d say ‘you gotta luv’ human nature!’

    Liked by 2 people

  8. With end-of-game strategy working for the Tigers and after starting 5-0, why are they 5-9 since then? The largest factor could be defense, in other words, fielding errors. Let’s hope the recent rash of errors is worked out of the team’s system, and they resume progress toward competitivity, .500+.

    Liked by 2 people

  9. With a previous manager, we often heard the glass is half empty sentiment/shoulders shrugged… “that’s baseball”. So far with this season’s team… “THAT’S BASEBALL!”. There’s still a ways to go, put you have to like the positive trends the team (and organization) is showing. It’s a nice feeling as a fan to observe the players’ energy and AJ’s strategy.

    Liked by 1 person

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