Detroit Tigers Manager AJ Hinch joins Jim and Jon to answer when Tarik Skubal will pitch in the ALDS vs. the Cleveland Guardians, answer why the Tigers are more than a "hot" team, and more!
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00:00But we got a chance now to check in with the Tiger manager, AJ Hinch.
00:04Let's do it.
00:05Listen, if it's October and we're talking to AJ Hinch, it means one thing, someone let
00:08the Tigers get hot.
00:09AJ, good morning.
00:10Good morning.
00:11It's nice to, believe it or not, it's nice to talk to you guys.
00:15I'm glad we're still playing.
00:17We're super excited that you're still playing.
00:19And I want to ask you this because obviously we get a chance to see when you clinch a playoff
00:25spot or you beat the Astros, you know, the cameras are in the locker room.
00:32Do you have the direction that you want to go if it happens pre-planned?
00:37Because you're so good at the post-game.
00:40The one-liners?
00:41Yeah, the one-liners.
00:42Like, are those pre-planned?
00:43At least a little bit?
00:45I mean, a little of the theme of this team.
00:47I mean, if you look at our group, you know, I just, we're all in it together.
00:52And so I do know our team.
00:53I know it resonates with them.
00:56Obviously, there's some things that go on behind closed doors that you guys may not
00:59know about that I know will strike, you know, an emotion with our group.
01:04But, you know, it's kind of an out-of-body experience when you're in that moment because
01:10you do want to nail it.
01:11You want your team to go and especially this group.
01:15We have so many guys doing this for the first time and, you know, to be able to show, you
01:22know, this group, you know, how fun it can be in October is awesome.
01:26So there's some themes on our team.
01:27I mean, obviously, our, you know, the type of team we want to be, whether it's the, you
01:33know, Jake Rodgers quote of, don't let the Tigers get hot.
01:36I mean, those are all fun team things that we talk about a ton and you always want to
01:40bring it back to what got us here.
01:42But you guys are more than just a hot team.
01:44Like, we've reached that point now where, like, this is a good team.
01:46What makes this team so good?
01:48Yeah, I'm really glad you said that because I have to fight that sometimes when I'm
01:53at the podium.
01:54And this is not just a good stretch.
01:55I mean, we are, we have, we have shown that over the, over a couple months that we are,
02:00you know, we're pretty tested.
02:01We're, you know, we're pretty resilient.
02:03Obviously, we have a lot of guys that contribute.
02:06We are the true definition of a team and, and we do find a way.
02:09I mean, I don't know what it is about late games with this team.
02:12And I, trust me, I don't want to lose the lead and all of a sudden have to come back
02:17against these monster bullpens.
02:19But there's something about this team that, that, that allows us to stay grounded and
02:24in the moment and we will, we will fight to the end and, and we find a way and it's always
02:28somebody a little bit different.
02:30It doesn't have to be the middle of the order batter.
02:32It doesn't have to be, you know, Tarek Scruble as our, as our ace pitcher.
02:37It's a lot of guys doing a lot of good things.
02:39And, and I think the fact that we've played so many close games makes us comfortable,
02:45you know, in the stress events of, of these close games.
02:48This is one where it's good, it's hard to quantify, but how much does confidence play
02:53a factor into the success of this team, especially in the post-season when you see Parker Meadows
02:59get up there and rip a home run and then Andy Abana's get up there and take some really
03:04good swings.
03:05It's just there.
03:06They're so aggressive at the plate right now.
03:07So aggressive on the base pass.
03:09How much does confidence play into that aggressive mindset?
03:13Yeah, I think it's a combination of confidence and fearlessness.
03:17I mean, we, we are not afraid.
03:18We did not play great.
03:19I mean, we played really well, but we did, we, we made a lot of mistakes.
03:23We butchered an inning with, with Parker on first with the Parker bunt that went right
03:28to Bregman and, and then Parker gets picked off and we ran into an out at second base,
03:32but we have to have a sense of fearlessness so that the aggressiveness comes out and you
03:37see Jake Rogers go first to third, which ended up being a key play, or you see Parker Meadows
03:43beating out a double play.
03:44And then all of a sudden we get three singles and score in game one against Houston.
03:48So I think confidence grows.
03:50Experience matters.
03:51I tried to downplay it because I didn't know how our guys were going to, you know, we're
03:56going to react in the first playoff game.
03:58But I, one thing that my staff and I have tried to instill in these guys is we've been
04:02playing playoff baseball for two months.
04:04Our backs were against the wall from the beginning of August.
04:07And we, you know, I don't want to say desperate because that sounds like a too dramatic of
04:11a word, but we've been playing all hands on deck for the better part of two months.
04:15And then, and so I, we don't have to play any different now.
04:18We've been doing this as our style of play, you know, for the better part of two months.
04:23So our players are bought in, they're all in.
04:28You know, I almost hit for torque the other day.
04:30He was going to be on the top step, but then he goes up and draws a walk and Andy comes
04:33off and, and McKinstry's not pouting.
04:37Our team dynamic is second to none.
04:39That's the voice of Tiger manager, AJ Hinch this morning, moving on to the ALDS school
04:44bowl game two on regular rest.
04:46What's the plan with him?
04:47Yeah.
04:48It's Eric will pitch game two.
04:51You know, I'm going to talk to, to fat.
04:53We have a staff meeting this morning at the hotel.
04:55We've worked out later today.
04:57We've got to set the pitching.
04:58We're still trying to decide, are we going to go with 13 pitchers or 12?
05:02We carried 12 in the, in the three game series.
05:05The off days are really on our side when it comes to how we're using our pitching.
05:10There's an off day tomorrow.
05:11I'm sorry.
05:12Today, there's an off day after tomorrow, there's an off day at home.
05:16So there's, there's only one, one set of two games we played back to back in a five game
05:20series.
05:21So we were still considering 12 pitchers.
05:23Tarek obviously will pitch the second game.
05:27And then you do the math and lines them up for a game five, if that's necessary.
05:31So, you know, we're still sorting through what game one is going to look like.
05:37I mean, it kind of feels weird if we go with Olsen to start, we'll have back-to-back regular
05:41starters.
05:42I don't know if we can handle that.
05:43Is that allowed?
05:44I know exactly.
05:45I think it is allowed, but we might do it, but I, we also, I love opening the game with
05:51Tyler Holton too.
05:52So we were, we're considering a couple of different options, but it's fun to, it's fun
05:56to have to map it out.
05:58One of the discussion points that came out of that, that, that, that win, the second
06:02win against the Astros was the use of Jackson Jobe.
06:06What went into the decision to use him in that moment?
06:10And then how do you think he handled the situation?
06:14So I want, I went to him for a couple of reasons.
06:17One, I love his stuff and I think he can be a very big weapon in October.
06:23And obviously he's going to be a high end starter for us moving forward.
06:26I, going into next year, but I think, I think his, where we were at in the order, the way
06:31we were using our pitching, you know, I needed some sort of bridge to get to the back end
06:36of the game.
06:37And we were at the bottom of the order.
06:39He has a ton of weapons for left-handed hitters that led off with Caratini with a 92 mile
06:44an hour cutter.
06:45It clips his Jersey.
06:46And then, you know, the soft single that Pena fights off.
06:50We don't play the bunt.
06:52You know, he ends up hitting a soft ground ball, torque does the ball in the dirt.
06:56You know, the fly ball to Bierling and all of a sudden it looked like a way worse ending
07:00than it actually was.
07:01He's a really good pitcher.
07:02I have a ton of confidence in him.
07:04I thought he handled it great.
07:05I told him after the game, the fact that he came back and made nasty pitches to Singleton
07:10and Altuve shows me that he can handle this moment.
07:14So I know when it doesn't work out, there's all, I mean, I know October, man, every, everything
07:18is questioned.
07:19Everything is, everybody's curious about it, but we needed nine outs.
07:24And if you look at Will Vest getting a portion of those, I was trying to get the bridge to
07:29be able to, and Gunther, I thought was going to get Tucker and Alvarez at some point.
07:34So those aren't guaranteed outs either.
07:36So the volume of outs drove me to either Jackson or Casey or Ty went with the stuff and, and
07:44just kind of got nickel and dimed.
07:45So I'm glad he got the experience now, obviously we won, so everybody can breathe a little
07:49bit easier, but I thought he handled it great.
07:53You mentioned something earlier.
07:54I don't want to gloss over it that you said home games, home playoff baseball next week
07:58at Comerica Park.
07:59It's something that you've talked about maybe in a broader sense, since you took over here,
08:03what's it going to mean to have a home playoff game at Comerica Park?
08:06It's going to be incredible.
08:07And I know, you know, I know tickets are hard to come by.
08:10I know that the fan base is, is ready to go and, and, and we've seen it, you know, when
08:15we, the clenching night, I think was one of the most special nights for our team.
08:19It was packed house.
08:20It's home game.
08:21It was Friday night.
08:22And I know it's going to be even better for a home playoff game.
08:25So this city and this fan base has waited a long time for a team to be proud of.
08:30And we've earned our way back to, to have an October baseball in Detroit at Comerica.
08:36It's going to be rocking and hopefully, you know, we need to get a winner or two here
08:39in Cleveland and come back with an even bigger home field advantage, you know, with our,
08:44with our people coming out.
08:45I noticed you gave a little love to Jared Goff the other day with, as Jared Goff says,
08:49let's go Tigers.
08:51Yeah.
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