Detroit Tigers Manager A.J. Hinch joins Costa and Jansen to discuss spring training and preview the upcoming season.
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00:00A.J. Hinch joins us from down in Lakeland, sunny Lakeland, while we have a snowstorm
00:06here, A.J.
00:07Good morning.
00:08Good morning.
00:09The weather the last couple of weeks, it probably made you guys want baseball season to get
00:12here faster, I hope.
00:14Yeah.
00:15Oh, absolutely.
00:16Can't wait to see the green grass when you guys take the field on the 22nd for that first
00:19game.
00:20It always gives me the hope that spring is right around the corner.
00:24That's right.
00:25Some long winters, I know.
00:26I've been to Detroit a few times.
00:28This winter, and still try to make some regular appearances, you know, in and around the park
00:33or at my house in Detroit, but, you know, we're down here in 90-degree weather.
00:39I probably shouldn't complain about how hot the first workout was.
00:42Yes, yes.
00:43Dehydrated, are you?
00:44Yeah.
00:45You know, I had to get some sunscreen.
00:46I needed to make sure and find some shade and had to be careful because Scooble was
00:50throwing like 96 mile an hour on the first day, and he looks ready to go.
00:55You sound like you're in good spirits.
00:56Obviously, last year, playoffs, and now you guys add Flaherty back and Torres.
01:01Just what's your outlook as you guys get set for this season?
01:03Yeah.
01:04No, I'm excited about this team, and a lot of it does have to do with, you know, the
01:10finish last year.
01:11I mean, I didn't like losing the last game that we played, but I'm just really enthusiastic
01:16about where we're headed and the foundation that was built.
01:19I mean, I'm balancing that with like, hey, don't look in the rearview mirror too much.
01:24We don't want to live in the past.
01:27You know, it's a different team.
01:28There's a few different names.
01:29I did joke with Flaherty that I'm not sure whether to put him in the returnee category
01:34or the new faces category, but we're going to put him in both and had some fun with him
01:39introducing him to Lorenzo the other day, and we'll see him throw live BP to him at
01:43some point.
01:44And I just think, you know, there's a lot of work going on that is worth being excited
01:50about, and then the reality check will hit when we start playing these games and getting
01:54this team ready for a new season.
01:56You know, the challenge ahead is a grind of 162 games, and so, you know, it's always great
02:02when you get down to camp and see the boys, you know, all together for the first time.
02:07Our whole camp is almost here, and so I think that's what brings some enthusiasm around
02:13our team.
02:14I know you don't see a lot of the guys throughout the course of the offseason, but the way that
02:20the season ended and the amazing run that you guys put together.
02:23You mentioned the last game, the impact that that had on you guys.
02:27How much did you see that motivate and fuel the guys in the offseason?
02:31Yeah, I think, first off, I think it galvanizes the team.
02:35I mean, I think when you look across sports, I mean, you see what the Pistons are doing
02:38right now, what the Lions have done, what we've done, you know, those shared experiences
02:44are awesome.
02:45I mean, we celebrated together a couple times, once in Detroit when we clinched, you know,
02:51once in Houston when we swept that series, and those experiences, I mean, that matters,
02:56and it really brings the team together, and then now we return that entire team.
03:00We add to it with a few names, and, you know, we try to capture that same togetherness that
03:06comes with winning.
03:07So, you know, I think from the offseason standpoint, the messaging has been the same.
03:12Like two years ago, three years ago, this is my fifth season, we've been pounding these
03:17guys about you got to get, you got to find ways to get better, and here's some paths
03:21to do it.
03:22And so, you know, Fett going to Oklahoma and seeing Jackson Jobe, or Robin Lund going down
03:27and seeing, you know, the group that's in Phoenix, or Michael Bedard traveled all over
03:32this offseason.
03:34We had the group in Detroit, I flew up and got to see a lot of the position players.
03:39You know, we're just going to keep chipping away at the development that's needed for
03:43us to continue the rise.
03:45There's a lot of talent coming, but there's a lot of things we can do in the big leagues
03:48to be better at it, so that we don't have to roll from 0.2% to 100% probability of making
03:55the playoffs.
03:56So, it is a full-time job, it's a year-round job, it's game season and non-game season,
04:04there is no offseason for us.
04:06But I love the fact I was in New York, you know, not too long ago, and Tarek Scouble
04:11is running over to throw a bullpen, I think it was at St. John's, and getting ready for
04:16the season.
04:17So, our guys are all in, and that matters to me.
04:19I want to break out an old A.J.
04:21Hinch quote.
04:22If you want to be part of it, then you'll come.
04:25If you don't, then we'll beat you.
04:27Does that apply with Alex Bregman picking the Red Sox?
04:30Well, we beat them in Houston.
04:33So I think for us, you talk about awkward or hard is coming to a camp, and multiple
04:42camps around the league, where that's a topic about what's going on in free agency, and
04:48obviously being tied to a specific name, and you never want to comment on guys that aren't
04:54in your camp, or that aren't on board with you to come and be here.
04:58So I find it sort of hard to balance, like, of course it's competitive.
05:03Of course we're going to circle some games on the calendar, but we've got a lot of work
05:08to do, and we have the group that's here, and it's awesome to see that.
05:12You know, this has never been about one player.
05:14It's never been about, you know, sort of the defining moment.
05:19It's, you know, we've, you know, adding Glaber, adding Jack, you know, adding Brebbia yesterday.
05:23We're, you know, obviously we've got to get Alex Cobb healthy.
05:27Getting, you know, Jackson Jobe in the pole position to, you know, to potentially win
05:33a rotation spot, like, those are still really exciting things, and, you know, given how
05:38late it is in the non-game season, off-season, it's, it kind of, it bled into now having
05:46to handle that type of, you know, public, you know, sort of public situation, you know,
05:54during spring training, and that's sort of weird for me as a manager, and I'm sure it's
05:58for our team.
06:00The impact that Bregman would have brought, we've spent so much time talking about it,
06:05not landing him.
06:07Clearly you guys were in pursuit of him, at least it's been reported you were in pursuit
06:09of him.
06:10Do you guys still need that right-handed bat that was discussed before the off-season?
06:17You know, what we need is, we need our guys to step up and continue this development.
06:21You know, I think this has been built on, you know, young players getting better.
06:26It's been built on young guys getting experience, and of course you're always trying to find
06:31ways to get better, and I'm not going to play into hypotheticals on sort of what it could
06:35have been like, or would have been like, and things like that.
06:39That's for us.
06:40Yeah, I mean, obviously, and I understand that's part of it, but I do think that we
06:44need our guys to continue to stay locked down.
06:46It's funny, you know, yesterday, you know, it gets so competitive in these, like, think
06:51about a day where in the morning I'm announcing that Alex Cobb is going to be late to the
06:55season, and so these 12 starting pitchers are sitting at their locker, their phones
07:01light up because it's either they see it, or their friends or family are sending, like,
07:05oh, there's not one spot open in the rotation, there's two, and everybody kind of, they're
07:10not happy that Alex Cobb got hurt, but they are, they are paying attention to, like, opportunity
07:15that's ahead.
07:16In the afternoon, you have the reverse emotion when you sign John Brevia to a major league
07:20contract, and Brevia's been in the big leagues a long time, he's got really good stuff, he
07:24had flashes of being really good, and now you have a bunch of relievers who are wondering
07:28how they fit in.
07:30So welcome to the day of being a manager where these range of emotions on this opportunity
07:34in the spring, they ebb and flow throughout your entire clubhouse.
07:40So the number one thing, I said this to our group yesterday, the number one thing you
07:44can control is control the strike zone.
07:47So we need our pitchers to still have strikes, we need our hitters to obviously be a step
07:51better than we've been in the past, and we're going to continue to build off that.
07:56So I have no issue with, you know, sort of all of this stuff playing out in the public
08:02unless it starts to distract us from what we've got to do, which is get better.
08:07You mentioned the pitching staff.
08:09Are you excited about having the possibility of a five-man rotation?
08:13How much chaos will we possibly see like we saw at the end of last year?
08:19So you know, it's funny, I joked with the beat yesterday that, man, it's the first time
08:24you guys have told me we have too much starting pitching.
08:27You know, I got 12, 13 guys in the starting pitcher column in spring, and Fett's lining
08:32them up, and we're going to pair them up in spring and give them all a really good look.
08:37I mean, you know, obviously the Scouble, Flaherty, Olsen are probably pretty, you know, locked
08:42in in where, I don't know when they're going to pitch yet, but those are easy things to
08:47say and it looks like we have some competition for the rest.
08:51And so, you know, one of the things that I do want to keep saying, I think I said this
08:54on the show last year, like, it was a strategy on how to best use our guys, which is the
09:00chaos.
09:01You know, I didn't plan, I kind of off the cuff said Tarek Scouble in pitching chaos,
09:05and so I'm going to try not to say, like, the three big boys and then the pitching chaos,
09:09because we have a ton of really good arms and good pitching, and yes, we're going to
09:15start five pitchers in a row again, I promise, you know, but it's hard.
09:22You know what, I wouldn't knock whatever 13-11 or whatever it was in the process of utilizing
09:28our pitchers the best way we can.
09:30So at the end of the day, you know, other sports are the same way, it's at the end of
09:35the day, you're trying to win that day's game, and we are going to deploy whatever strategy
09:40we think we can do.
09:42I'm not sure that tradition is always the best, we're going to try, obviously, to push
09:45our guys because it's easier, you know, kind of all the way around and maybe even easier
09:50to digest.
09:51But when we use seven pitchers to beat the Astros in game two of the wildcard series,
09:58there weren't a lot of complaints about utilizing that strategy.
10:03Torkelson had an interesting quote yesterday.
10:05He was asked about kind of fixing his swing, and clearly it's a big year for Tork, trying
10:10to bounce back.
10:11He said he's not going to even watch video.
10:14What was your reaction to that?
10:20I think he's going to watch video.
10:22I don't think that's what he meant to be drawn from that.
10:24I think what he is saying, I wasn't there when he said it.
10:28I haven't talked to him about it.
10:30He's already reported, so he's doing his work with our group.
10:34I think what he's saying is he's trying to simplify and get as much stuff out of his
10:38head as he can.
10:40And so one of the things that Tork has battled over his few years here has been just a little
10:46bit of overanalysis or being obsessed with every single detail in the iPad or the video.
10:52He's going to watch video.
10:53Every one of these players does.
10:54I mean, that's how these guys can learn.
10:57I think going public with that, he's committing to keeping it simple, having a few cues, and
11:03then going to work and not ... Because sometimes you watch too much video, and you're going
11:10to break down success and failure.
11:12It's not just the failure.
11:13Like you're starting to criticize your success, too, because, oh, I'm not in the perfect position,
11:17or, oh, look at this position.
11:19You can still get a hit or hit the ball harder or swing at the right pitch.
11:23If you get too deep in the weeds with that, it can be counterproductive, and that's what
11:28he's saying.
11:29He's not saying, like, hey, I'm never going to pick up the iPad, because you're going
11:32to see him probably even this spring on some footage with his head in an iPad.
11:38And that's not him going against his word, because he's just keeping it in perspective.
11:42What are some of the things that you're directing Colt Keith or the coaches directing Colt Keith
11:48to do and think about in his move from second to first?
11:54A lot of it is just learn the position and positioning and the angles.
11:59At second base, you have a little bit more time.
12:02You can kind of create your own hop by how you go after balls to your left or balls to
12:07your right or even coming in or back.
12:08It's just a deeper position.
12:10Obviously, the balls that the left-handers hit to first base, they're smoked pretty hard
12:15or they have topspin, one of the two.
12:16Those are on polar opposite sides of how you play those plays.
12:19And so the bigger glove, how to attack hops, the footwork around first base, we're going
12:28to keep inching forward for him to learn the position that he started during the offseason.
12:35Him being here now is not the first time that he's done this drill work.
12:39Joey Core has been in touch with him.
12:40He's asked a lot of questions.
12:43And if you want to hear a cool thing, yesterday I walked out on field three.
12:47We have our position players that are early reports, and you know who's given him a ton
12:52of advice was Spencer Torkelson.
12:54They were manning the position together and some of the ins and outs of it.
12:58So I think with Cole, it's going to be a work in progress because it's new and games are
13:03going to be new.
13:07Things are going to speed up a little bit at the beginning of camp, and then I expect
13:11it to smooth out over time, and he can make the plays that he needs to make and give us
13:16as much optionality as we can.
13:18Talking to Tiger manager AJ Hinch, one last question we had to ask at some point about
13:22Javi Baez.
13:23What's his role in 2025?
13:25Well, his first goal is to get healthy, and I know I got to delay my answer to that based
13:32on his health.
13:33Javi has had a good offseason.
13:36He's worked hard.
13:37He's getting his weight down a little bit.
13:39He's been very diligent in communicating with us, and his baseball activity has picked up.
13:46His enthusiasm has picked up as well, and then we've got to see him healthy.
13:50He's not going to report to camp at full strength.
13:53The running is going to be behind the other aspects, like you're going to see footage
13:57of us.
13:58You're going to see him on the field making throws.
14:00You're going to see him taking live BP and doing all the things that look very normal.
14:07He just won't see a ton of sprinting at the very beginning, and he's not going to play
14:10in the first few games until we get his feet on the ground and get his running program
14:14in place.
14:16That is then going to lead to where things fit moving forward and how we put the puzzle
14:21together, whether it's playing time or roles or things like that.
14:26I'm not ducking the question.
14:28I'm just being honest that I can't answer it until I see him healthy.
14:31Tiger manager AJ Hinch, hey, try not to get a sunburn down there.
14:34Yeah, you guys stay warm.
14:37I'll be warm for you.
14:38Don't worry.
14:39Thanks.
14:40Looking forward to talking to you again all season.
14:41He's AJ Hinch.
14:42Thanks.
14:43Appreciate it.
14:44It's 97 one.