Caputo: A.J. Hinch making a difference

This isn't a town known for handing out free passes to coaches and managers.

Yet, for the most part, Tigers' manager A.J. Hinch has remained above the fray.

The criticism about the Tigers has primarily centered on owner Chris Ilitch. If he's not cheap, then he is uncaring. Former general manager Al Avila was roundly and harshly skewered, and his replacement, president of baseball operations Scott Harris, is often charged with thinking he's the smartest man in the room, but being clueless.

Hinch has been a distant third in the blame game.

When Harris announced Hinch received a contract extension during the winter meetings "too keep him in Detroit a long time," it drew neither anger nor joy, but rather a collective shrug.

Indifferent would be the best way to describe the perception of Hinch. On one hand, his Tigers' teams have lost a lot more games than they have won. On the other, it's not like he has had the best ingredients to cook the meal.

There were flashes of Hinch as a difference-maker when the Tigers closed the 2021 and 2023 seasons strongly after abysmal starts. But they followed up on those finishes by falling back quickly the following seasons.

Hinch's club essentially quit on him in 2022 and played exceptionally poor fundamental baseball most of this season.

But the Tigers have played as well as any team in MLB  since being sellers at the trade deadline, and Hinch is a major reason why.

He stopped the nonsense of putting players out of position and has posted more consistent lineups. The Tigers' hitting approaches have been much better. Most importantly, bullpen days are really good days for the Tigers because Hinch has placed his pitchers in proper order.

Obviously, the return to health of Kerry Carpenter and Riley Greene has played a big factor, as well as the emergence of Parker Meadows and Colt Keith into dependable players.

Hinch's best decision, though, was one of his first as Tigers' manager when he named Chris Fetter pitching coach.

Tyler Holton, Reese Olson and Ty Madden all had very high ERAs at Toledo and shaved multiple runs off under Fetter's watch immediately upon arriving in Detroit. Brant Hunter had a 5.01 ERA with Toledo this season. It's 3.00 in Detroit. A similar improvement was made by Brenan Hanifee: 5.17 in Toledo, 1.42 in Detroit.

It is too much of a pattern to be a coincidence and speaks notably to the Tigers' use of analytics to prepare for opposing hitters.

It's putting players into situations where they can have success.

That's a credit to the manager, making A.J. Hinch a difference-maker.