After one of the worst offensive seasons in franchise history, the Tigers and A.J. Hinch have dismissed hitting coach Scott Coolbaugh as part of a larger makeover to their offensive coaching staff.
Hinch announced Friday that the Tigers have also re-assigned assistant hitting coach Mike Hessman and offered him a position in the minors, as well as third base coach and infield specialist Ramon Santiago. Hinch delivered the news to Coolbaugh, Hessman and Santiago during the Tigers' final series of the season this week in Seattle.
"The goal is to enhance the coaching staff," Hinch said. "Some of that’s with different voices, but some of that may also be different roles. You don’t have to do it the same exact way you’ve always done it. We’ll look into building a hitting department, whatever that means, whatever the skillsets are, whatever the balance is."
The Tigers ranked last in the majors this season in runs, homers, walks, slugging percentage and OPS. They scored fewer than 3.5 runs per game for just the fourth time in franchise history -- and the first time since 1906. Their lifeless offense was the biggest reason why they finished 30 games below .500 in a year they expected to re-enter the American League playoff picture.
A list of players who put up career-worst numbers at the plate: Javier Baez, Jonathan Schoop, Jeimer Candelario, Robbie Grossman, Tucker Barnhart, all of whom entered the season as everyday starters. The Tigers also watched top prospect and former first overall pick Spencer Torkelson struggle mightily to adjust to the big leagues. Of the 25 worst AL hitters in terms of wRC+, six played for Detroit.
Hinch also announced Friday that the Tigers have parted ways with quality control coach Josh Paul.
"It’s important for everyone to know that the season is not these coaches' fault," he said. "We are all responsible, we are all a part of this. Sometimes it’s philosophical, sometimes changing voices is important in sports and sometimes it’s time to mix up the message to the players. ... It was obviously time for us to assess the staff and we’re going to have a different staff, a different message and a different collection of guys to hopefully push the players in a new direction."
Hinch started interviewing new coaching candidates on Thursday. While he's likely to expand his staff, he made it clear he does not want a set-up like that of the Giants, who had 16 coaches working beneath manager Gabe Kapler this season. There's an obvious link between the two clubs with the arrival of Tigers new president of baseball operations Scott Harris, but this is Hinch's staff to fill out.
"Definitely won’t be that big," he said when asked about the Giants' staff, adding with a laugh, "No, there’s no chance in hell I go that way."
What Hinch is looking for, particularly in the hitting department, is a variety of "different voices."
"That’s more important than number of voices," he said. "But I think we have an opportunity to build something interesting and good for the players. I don’t want to go too crazy, but it’s important to reach every angle. If you just look at our clubhouse, you have a 21-year-old Riley Greene and a 40-year-old Miguel Cabrera. One hitting coach can get both of those guys? That’d be a unicorn, so it’s important for us to blend it."
Hinch also confirmed the Tigers are bringing back pitching coaches Chris Fetter and Juan Nieves, bench coach and outfield specialist George Lombard and have named Alfredo Amezaga their full-time first-base coach. Gary Jones will "return in some capacity" as well.
Listen live to 97.1 The Ticket via:
Audacy App | Online Stream | Smart Speaker