DETROIT – The Tigers made the postseason for the second time in two years after having one of the hottest offenses in baseball for the first five months of the season.
It’s no secret that the offense cooled down significantly in September as the Tigers failed to maintain their 15-game division lead and ultimately snagged the last American League wild card spot by the skin of their teeth.
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Scott Harris, President of Baseball Operations for the Tigers and AJ Hinch, manager of the big-league club, addressed some of the things the team did well the first five months of the season that changed toward the end of the season and what the organization plans to do to make sure to improve next season.
Executing at a high level
Putting a ton of pressure on opposing starters and driving up pitch counts, holding the zone, and coming through in big spots were things Harris mentioned the team did well while they were “rolling” through the first five months of the season.
Holding the zone is something Harris has mentioned time and time again when it comes to traits the Tigers organization values in hitters. The more often hitters are expanding the strike zone, the less pitches they see in-zone, meaning they are ultimately seeing fewer hittable pitches.
Driving up pitch counts to put pressure on opposing starters is another aspect of the game Tigers hitters did well in the first five months of the season.
Being more selective with pitches forces opposing starters to not only throw more pitches but throw more strikes and quality pitches. Forcing starters to throw 25-30 pitches in an inning tires them out more quickly and ultimately knocks them out of the game earlier.
Coming through in big spots – hitting with runners in scoring position, hitting in two-strike counts, and timely two-out hits is another thing the Tigers did well to start the season.
All three things mentioned above go hand-in-hand and are key components of a successful offense.
The more they hold the zone, the more hittable pitches they will see. The more they hold the zone, the more opposing pitchers are forced to throw strikes and pitch counts are driven up.
The more strikes they see, the more likely they are to see a hittable pitch and come through in a big spot.
Approach at the plate
“In the big leagues, it seemed like our approach at the plate started to deteriorate down the stretch,” said Harris, “We really stumbled down the stretch. We have got to figure out why.”
The second area he mentioned was contact. “We need to make more contact as an organization.” He mentioned swing-and-miss being a part of a lot of players’ games.
What can they do to improve upon these things? Less strikeouts, more contact.
How do big league coaches achieve this?
Generally, one thing hitting coaches will work with players on is eliminating certain pitches and eliminating parts of the zone they are historically less likely to have success in.
A little less than half at-bats in the big leagues are with two strikes, so the more a hitter is bought into touching the ball, the more pressure they apply to the defense.
Two strike approaches are another important aspect of a successful offense – we saw that at the beginning of the season.
It is important to note that these changes are much, much easier said than done.
Additions from the Tigers’ system
“I think the profile of Tigers hitters has changed over the last three years – we’ve been very intentional about targeting at-bat quality and bat-to-ball skills,” Harris stated, “I think as these players start to get to the big leagues, it’s going to nudge our big-league team toward more contact and better approaches.”
Looking at the Tigers’ top prospects and draft acquisitions over the last few years, it certainly speaks to how much the organization quality at-bats and bat-to-ball skills.
Their top prospect, Kevin McGonigle, has a history of excellent swing decisions and bat-to-ball skills. The same could be said for no. 2 prospect Max Clark, and even most recently acquired no. 8 prospect and first-round draft pick, Jordan Yost.
Experience
“They went through some deep struggles in September and they came out the other side,” Harris noted.
“They’re going to be more battle tested – that’s two straight years in the postseason and they’ve seen high-end pitching and they’ve seen what works against high-end pitching and what doesn’t. Some of that is going to be through approach development this offseason.”
He mentioned bat path work and internal additions in 2026 with the skills, traits, and attributes that the organization prioritizes through the draft and development will be the main things that will contribute to improvements in approach and contact.
Things to consider
At this point in time, pitching development is much further along than hitting, and it has never been more difficult to perform offensively in the big leagues. Hitters are seeing higher velocities, more movement, different pitch shapes, and more deceptive pitchers.
It is worth noting that the problems and solutions addressed by Harris and Hinch are much more easily discussed than implemented and executed. If it were easy, every big-league team would be doing it.
We can talk about analytics and player development all day long, but the product on the field is constructed of humans with human emotions, human struggles, and external factors that contribute to their performance on-field, this is important to keep in mind.