Should Detroit Tigers Manager A.J. Hinch Be on the Hot Seat?
It has been a pretty solid season for the Detroit Tigers in 2024, as they are still hanging on to some playoff hopes with a record of .500.
As of late, the Tigers have been able to make up some serious ground thanks to a nice stretch of baseball against the Chicago White Sox and Los Angeles Angels. Detroit was able to sweep the four-game series against the White Sox, and then took two out of three games against the Angels.
The solid stretch of baseball has made their weekend series with the Boston Red Sox a very important one, as the Red Sox are one of the teams they are behind in the Wild Card standings. Unfortunately for the Tigers, they lost the opening game of the series against Boston.
Detroit has been in rebuilding mode for quite some time, and for the entire tenure of manager A.J. Hinch. Last year looked like things were getting back on track for the Tigers, as they finished with a record of 78-84, which was a nice improvement from the disastrous 2022 season.
The month of September is going to be an important one for Hinch. While making the playoffs is still a longshot at this point, the organization likely wants to see improvement from last season in Hinch’s fourth season as the manager.
Brandon Scott of Bleacher Reporrt recently spoke about managers who could be on the hot seat and A.J. Hinch made his honorable mentions for the Tigers.
“The Tigers don't necessarily have huge expectations, but it must be difficult for them to see division rivals in Cleveland and Kansas City produce with their young talent."
"A.J. Hinch is trying to capture his first winning season in year four with Detroit. If he does it, his job should be safe. It's no guarantee, though.”
Considering it is the fourth season for Hinch as the manager, he shouldn’t necessarily be on the hot seat, but the seat is likely getting warm. Making the playoffs shouldn’t be the decided factor on whether or not Hinch is let go, as progress and a record around .500 should keep him save.
However, there has been a lot of losing seasons in a row for Detroit and they likely want to see a playoff appearance in the near future. Furthermore, if the Tigers have some sort of collapse and a really bad September, the heat on the seat could certainly be cranked up a notch.
NICK ZIEGLER