DETROIT -- The Tigers have extended the contract of manager A.J. Hinch, president of baseball operations Scott Harris confirmed Monday at their season-ending press conference. Terms were not disclosed.
“We extended A.J. earlier in the year,” Harris said. “I absolutely love working with A.J. I think he’s one of the best managers in the game. We have now proactively extended him twice because we want him to be here as long as he’s willing to be here, and I want to work with him as long as I can possibly work with him. It was one of the easier conversations I’ve had, because … he wants to be here too, and I think we’re both bullish on our future in this organization, and we’re both proud of what we’ve done in the three years together.”
The announcement comes nearly five years after the Tigers first hired Hinch under then-general manager Al Avila right after the 2020 World Series ended. Hinch has not only survived a front-office overhaul, he has thrived working with Harris, who first extended his contract following the 2023 season, their first full season working together.
Hinch has now managed the Tigers as many seasons as he managed the Astros. The former Tigers catcher owns a 394-416 (.486) record managing the club, including back-to-back postseason berths and Wild Card Series victories, and is 964-868 (.526) over 12 years between Arizona, Houston and Detroit. He ranks eighth on the Tigers’ all-time managerial wins list and could move into sixth next year, passing Del Baker (417 wins from 1933-42) and Ty Cobb (479 wins, 1921-26). (edited)
“I’ve been in this chair for a long time, not just the managing chair in Detroit but across the league,” Hinch said, “and I have gotten asked a ton of contract and commitments and things like that. And I’m so happy being in Detroit, and I’m so proud to be the manager here. I love working for Scott, and it’s the second time that I was approached and asked for more, and it’s an immediate yes for me.
“I mean, when you have an environment that both pushes and satisfies you, you want to be in it. And so, I was honored, I was thrilled. It was one conversation with my wife and went back to Scott with an immediate yes, and off we went. In the middle of the season, it’s hard to be looked at personally at where you’re at, which is why my one request and Scott’s one request was that we just do it and be done with it and not talk about it. I believe this is about the players.”
The Tigers do not release contract terms for non-playing personnel, per organizational policy.
Hinch has worked with the same coaching staff for the past two seasons. There was no news at Monday’s press conference on whether the Tigers will retain all their coaches for next year, pending meetings this week.
“We haven’t had a full discussion about the staff yet,” Hinch said. “We’re going to, and like we do with everything, we evaluate every possible way that we can get better. And I think our staff has answered a lot of the challenges, and we’re doing a lot of the things that are pushing this Major League team forward and connecting to the Minor Leagues and creating an environment where young players come up to be comfortable yet pushed. All that I think is in a really good place, but we wouldn’t be doing our jobs if we didn’t debrief about our entire group. And we’re going to.”