ORLANDO, Fla. -- The Tigers continue to prioritize pitching at these Winter Meetings, but they are well aware of their offensive struggles this past season. They also believe a good part of the solution is already on the roster.
“I think the majority of our growth as an offense is going to come from within,” president of baseball operations Scott Harris said Monday.
That responsibility falls on the coaching staff as well as the players themselves. Harris and manager A.J. Hinch believe they have the group to help fix it.
”We see the hitting [coaching] department as a trio of strengths,” Hinch said. “Do we have something for every player?”
That’s where the addition of Cody Asche from the Orioles as an assistant hitting coach under Michael Brdar has an impact.
”One, he’s been in the league and he’s handled young players, both the rise and the struggles that come with young players,” Hinch said. “Two, I love the intensity and his style of coaching. As an ex-player, he’s had a number of hitting coaches throughout his career. And he came highly recommended. He’s someone that we’ve chased in the past. It rounded out our hitting department with Lance [Zawadzki] and Michael coming back.”
Now comes the work of helping Detroit’s plethora of young hitters progress.
Harris noted the Tigers have a collection of hitters in varying stages of their careers:
- Riley Greene, Kerry Carpenter and Spencer Torkelson are older for the team, but they’re entering the prime years of their careers, when they should be able to take another step forward.
- Dillon Dingler, Parker Meadows, Colt Keith and Wenceel Pérez are still getting established in their careers but making an impact and learning quickly.
- Then there’s the group of prospects on the verge of breaking in, such as Kevin McGonigle, Max Clark, Max Anderson, Hao-Yu Lee and Josue Briceño.
The internal growth, Harris said, “is going to come from that first group continuing to get better and step into their prime. It’s going to come from that second group making the leaps that that first group just made. It’s going to come from this next wave of some of the best prospects in all of baseball, really starting to make that leap into the big leagues.
”We’re going to try to find a way to improve our offense without blocking those guys, because they’re too important to both our present and our future. … I used to talk about them as solely our future. Now they’re about to be our present as well as our future.”
Given the abundance of prospects at second and/or third base, that would seemingly downplay the chances of an addition like All-Star third baseman Alex Bregman. It could make for a better fit for a shortstop such as free agents Bo Bichette or Ha-Seong Kim, though Bichette’s days at shortstop might be numbered.
The first group of players all had their ups and downs.
Greene posted the most productive season by a Tigers outfielder arguably since Curtis Granderson, including 36 home runs and 111 RBIs. But he also set a franchise record with 201 strikeouts, a topic the Tigers addressed at season’s end.
“He had one of the most remarkable seasons in Tiger history. Yet, there's always room for improvement,” Hinch said. “He's very aware of the things that he is going to try to do and do better. That's easier said than done, [harder] than, ‘Hey we need more contact, we want the at-bat quality.’ Of course everybody does.
“So I think with Riley, getting his body in a good place to be able to endure what we ask of him is always the No. 1 priority. The swing adjustments, the approach adjustments, the subtle little tweaks coming off a successful season soon follow. We haven't had a full conversation about strikeouts or miss. It's very obvious he wants to take the next step to be an even more elite player. But he's spending the winter getting himself ready to play 150-plus games again as he did successfully last year.”
Carpenter had his most durable season to date, continued to mash against right-handed pitchers, earned more opportunities against lefties – nearly becoming a postseason hero again because of it – and earned more time in the outfield. Yet he also posted his lowest OPS+ in his big league career (114), prompted in part by a drop in his walk rate (7.4% in 2024, 3.9% in ‘25).
“Kerry is doing great,” Hinch said. “I do think he's also learning how to run the long race. He played through a few things that could have derailed part of his season, which has troubled him over the last few seasons, being able to stay active for the full season. No fault of his, but just some unlucky turns around bases and colliding with walls and doing some baseball things. But he's taking incremental steps to be better. He loves playing the outfield. …
“You keep saying to him, the better at-bats you have, the more at-bats you have, when it comes to these match-up things. He did a really good job finding some cues, making some adjustments and getting a few more of those at-bats. I keep challenging him. He keeps responding, and I know that teams manage against him, which I say all the time. And that's going to continue. And we need him to continue to be hungry for those at-bats.”
McGonigle and Anderson had such impressive seasons in the Arizona Fall League that Hinch treated them to dinner in Arizona – without actually being present.
“[Third-base coach] Joey Cora went down to see that group and Facetimed me at a dinner that I didn't know that I was going to pay for at the end of the Fall League,” Hinch joked. “So I got a chance to treat him to dinner in Phoenix without even being there.”
Both are expected to be part of Spring Training. Anderson could get a chance to compete for a platoon role at third base, complementing Colt Keith or Zach McKinstry. McGonigle will be fighting for a spot somewhere in the infield.
“Obviously, we’ve got a lot of decisions to make,” Hinch said.