A.J. Hinch is managing with confidence as the Tigers hang tight in the AL Central (2024)

DETROIT — Check the video from Wednesday night in Kansas City. Tigers manager A.J. Hinch had just inserted Zack Short to pinch-hit for Akil Baddoo, the type of chess-match move Hinch is making more than ever this season.

Short came up against Royals left-hander Josh Taylor and proceeded to blast a ball out to deep left-center for a three-run home run. And guess who was on the top step of the dugout, yelling and pumping his fists?

Akil Baddoo.

“He jumped out,” Hinch said, “and he was the loudest.”

That tells you a thing or two about the chemistry of this year’s Tigers.

“Having Shorty pinch-hit, that’s my guy,” Baddoo said.

ZACK SHORT WITH A PINCH-HIT THREE RUN HOMER! #RepDetroit pic.twitter.com/k3wwpODD3K

— Bally Sports Detroit (@BallySportsDET) May 25, 2023

The decision itself was one small window into the mind of this team’s manager. Largely by design, Hinch has tinkered to an extreme degree this season. It’s the way this roster was constructed in the offseason, something Hinch and team president Scott Harris talked about in meetings with agents and players over the winter.

There is not an excess of talent on this team. That still shows up more than anyone would like — the Tigers entered Thursday ranked 29th in OPS. But Detroit is 13-8 in May and now only two games behind the Twins for first place in the weak AL Central largely because the Tigers have found ways to play greater than the sum of their parts.

Even with veterans such as Miguel Cabrera and Jonathan Schoop playing sparsely, Hinch has made concerted efforts to keep every player involved.

“At the first of the year, I don’t think they quite knew what was in store and how much that was going to happen,” Hinch said. “As the year has progressed I’ve seen routines get better. I’ve seen everybody come to the park and not really flinch whether they’re playing or not because they know there’s a situation where they could be in the game. That in itself is exceptional buy-in by the players to be prepared at a minute’s notice.”

This philosophy is a way of playing to the matchups, going for the platoon advantage whenever you can find it, trying to find ways to — as Hinch and Harris have said more than once — “win in the margins.”

The philosophy is not foolproof. It does not work 100 percent of the time. But like hitting on 16 in Blackjack, it is designed to pay off more often than not.

And Hinch has not waited until the eighth or ninth innings to make his moves. Short’s homer, for instance, came in the sixth inning Wednesday.

“The middle part of the game can be won, too,” Hinch said. “You don’t have to wait to win against the back end of the bullpen if you have an advantage in the game.”

Never before has Hinch used in-game substitutions this frequently while managing an American League club. Only in 2009 and 2010 with the Diamondbacks — when pitchers still hit in the National League — did Hinch use pinch-hitters more often.

This year the Tigers are using pinch hitters 72 percent more often than the league average. They entered Thursday leading the league with 59 pinch-hit plate appearances. Tigers pinch hitters were batting .231, above the league average for pinch hitters of .217.

“My goal is to win games,” Baddoo said. “Anything we can do to win games.”

From a player’s perspective, though, all the tinkering does not come without challenges. Players have spoken of having to adjust to being ready for pinch hit situations. It’s one reason Hinch made it an early point to communicate his reasoning to the players.

A substitution isn’t necessarily an indictment of the player getting pinch hit for. It’s a means of playing into another hitter’s strength. And two days from now, the original player could be entering in a pinch hit appearance of his own.

“The team component of that is very important,” Hinch said. “This group has responded very favorably. And at the same time I don’t want them hugging me after getting pinch hit for. I want them to keep their competitive edge. There shouldn’t be a day that goes by that a player shouldn’t be a little bit pissed at the manager for taking him out of the game.”

Behind all this, there is a larger point. Hinch endeared himself to Tigers fans in 2021 when he was fresh off suspension for his role in the Astros scandal. The Tigers punched above their weight that summer and set the tone for an optimistic future as Hinch looked the part of a transformative manager. That optimism faded quickly after last year’s Tigers flopped from the start. Even Hinch last season never quite seemed to have that same inexplicable knack for pressing the right buttons at the right time, for getting players to buy in, for making a mark on the game as much as a modern manager realistically can.

This year feels like a return to the Hinch of 2021. He is making these moves with confidence and swagger.

He may keep a poker face in the dugout during moments both good and bad, but the gears in his head are always turning. And as the Tigers continue to punch above their weight, as the poor AL Central gives them a puncher’s chance at contention, Hinch seems to relish the daily chess match.

“I’ve had a pattern of behavior where (players) are almost surprised if I don’t make a move,” Hinch said.

And for the players, Hinch continues to preach that what goes around comes around. Thursday against the White Sox, the left-handed Baddoo was again in the starting lineup against Chicago right-hander Lucas Giolito. In the fourth inning, Baddoo hit a towering home run of his own.

“So it all works out,” Baddoo said with a smile.

Then, in the bottom of the sixth, the White Sox brought in a lefty. Hinch again substituted Short for Baddoo.

Short grounded out in that at-bat. But in the eighth, he laced a two-RBI single. The Tigers won 7-2.

(Top photo of A.J. Hinch: Troy Taormina / USA Today)

Cody Stavenhagen is a staff writer covering the Detroit Tigers and Major League Baseball for The Athletic. Previously, he covered Michigan football at The Athletic and Oklahoma football and basketball for the Tulsa World, where he was named APSE Beat Writer of the Year for his circulation group in 2016. He is a native of Amarillo, Texas. Follow Cody on Twitter @CodyStavenhagen