A look inside A.J. Hinchs new life and the Tigers new dawn

“Do you ever get nervous?” A.J. Hinch is asked on the final day of the 2021 baseball season, sitting in the visitors’ dugout on the South Side of Chicago.

Hinch has this look he often gives. It’s not really a smile. But his eyes widen a little and you know he is intrigued. You can tell the gears in his mind are suddenly turning a little faster. “Yeah, not really,” he says.

Indeed, Hinch is not one for being nervous. This is a man who was on the cover of Baseball America as a teenager, who has a degree from Stanford on his wall and a World Series ring in his trophy case.

Hinch says he was not exactly nervous 11 months ago, when he flew to Detroit on short notice knowing it was his shot to get back in baseball. Of course, Hinch had done this song and dance before. He managed the Diamondbacks and interviewed with the Astros on two separate occasions. He also once interviewed with the Cubs, before they hired Rick Renteria. The interview process itself was nothing new. But there is no denying this time was different.

He was emerging from a baseball purgatory in the wake of the Astros’ sign-stealing scandal, eager to manage again but unsure how he would be received, knowing he would have to address the darker aspects of his Houston tenure, understanding any chance at a second baseball life would mean being raw and vulnerable about his failings as a leader.

Sitting with two reporters in the dugout Sunday, reflecting on the past year in broad strokes, the issue is once again impossible to avoid. Hinch has addressed the situation over and over, but he admits talking about it can still get uncomfortable. Some of that is by design. He says does not want to forget the lessons that came with the way things ended in Houston.

“It’s impossible not to appreciate just being back in the game,” Hinch says. “Maybe you don’t quite ever appreciate something or how much you love something until you don’t have it. Whatever that phrase is. I think it certainly humbled me, that there’s only 30 of these jobs, and they’re not forever in general, and they’re certainly not forever if you don’t lead the right way.”

From a national standpoint, the Astros scandal and the debates about who did what and who should have been held most accountable might never fully fade. But in Detroit, with the 2021 season now come and gone, it is odd to think Hinch’s past was once such a prevailing narrative.

Here, Hinch has resurrected the spirits of a 120-year-old franchise stuck in the marsh of a brutal rebuild. We have seen the power of second chances based on merit. Hinch is still deciphering the best way to move forward without putting Houston out of sight and out of mind.

“I guess I look at it as an opportunity to build off of that and make things better again,” Hinch says. “I’ll never forget my past. I’ll never forget how low I felt after that experience in Houston. But I can’t continue to relive it and … I just can’t.”

For Hinch’s Tigers, this year started with questions and ended with hope. Sunday morning in Chicago, Hinch wore a dark blue cap with an orange Olde English D on his head, reflective but projecting the aura of a manager confident as ever about the road ahead.

“My hope,” Hinch says, “is the good outweighs the bad when it comes to everything else I’ve done in the game already, to everything that I hope to do moving forward.”

‘It’s impossible not to appreciate just being back in the game,’ Hinch says. (Photo courtesy Ilitch companies)

A.J. Hinch spent the summer settling into a new life. He and his wife Erin bought a home in the tony Detroit suburb of Birmingham, fixed along the Woodward corridor north of 14 Mile Road.

Hinch’s two daughters, Haley and Kaitlin, came up to Michigan once school was out for the summer. As COVID-19 restrictions lifted, the Hinch family slowly reacclimated to the rhythm of a more normal existence. Haley got a job in Birmingham and Kaitlin volunteered at a local clinic. Hinch got to know a few spots downtown. He would rise in the mornings and walk the dog with Erin.

“We tried to establish ourselves as residents in Michigan,” Hinch says.

Around 11 a.m. on a typical day, he would make a 30-minute-or-so drive south to Comerica Park, where he would manage a team not yet built to win.

The road started with difficulties. The Tigers had a 9-24 record on May 7. The team seemed destined for another last-place finish and another season in which hope was going to be difficult to come by. Hinch is a competitor like any former ballplayer. There were surely nights where the frustrations from another loss could take hold. He was still getting to know his players, still learning the best ways to interact with his front office.

Hinch, though, is also a diligent worker and a big-picture thinker. He would not allow himself to waver from the framework of a six-month plan he and his coaches laid out for the season in spring training.

In fact, the closest thing Hinch has felt to nerves in his tenure as Tigers manager was on the first day in spring training, when he stood in front of his team and laid out goals for the season.

“Addressing that group for the first time and knowing as vulnerable and emotional as I was going to be, I was a tick nervous,” Hinch says.

The whole process leading to that point was a whirlwind.

There was a frenzy of days that started with Hinch catching a plane to Detroit and meeting with team CEO Chris Ilitch, general manager Al Avila and other members of the Tigers brass at a Birmingham steakhouse. Despite the largesse of the meeting, it was more casual than formal. There were deep talks and important questions but also laughter and drinks. It embodied the Tigers’ culture under Avila, enough to make clear a partnership could work.

“I loved the meeting with Chris and Al from the very beginning,” Hinch says. “They were very straightforward with me on two fronts. One, there was an explanation of what the organization was about, what the expectations were, where they felt like the progress was needed and how they thought that I could be a perfect fit for here.

“The second part of it was diving into my past. Obviously I had to openly answer questions that were very personal to me. … It was sort of bare-all feelings and emotions and experiences on both sides.”

Then there was all that followed. The White Sox had contacted Hinch, and the entire baseball world was watching closely. When the White Sox instead hired Tony La Russa (without ever actually interviewing Hinch) the process took shape quickly. Hinch’s flight to Chicago was canceled, and he ended up signing on the dotted line and becoming the manager of the Tigers. He did the big news conference and took pictures and made the rounds. Chicago would have been appealing to anyone, but Hinch says he was genuinely excited about the opportunity to build something in Detroit. The first thing he did was get to work.

Work, in this case, meant contacting returning players such as Miguel Cabrera and Matthew Boyd. He wanted to get to know them as people and players. He also knew he had much explaining to do — about Houston, about the scandal, about the general topics of character and trust.

“I think people can be understanding of me but still be very against what went on,” Hinch says. “I think honest conversations, not holding anything back on either side is always critical in those situations. So being vulnerable, letting them know I know how wrong it was and also letting them know I’m prepared to move forward and prove my worth if given an opportunity.

“I just hit it straightforward, because that’s how I’ve tried to handle that entire situation from the day that I was let go to the day I was hired.”

For Hinch, everything starts with believing in winning. (Courtesy of the Detroit Tigers)

Months later, on that first day of spring training, Hinch again stood and bared parts of his soul, addressed his past and the glaring blemish on an otherwise sterling resume. That was one part of the conversation.

The second part: Hinch pointed to a picture of a World Series trophy plastered to the wall and told the players — a roster that had lost 98, 98 and 114 games in the three years before another last-place finish in the shortened pandemic season — that if they did not believe in winning they should not be in the locker room.

“I don’t think enough teams talk about winning, especially if you’re not necessarily a favorite or you’re not seen as a team who’s gonna even have a winning record,” Hinch says.

Hinch is rarely one to venture into the realms of vague coaching platitudes or cliches. He practically calls himself out whenever he strays in that direction. He has a psychology degree and knows true motivation comes less from rah-rah speeches and more from an ingrained desire to stick to a routine and aim for success every day. His astrological sign is Taurus, and damned if he doesn’t embody the common traits: Grounded, practical, committed.

Hinch wanted to set the foundation for a winning culture, to begin molding an environment where excellence is expected and losses are not accepted.

Funny enough, his macro vision hinged on obsessing over the microscopic details of each day.

“There’s a lot of coachspeak in that, but there’s also a lot of real perspective on what an entire season looks like,” Hinch says. “When you take over a team that is not accustomed to winning — that doesn’t hold itself to the bar of a playoff team — it has to start with belief. You have to start talking about winning, believe that you’re gonna win, work to win and then let the result be what it’s gonna be.”

That foundation proved necessary in April, after the Tigers’ dismal start. Players all season have said they found reason to believe through Hinch and his bright coaching staff. Hinch indeed sought to hire assistants who shared his vision and could also bring their expertise to the table. Trusting a long-term process is so much easier said than done, yet Hinch understood the season is 162 games long. They don’t total things up on May 8.

“The single-game mindset really helped us get through the miserable first 33, 34, 35 games,” Hinch says. “Had we not had that view, I think it’s easy for a coaching staff to ride the rollercoaster. The players look at you and they see that panic or that fear or that frustration, a season can really spiral out of control.”

The Tigers roster has seen its share of turnover. Young players have emerged and veterans have proven solid. The team went 68-61 after that May 8 date. Although they still finished 2021 with a losing record, they exceeded their Vegas over/under by nearly 10 games.

Prospects such as Riley Greene and Spencer Torkelson are on the way next year, and ownership seems intent on spending the necessary dollars to help construct a contender in the years ahead.

“It takes a lot to get to where we want to get to,” Hinch says. “What sits well with me is we’ve poured a foundation as a group, and the players are all in. You can’t ask for more than that.”

Hinch is a Taurus, who are known for being grounded, practical and committed. (Charles LeClaire / USA Today)

In Detroit, the most passionate fans have taken to Hinch’s style and smarts. His managerial acumen in itself has been a marvel to watch.

With the Astros, Hinch managed a stacked roster assembled by one of baseball’s most analytical front offices. He once went an entire season without issuing an intentional walk.

In Detroit, Hinch has shown you can trust data and numbers and still embrace a scrappy, throwback style of play. Hinch has had his players bunt and steal bases more than the league average. He has operated all season with loosely defined bullpen roles and somehow managed to punch all the right buttons at all the right times.

“I think I’m a different manager today than I was in Houston because my personnel is different,” Hinch says. “And that’s not good or bad. It’s just trying to manage your club to the most wins you can.”

Hinch navigated games not like some new-age prototype but rather like a more even-keeled incarnation of Billy Martin or Earl Weaver. In Detroit, Hinch’s presence brought back the memories of Jim Leyland and Sparky Anderson before him, when the manager was a monolithic presence who defined the organization.

Says outfielder Robbie Grossman: “He’s the reason I came here. I couldn’t ask for more from a manager.”

Says right-hander Casey Mize: “I said it earlier in the year: I’m proud to play for A.J. Hinch, and that definitely still holds true. We built a great relationship, and I look up to him a lot.”

Says left-hander Tarik Skubal: “I have the utmost respect for him and how he manages the ballclub. The type of baseball that we played this year was a ton of fun. From my standpoint, I learned a lot from him, too.”

For Hinch, given the route he took to this place, it must feel good to be liked again.

Even better to be respected.

“It means a lot to me,” Hinch says. “It’s not required. You don’t have to like or love or appreciate the manager, and specifically one that was a little polarizing at the beginning. I hope to earn (the fans’) respect. I hope to earn their trust. I hope they learn about me as a person and through interviews or interactions.

“I can only be the best version of myself.”

For the first time in his managerial career, Hinch does not reside year-round in the city in which he works. When school started back up at summer’s end, Erin and Kaitlin went back down to Texas so Kaitlin could continue something closer to a normal life. Haley stayed with her father until she had to return to college on the West Coast.

Hinch spent the final weeks of the season alone, pouring himself into the job and making sure all the loose ends of a long season were tied up properly. Hinch gave his de facto year-end speech on the day the Tigers were officially eliminated from playoff contention. He did so to prove a point. He wanted his team to take note of elimination, to sear that feeling of failure into his players’ minds.

“This season in general,” Hinch says, “I’ve sunk a lot of time and energy into the players.”

This offseason, Hinch will return to Houston. Ever a baseball obsessive, he will watch every postseason game and keep close tabs on his team and the decisions to come.

“I won’t turn off for very long,” he says, again with that knowing look in his eyes. “Don’t worry.”

Thank you #Tigers fans for your support in 2021. Great progress on the field for sure, but a lot left to do. Can’t wait to get to 2022. https://t.co/ISRbCfezTc

— AJ Hinch (@ajhinch) October 4, 2021

But Hinch is also looking forward to making up for lost time with family and friends. He is looking forward to days of golf outings and nights of good wine. It could be a well-earned period of decompression after a tornadic couple of years.

Even as Hinch establishes himself in Detroit, and even as he is embraced by a passionate fan base, Houston is still omnipresent in his life. His career is attached to the Astros and a controversial past. His actual life is still split between Michigan and Texas, trying to navigate the dichotomous existence that can come with an all-consuming job like managing a major-league baseball team.

Indeed, once Kaitlin finishes high school, it’s possible Hinch and Erin could make metro Detroit their more permanent residence. But of course, in the business of baseball, it’s unwise to look too far into the future.

“This job, it’s hard to forecast because you don’t know how much shelf life these jobs have,” Hinch says. “I’d like nothing more than for this to last long enough to even consider that.”

Sunday under an overcast Chicago sky, as a 162-game season neared its conclusion, Hinch was able to look back on the emotions and events of the past 11 months.

Remember that team meeting, when Hinch was almost nervous?

He ends the 2021 season with the makings of a man who could become a beloved figure in the lore of Detroit sports.

“To have the fans really embrace this team and me as the manager has meant the world to me,” Hinch says, “because I didn’t necessarily expect a warm welcome.”

(Top photo: Ron Jenkins / Getty Images)

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A look inside A.J. Hinchs new life and the Tigers new dawn