Detroit Tigers Pitching Coach Chris Fetter Named Coach of the Year
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Detroit Tigers pitching coach Chris Fetter has been named Baseball America's 2024 MLB Coach of the Year after an immensely successful season for his pitching staff.
The Tigers finished tied for third among all teams in baseball with a team ERA of 3.61, a huge part of their tremendous run down the final stretch of the year to put the team in a place where they were able to make the postseason from 9.5 games out in late August.
Fetter, along with manager A.J. Hinch, guided a unit that lacked depth behind a Cy Young ace towards success both during the 162-game schedule and in the playoffs.
Fetter and Hinch had to piece together bullpen games in the postseason on days that Tarik Skubal was unable to bail them out, and a Fetter was a massive part out of getting the most out of the staff as a whole, leading to Detroit's deepest playoff run in a decade.
Then of course there's the factor of Skubal himself, who has given a ton of credit for his development to Fetter.
After an up and down rookie season in 2020 followed up by the arrival of Fetter as the pitching coach, it's no coincidence that in those three seasons Skubal has gotten significantly better in each.
In 2024, the ace pitched to a unanimous AL Cy Young award with a 2.39 ERA over 31 starts with a league-leading 228 strikeouts in 192 innings pitched.
The Tigers have themselves one of the best pitchers on the planet, and it's due in no small part to hiring Fetter prior to the 2021 season.
According to Baseball America, he inherited a unit that had not been top-10 in the league in ERA+ since 2013 when the team made him their new pitching coach from his alma mater Michigan, where he had been the school's pitching coach since 2017.
In each season under his leadership, Detroit improved their league standing in pitching.
For the first three years of the Fetter era, it was a steady climb, but in 2024, the unit finally achieved its full potential.
With demonstrated evidence that he is able to develop talent, the future of the pitching staff is bright in the Motor City.
As the Tigers continue to try to ascend and go from fun underdog story to true World Series contender, Fetter continuing to get the absolute most out of both his starting rotation and the bullpen is going to be critical in that pursuit.
Michael Brauner is a 2022 graduate of the University of Alabama with a degree in Sports Media. He covers various MLB teams across the On SI network and you can also find his work on Yellowhammer News covering the Alabama Crimson Tide and Auburn Tigers as well as on the radio producing and co-hosting 'The Opening Kickoff' every weekday morning on 105.5 WNSP FM in Mobile, Alabama.