Tigers' A.J. Hinch Shares Harsh Take On Struggles of Veteran Relief Pitcher

A Detroit Tigers reliever was the subject of some pointed comments from A.J. Hinch.

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The Detroit Tigers have a massive problem to figure out with their bullpen, which has been less and less productive as the season has worn on.

Ahead of the MLB trade deadline, they looked to address the need, acquiring several bullpen arms: Kyle Finnegan from the Washington Nationals, Codi Heuer from the Texas Rangers, Paul Sewald from the Cleveland Guardians and Rafael Montero from the Atlanta Braves.

An underwhelming return for sure, especially when considering how many relief pitchers were on the move ahead of the deadline. The Tigers could soon come to regret the approach they took, if they haven’t already, with some of the other contenders around the league loading up.

One of the reasons that Detroit was even in that position of needing to add so many relief pitchers was that the players already on the roster were not sustaining the level of success they showcased earlier in the year.

A main culprit in that has been veteran Tommy Kahnle.

He agreed to a one-year, $7.75 million deal in free agency this past winter and looked to be the steal of the offseason early on with his dominant performance. A bullpen that needed a veteran to settle things down at the backend was receiving incredible production from the former New York Yankees standout.

Kahnle was dominant through June with a 1.77 ERA across 35.2 innings with eight saves and 11 holds. He struck out 31 batters, finding success by inducing soft contact and limiting hard damage regularly.

Tommy Kahnle's production for Tigers has fallen off cliff

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But, since the calendar has turned to July, he has looked like a different pitcher and not for the better. There were some signs that a regression was on the horizon, such as his 3.67 FIP through June, but the wheels have completely fallen off.

That has put manager A.J. Hinch in a tough spot. The Tigers would love to give Kahnle some opportunities to work through his issues, but in the midst of a playoff race, there is only so much that can be done.

"He doesn’t get to pitch for free. The situation is going to dictate whether the innings are there for him. We try to get him in as low-leverage or low-pressure situations as possible so he can work on things...But we’ve got to compete on the field. This is not practice,” Hinch said when speaking about his veteran’s struggles, via Evan Woodbery of MLive Media Group.

A.J. Hinch on Tommy Kahnle's struggles:

"He doesn’t get to pitch for free. The situation is going to dictate whether the innings are there for him. We try to get him in as low-leverage or low-pressure situations as possible so he can work on things...But we’ve got to compete on…

— Evan Woodbery (@evanwoodbery) August 13, 2025

Since July started, Kahnle has a 16.36 ERA and 6.74 FIP across 11 innings of work. He has surrendered multiple runs in five out of 15 appearances and has been scored upon at least once in nine of those outings.

A trusted option for Hinch in the first few months of the season, it is hard to insert the righty into any games right now, regardless of the situation with how poorly he is pitching.

Fatigue could certainly be a factor. The 46.2 innings he has pitched to this point are the most in a single campaign since he had 61 pitching for the Yankees in 2019. This is already the fourth-most innings he has thrown in a year in his MLB career.

Whatever the reason may be, Detroit has to figure something out to help Kahnle get back on track. An injured list stint could be the trick to get him down in the minor leagues for some rehab appearances since he cannot be optioned to Triple-A.