Tigers Make Surprising Coaching Change Before All-Star Break

The Tigers are starting to make some changes within their organization as the season approaches the second half.

On Tuesday, the Tigers made an unexpected change to their coaching staff.

Manager A.J. Hinch announced that the club and third base coach Joey Cora have mutually agreed to part ways, according to Evan Woodbery on X.

The Tigers have assigned third base coaching duties to Billy Boyer.

Cora had served on Hinch’s coaching staff since he arrived in Detroit before the 2021 season. He brought decades of major league coaching experience with him.

Chris McCosky of The Detroit News reported on A.J. Hinch’s comments regarding the change.

“I know this is going to be a surprise to a lot of people,” Hinch said. “I love Joey and he loved being a Tiger. He’s been instrumental in his time here, but similar to a family, it doesn’t last forever. We had some philosophical differences and we both agreed it’s probably best for the players and for everybody to separate.”

Hinch did not point out one specific reason for the decision, rather just said it was a baseball related move. The timing is interesting and raises questions about what this will mean to the team as the season is well underway.

Aggressive Baserunning Part of Detroit’s Identity

Third base coaches are usually remembered for one thing, waiving runners home or holding them at third, sometimes very enthusiastically.

Over the past two seasons, Detroit has build an identity around being aggressive. They were consistently looking to take the extra base and put pressure on defenses. In general, this has been a major part of the Tigers turning things around.

With that mindset also comes times when there will be highly visible outs at home plate and on base. It’s part of the risk that comes with the reward. Unfortunately, those moments stand out, but they don’t necessarily tell the full story.

It is a split-second decision for the third base coach with a lot of factors being considered at the time.

Who knows what all the details were behind the baseball differences, but this decision was likely more about philosophy rather than measurable stats.

Billy Boyer Taking On Larger Role

Detroit Tigers coach Billy Boyer | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

As Detroit comes into a critical part of the season, very close to a must-win every game scenario, Billy Boyer will be taking on more responsibility.

Fans will be watching for a change in aggressiveness on the bases, no doubt with a critical eye. But the truth is an immediately noticeable difference isn’t likely to happen. Teams’ styles are built around an entire coaching staff, not one person.

At this point, it is difficult to pinpoint an exact reason why the Tigers and Cora parted ways, but it doesn’t really matter. Coaching changes are uncommon in the middle of the season, especially for a team trying to remain in the postseason race.

It will be intriguing to see if Detroit’s style becomes something different as time goes on and how this mid-season, unexpected change affects the team.

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