Tigers Skipper's Failed Pinch-Hit Maneuver Deserves Scrutiny
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Far too often, the managers in Major League Baseball receive unwarranted criticism and flat-out hate over how a team is performing. Most of the time, it is unjustified. However, that isn't the case for the Detroit Tigers manager, AJ Hinch.
Hinch has been criticized more often than not for "over-managing." He is pinch-hitting when maybe he shouldn't, taking starting pitchers out too early, the list goes on. While it is definitely a thankless job, and one that nobody would want to do, there may be a point lying in there.
A perfect example of the incorrect pinch-hitting move came in Saturday's win against the Chicago White Sox. Yes, they won, but that isn't the point, and the boos that rang loudly at Comerica Park were less about the failed at-bat, but more Hinch's decision to put him there.
So, what happened?
What Went Wrong in the Fourth Inning
The bullpen game for the White Sox was killing the Tigers as the first time through the order. It wasn't until the top of the fourth that Detroit had its first base runner as Kevin McGonigle drew a walk.
By the time the No. 6 man had come up, the inning had gone walk, pop up, walk, line out, walk. The bases were now loaded, all on drawn walks, and a pitching change was made which brought a lefty on the mound.
Instead of letting the left-handed Kerry Carpenter face him with two outs and the bases loaded, Hinch decided that instead, Jahmai Jones would take the at-bat. Jones is hitting under .170 this year against lefties and was 1-for-22 going into Saturday, per Tigers Data on X (formerly Twitter).
Jones ended up striking out, and Carpenter wasn't able to take another swing the rest of the game. Luckily, it didn't cost them this one, but that early in a game and Carpenter's .800 OPS on the year should not have warranted a pinch-hitter.
No, Carpenter isn't any better against lefties this year, but why not take the chance on him there? Especially knowing that this was a reliever's game for Chicago, meaning that a lefty wasn't going to be the only pitcher that they faced.
Being a manager of a ballclub, especially a losing one, is not a job that everyone wants to have. But situations like that simply cannot happen, especially when every game means so much to Detroit right now.
If this season is not going to be labeled a wash, they have to steal as many games as they can and play clean baseball. The pinch-hitting experiment has to be over, or they will turn to sellers when the trade deadline comes around.
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Maddy Dickens resides in Loveland, Colorado. She grew up with two older brothers, where their lives revolved around sports. She earned a master's degree in business management from Tarleton State University while simultaneously playing basketball and competing in rodeo at the collegiate level. She successfully parlayed a reserve national championship into a professional rodeo career and now stays involved in upper-level athletics by writing for On SI on several different MLB teams' pages, along with some NCAA sites.