AJ Hinch's reflection on Tigers' 2024 season should send message to front office

This is a critical offseason for the Detroit Tigers as they look to prove that their late-season success in 2024 wasn't a fluke, but rather a springboard for the future and a sign of things to come.

"We are capturing a lot of that momentum and experience," Tigers manager AJ Hinch said Monday in a radio appearance on 97.1 The Ticket. "We had one of the youngest teams in baseball at the end of the year and we were one of four teams left playing in the American League. We're going to take the good from that."

Now, the Tigers are looking ahead to 2025 with greater expectations than many would have imagined, even as recently as six months ago. But with great expectations comes the increased pressure to live up to them; and while pressure can make diamonds, it can also cause foundations to crack if they aren't built solidly.

"Now the challenge is, we’re not a secret anymore," Hinch said. "We’re not this building team, because we put together a pretty epic run to get to the playoffs. Now the expectations will mount and we’ll go back to preparing the way that we always have."

AJ Hinch's reflection on Tigers' 2024 season should send message to front office

While their magical run saw them eliminate a 10-game deficit in the Wild Card race to make it all the way to the ALDS, Hinch acknowledged that there are better paths toward sustained success moving forward.

He went on to praise president of baseball operations Scott Harris and the rest of the Tigers' front office, saying that they "value players' strengths to the highest degree of any place that I’ve ever been in the game." For an organization that values internal growth and solutions as a means to success, that ability is paramount.

"It’s a relentless effort to try to get a little bit better in every area," Hinch said of Harris' leadership. "And he means it. It’s not just for a fancy quote. It’s an identity that this organization has transformed into in the last couple years working with him. I love our partnership and I love the fact that we can challenge one another, because he can take it, too. It’s not just about pointing fingers at all of us to get better."

Hinch did his job exceptionally well in 2024, getting the most out of an inexperienced group of young players and leading them through a magical postseason push. Now, Harris needs to show that same commitment to success through the way he invests the team's resources in 2025.

Whether it's through trades, free agency or contract extensions, Harris needs to reward Hinch and his team's efforts by giving them the extra pieces they need to get over the hump and become legitimate World Series contenders.

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