AJ Hinch's Kerry Carpenter hint indicates bigger Tigers' mindset shift in 2027

Kerry Carpenter has mostly been a non-entity for the Tigers this season. He was brilliant in June, when Detroit was starting to come back to life, but awful in July, before going onto the IL with plantar fasciitis. It coincided closely with the Tigers DFA'ing Jahmai Jones, and despite the eventual disappointment of the season, both of their absences ushered in a refreshing change.

Through the last two months of the season, AJ Hinch has been far less trigger-happy when it comes to his pinch-hitting situations. That may be because of the emergence of the rookies as guys who can mostly hit to all fields, and there are still exceptions, but Carpenter and Jones were the two faces of that particular strategy.

Fans become so fed up with Jones by the end of his Tigers tenure that the team responded accordingly by letting him go, and he's since carved a similar niche with the Red Sox. Carpenter has been harder to puzzle out.

Is he an everyday player or just a platoon bat? The Tigers have indicated that they believe he's the latter, but when a guy hardly gets lefty-lefty opportunites, how do they really know?

Hinch hinted that Carpenter will get another chance to earn an everyday role when he's healthy in 2027. "I think his development is still climbing, I think he has room to grow," he said. "But that constant push is to figure out what we can get out of him, both on the field as an outfielder but also as a DH, is going to continue to be something that I look at to see what can we do to get more time out of him."

Kerry Carpenter needs to improve in these key areas if he wants to earn an everyday role with the Tigers

To be fair, Hinch has said something along these lines about Carpenter before, and his emphasis on defense shouldn't be overlooked. Carpenter has often been a liability in right field, and the Tigers have a much better defensive outfielder in Ben Malgeri.

Parker Meadows' and Wenceel Perez's returns next season will also crowd the outfield picture, and both are stronger defenders. Carpenter has consistently been one of the clutchest bats in the Tigers' lineup, but with guys like Eduardo Valencia also emerging as a potentially semi-permanent DH, there's trouble for Carp there too.

The Tigers just need to see Carpenter be a more complete player, because that's the way the tides are shifting. Although Colt Keith and Spencer Torkelson still sometimes fall victim to the old pinch-hititng ways, that strategy has mostly gone by the wayside.

Carpenter can either solidify his place on the roster by proving he can keep up with the times, or he might get left behind.

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