Learn about current Detroit Tigers Manager A.J. Hinch and his involvement in one of the biggest scandals in MLB history.
Andrew Jay (A.J.) Hinch was born on May 15th, 1974 in Waverly, Iowa. Hinch grew up playing the sport of baseball and his senior year in highschool he was named the 1992 National Gatorade Player of the Year. His success as a young player led to him being drafted in 1996 by the Oakland Athletics. Hinch’s professional career as a player would be short-lived, but it allowed him to work toward his next goal of becoming an MLB manager. Hinch is still managing today, and has had an incredible career so far, but his legacy will always have a large cloud looming overhead.
Professional Career
A.J. would be drafted three different times before he was finally drafted by the Oakland Athletics in the 3rd round of the 1996 draft out of Stanford University. Hinch would finally debut with the Athletics two years later on April 1st, 1998 against the Boston Red Sox where he went 0-3 on the day. Hinch would have a very mediocre career that would span 7 seasons with 4 different teams.
Hinch would finally only appear in 4 games his final MLB season in 2004 with the Philadelphia Phillies, but had already begun focusing on his next career path of becoming a MLB manager. Hinch would spend the 2005 season on the Phillies Triple-A affiliate before officially announcing his retirement as a player. He would finish his MLB career with a slash line of .219/.280/.356 with a career WAR of 0.0.
Getting into Management
Following his retirement in 2005, Hinch would immediately get to work on his next role. In July of 2006 Hinch would be named the new director of player development for the Arizona Diamondbacks. After a few seasons he would officially be named the Arizona Diamondbacks new manager heading into the 2009 season. Surprisingly though this role would only last about a year and a half as Hinch would be fired during the 2010 season. In his 212 games as the Diamondbacks manager, Hinch would have an overall record of 89-123.
Hinch would rebound quickly though, as he would be named the vice president of professional scouting by the San Diego Padres on September 21st, 2010. He would spend the next 3 seasons in this role before having a short stint in 2014 as their interim GM.
Manager of the Houston Astros (2015-2019)
After resigning from the interim GM position for the Padres, Hinch would be named manager of the Houston Astros. The Astros had been in a rebuild and they viewed Hinch as the man that would help them finally turn it around. In his first season with the club, Hinch would deliver. The Astros had not had a winning record since 2008, but in 2015, coming off a 70-92 season, they finished 86-76. In his first season as manager Hinch had not only led the team to a winning record, but a playoff berth.
This was the Astros first playoff berth since 2005 when they were swept in the World Series by the Chicago White Sox. While Hinch would not lead the Astros to a title that year, as they fell in the ALDS to the Kansas City Royals, it seemed the future was bright in Houston, Texas. Houston would not make the playoffs in the 2016 season, but they still had a record of 84-78. 2017 is when it all came together. In his 3rd season as the Astros manager, led by the AL MVP Jose Altuve, the Astros would put together a 101-61 record and were back in the playoffs. They would defeat the Boston Red Sox 3-1 in the ALDS, and the New York Yankees in 7 games in the American League Championship Series.
Hinch had finally led the Astros back to the World Series for the first time since 2005, and they were set to face off against the Los Angeles Dodgers. In another grueling 7 game series, the Astros would come out on top. For the first time in the franchise’s history, they were World Series Champions. Hinch and the Astros would have two more successful seasons in 2018 and 2019, even making it back to the World Series in 2019 but falling short after losing 4-3 to the Washington Nationals. Even with 2017 being the pinnacle of success for Hinch, it would also forever be stained with the sign-stealing scandal that would come out.
The Scandal
Sign-stealing in baseball has been around for as long as the game has been played. Whether it was players trying to tell a batter what pitch was coming after seeing the catcher put down his sign at the plate, or a team trying to understand the 3rd base coaches signals. What made this different was the technology involved. The Astros were accused of using a camera in centerfield that was traced to monitors in the Astros dugout.
The combination of the camera and the feed they displayed on the monitors allowed the Astros to know what pitch was being called during an at-bat and they would bang on trash cans to alert the batter. It was also speculated that some of the Astros players would wear an electronic buzzer that would help them know the correct pitch.
After the allegations of the electronic sign-stealing broke, many players denied the allegations or kept quiet on the situation, some would later come out to discuss it. Hinch attended a press conference where he acknowledged his cooperation with the MLB and its investigation, but refused to comment further. Finally, following the 2019 season, the MLB would hand out its punishment. The Astros would be fined $5 million and both A.J. Hinch and the teams general manager Jeff Luhnow, were both suspended for a year for violating MLB policies.
This led to them both being fired by the Astros that same day. Hinch may have not been the curator of the idea, but he knew about it and never stepped in to stop it from happening. Hinch would later be interviewed and would take full blame and apologize for his involvements which you can read more about here: ESPN
Detroit Tigers Manager (2021-Present)
Following his year suspension from the MLB, Hinch was signed to a multi-year contract by the Detroit Tigers. The Tigers have been a struggling organization, and even during Hinch’s first three years with the team that had not really changed. The club had definitely shown signs of improvement, but they still had yet to break a record over .500. Then in 2024 led by Triple Crown winning pitcher Tarik Skubal, Hinch and the Tigers were in the playoffs again.
As destiny would have it, Hinch would be leading his Tigers against his former club, the Houston Astros, in the Wildcard round. Hinch and the Tigers would overcome the Astros 2-0 in the series before eventually falling to the Cleveland Guardians in the ALDS. Hinch is heading into his 5th season with the Tigers and his 12th year overall as a manager where he has accumulated an overall record of 877-793.
Hinch has proven his ability to be one of the great MLB managers, but his career will always have the cloud of the 2017 scandal looming overhead.
