The Tigers announced a batch of additions to their coaching staff, including Michael Brdar as major league hitting coach, Keith Beauregard as major league hitting coach, James Rowson as assistant major league hitting coach, Robin Lund as assistant major league pitching coach and Ryne Eubanks as head athletic trainer.
Brdar, 28, has proven to be a popular name for coaching positions in his young career. As a player, he was drafted by the Cardinals in 2017 and got some action at rookie ball that year. That was the end of his playing days, with Brdar then joining the University of Michigan, where he played college ball, as a coach. He followed that up by getting hired as the Giants’ minor league hitting coordinator.
One year ago, he was hired away from the Giants by the Padres, who made him hitting coach at the major league level. After one season in San Diego, he’ll now head back to the state of his alma mater. The Tigers’ new president of baseball operations Scott Harris was general manager of the Giants until recently, meaning he presumably was aware of Brdar’s work in that organization. Joining Brdar as hitting coach for the Tigers will be Keith Beauregard, who had previously been coaching in the Dodgers’ system. Those two will be joined by James Rowson, who had been working as bench coach for the Marlins and has had some interest for managerial openings in recent years.
Hitting will likely be a key focus for the club after that was a huge weakness for them in 2022. Just about every player in the lineup underperformed at the plate, from veterans to prospects. As a collective, Detroit hitters produced a batting line of .231/.286/.346. The resulting 81 wRC+ indicates they were 19% below league average, the worst such mark in the majors. Their 110 home runs were also dead last by a significant margin, as the Guardians were 29th with 127. For a team that entered 2022 with aspirations of ending their rebuild and competing for a playoff spot, those results were disappointing to say the least.
The Padres will now have a vacancy in their own hitting coach position, though Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune reports that Ryan Flaherty is expected to take over the role. Flaherty played in the big leagues from 2012 to 2019 but has since transitioned into the coaching side of the game. The Padres hired him as quality control coach going into 2020 and he has remained with the club since then. The Mets tried to pry him away to be their bench coach a year ago, though the Padres denied their request to interview him.
With the new job, Brdar can now afford to buy a vowel.
Beauregard has plenty of vowels to spare. I see some swapping behind the batting cage.
Also Brdar can see how Eli Grba fared, back in the day,
You, sir, are a mouthful.
One day, writer’s will quit rubbing our noses in the results of last year’s fiasco…….enough…yeah….at this point….we all know about it……
Not news, dude.
Huh?
… and the “spelling police” will quit trying to teach would-be know-it-alls that plurals DO NOT take apostrophes.
With the exception of the A’s, for somewhat obvious reasons.
Well, I was referring to the stat reference .231 ,110 but you are right…..
Years should have been plural.
If you’re talking about where you wrote “rubbing our noses in the results of last year’s fiasco,” Saber-toothed, you were right. “Last year’s fiasco” referred to a single year’s fiasco, and you punctuated it correctly.
Or teaching them that possessive plurals do take apostrophes, but the apostrophe follows the “s” instead of preceding it — nasty grammar police!
Another new rebuild with a brand new group of coaches.
I hear you! I cannot imagine our Tigers breaking 70 wins next year
Worse is the new GM will likely gut the farm to trade for platoon players.
They will figuratively break more than 70 winds, though.
Beldar? They hired a Conehead?
Gnarfle the Garthok!
I find it very humorous that, even though fans may have been frustrated with the Padres, a somewhat successful hitting coach voluntarily left as opposed to being fired.
I mean, even with the underperformance of a few key players and one who decided motorcycling with ringworm was his excuse, they still did get to the playoffs. I guess they ranked in the top half of the teams in a few categories too.
Anyways, how many people voluntarily move to Detroit? It must have been a special draw. Scott Harris might be turning into another AJ Preller. Bringing people he knows in at a high rate
I think it’s partially geographic, he has Michigan ties and there were some tweets from Padres beat writers about how the move got him closer to home.
Padres already had an in house replacement lined up too so they probably didn’t care. It’s a lateral move so teams don’t always give permission for those interviews, but they allowed it here so seems like everyone was on the same page
Detroit does not represent the rest of Michigan. That goes for Flint and Pontiac.
Believe it or not, people do voluntarily come to Detroit. It’s such an old trope to bash Detroit as if this place is some broken down piece of garbage. Jaden Ivy prayed that he didn’t get drafted by anyone other than Detroit. Matthew Stafford loved his 12 years in Detroit didn’t bash it on his way out via trade. The hockey world cherish’s the original 6 & Yzerman could not wait to comeback & be the GM. The Tigers are young & exciting so yes, this young GM will get these guys easily to come & build a winner. They don’t need to convinced or have their arm twisted. You don’t know squat!
“Just about every player in the lineup underperformed at the plate”
Under Bradr, the same thing could be said about the Padres except for Manny and Kim.
Nice seem like great hires! The problem with the tigers this offseason is it sounds like they’re going to trade extremely valuable arms for backup profile position players that had 1 outlier year. Not who i would be targeting that’s for sure. One guy is wider than he is tall ha. They have no power at all coming from the corners in the IF or OF. That’s where they should start. Also need top tier sp.
I like the new hires, too. Hitting (especially with power) was our #1 problem last year, so it makes sense to trade from your “strength” of lots of young arms. Considering how many injuries the staff had last year, we were fortunate to have enough guys to step in out of nowhere and give us some decent innings. Obviously, we will see how skilled the new regime is at evaluating their talent and making smart trades like The Rays.
Hey Harris,
A smart GM and athletic trainer…..
Would.start testing ALL housing facilities……
For environmental factors……
Such as……
Air quality……
That’s right, people…….
Someone has figured out how hurt other people without getting caught…..surprised? Not me.
Check for carbon monoxide and freon…..
Both short term and long tern exposure to even trace amount…….over a period of.time but also in the short term with carbon monoxide….like over night, short term……sluggishness ect…… what a country I live in now!
Yet another reason….to hire the Superfife….
It’s a project for Teter…
People DO voluntarily come to Detroit. It’s such an old trope to bash Detroit as if this place is some broken down piece of garbage. Jaden Ivy prayed that he didn’t get drafted by anyone other than Detroit. Matthew Stafford loved his 12 years in Detroit didn’t bash it on his way out via trade. The hockey world cherish’s the original 6 & Yzerman could not wait to comeback & be the GM. The Tigers are young & exciting so yes, this young GM will get these guys easily to come & build a winner. They don’t need to convinced or have their arm twisted. You don’t know squat!
Believe it or not, people do voluntarily come to Detroit. It’s such an old trope to bash Detroit as if this place is some broken down piece of garbage. Jaden Ivy prayed that he didn’t get drafted by anyone other than Detroit. Matthew Stafford loved his 12 years in Detroit didn’t bash it on his way out via trade. The hockey world cherish’s the original 6 & Yzerman could not wait to comeback & be the GM. The Tigers are young & exciting so yes, this young GM will get these guys easily to come & build a winner. They don’t need to convinced or have their arm twisted. You don’t know squat!
Tiger’s building something special!!