DETROIT — I’ve been carrying around these quotes from agent Scott Boras since he spoke at the general managers’ meetings in Las Vegas in November. His words struck me at the time as extremely relevant to the Tigers, and even more so since manager AJ Hinch and president Scott Harris built a 10-coach big-league faculty, including three-man hitting and pitching departments.
Boras talked about what he called the “analytic bombshell,” about the disconnect between those who create the analytics and produce the data and the players it’s all supposed to help. He said he’s heard from far too many players that feel teams are asking them to focus on methods and standards that are different than those they used to get to the big leagues.
I have witnessed some of that the last couple of years with the Tigers, and not just from dyed-in-the-wool old-schoolers. Akil Baddoo and Spencer Torkelson both got their heads spun around last season. While it would be inaccurate to blame their struggles solely on any analytic bombshell, both battled a tug-a-war between the ways and means that got them to the big leagues and the adjustments they now were being asked to make.
