DETROIT — Gabe Kapler first met new Tigers president Scott Harris in the fall of 2019, when Kapler was interviewing for the Chicago Cubs' managerial opening.
Kapler was passed over for that job, but landed with the San Francisco Giants a month later — two days after Harris, too, joined the Giants as their new general manager.
Kapler's initial impression of Harris was positive, and the appreciation has only grown since.
"Scott's awesome. Really collaborative, inquisitive; one of his best qualities is he basically leads with learning about other people and other people's opinions," Kapler told The Detroit News in a phone conversation Tuesday afternoon, about an hour before Harris was officially introduced as the TIgers' new front-office chief in a media conference at Comerica Park.
"I think one of the things that makes him special is he's genuinely trying to bring people into his vision, he's genuinely trying to bring people into his processes and build with the team. He's excellent with working with other people. He's got his own, very well-thought-out ideas and opinions, but he's also looking to layer on feedback from other people.
"I don't think he's interested in achieving his vision alone.
"That's one of the things that's a separator with Scott."
Harris was hired by the Tigers to replace Al Avila, who was fired last month after more than five years as the team's general manager, and more than two decades in the Tigers' front office.
The Tigers haven't had a winning season since 2016, and haven't made the playoffs since 2014.
Harris brings an impressive resume to the job, with three years as general manager of the Giants — where he answered to president Farhan Zaidi — and seven years with the Cubs before that, rising to assistant general manager as a right-hand man to the well-respected Theo Epstein. Harris was part of the front office that led the Cubs to the 2016 World Series championship. Before his time in Chicago, Harris worked for Major League Baseball, and before that had internships with the Washington Nationals and Cincinnati Reds.
Harris is in his mid-30s. Avila is 64, and Dave Dombrowski was 59 when he was fired in 2015.
The age doesn't matter, Kapler said. The resume does.
"It's a really good body of work," Kapler, a former Tigers outfielder who also managed the Philadelphia Phillies before landing in San Francisco, said from Denver, where the Giants are playing the Colorado Rockies this week. "Yeah, Scott's young. That's just years on the calendar.
"More important is the work at Major League Baseball, his work with the Cubs, and his work with the Giants. He's ideal to tackle this responsibility.
"He's inquisitive, intense and thoughtful, and he's very, very driven and competitive."
