Tigers, Garko show 'development' can make difference on the field

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To be fair as the article points out, Avila started the development movement, unfortunately DD left that team in the prehistoric age and decades behind other teams when he left the Tigers.

One of the fun things to watch and starting to see more in the young Tigers and really saw with Mike Lorenzen last season is the actual “real” development of players.

Full article at link.

Tigers, Garko show ‘development’ can make difference on the field

Yes, he answered, a tight smile creasing his face, Meadows is a case study in how “development” is at the heart of giving players a chance — a chance — to be all they can be.

“One of the biggest decisions we had to make early on,” Garko said, speaking of Meadows at the start of the 2022 season, “was sending Parker back to West Michigan (high Single A) and making him earn his way out of there.”

A bit of context here: Meadows was a second-round Tigers pick in 2018. He had a pedigree. He also was 22 years old and had moved to high-A the previous summer, which put him on track to begin 2022 at Double A Erie.

Uh-uh.

Back to West Michigan he went.

“Parker made great adjustments that spring and has carried them over,” Garko said Thursday. “Real mechanical adjustments he and Kenny Graham (Tigers director of player development) made.

“Now, Parker did all of the work. But I do think Kenny and the staff had an impact.”

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Another example: Dillon Dingler, the Tigers’ top catching prodigy, and Justice Bigbie, a breakout hitter a year ago who is playing outfield and who swings a bat that could make work in Detroit inevitable as early as this season.

The challenge for Garko and Graham is that each player demands an individual assessment and approach unique to the athlete. Such has been the case with Dingler and Bigbie.

“Dingler loads differently onto his backside than Bigbie, so we have to coach him differently,” Garko said. “They’re both two, big, strong right-hand hitters. But their bodies move differently.

“Ding (you basic baseball nickname here) has a different move from Bigbie in starting his swing. And in the past, I think we might not have known that.”

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Credit goes to Al Avila, the previous Tigers general manager, for recognizing the Tigers were a few eons behind too many other MLB teams when it came to grooming players. Avila knew science and technology, biomechanics, nutrition, strength and conditioning — even psychology — had become indispensable as baseball’s best clubs worked to gain an edge on the competition.

Credit also Chris Ilitch for approving many millions of dollars in allowing Avila to take those first steps in bringing the Tigers into baseball’s 21st century.

Avila hired Garko. Now, Garko is part of a new front-office group that finds in overall chief, Scott Harris, an even more advanced focus on development, with new staffers reinforcing creeds and incorporating baseball’s latest avant-garde thinking.

“Dominate the strike zone is still the theme,” Garko said, repeating what Harris said when he was brought aboard: that throwing strikes and swinging at strikes were perhaps a first commandment for the Tigers’ approach to baseball.

“Control the zone as a hitter and throw strikes as a pitcher. Everyone says that in spring training, but the math is real. There’s a lot of proof that good things can happen if we control the strike zone.”

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In fairness, the Tigers pushed all in to get Mr I a championship before he passed. It literally gutted the organization but I understand and support the play.

We have made some God awful signings as well that have set the team back further. Add injuries to our allegedly stud pitching prospects the organization has been devastated.

It was always going to be a multiple years rebuild and it really hasn’t had the traction needed for forward movement. I hope I am wrong and we emerge as competitive but I am not holding my breath.

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Excellent article talking about Avila and Harris and the impact both are having on the Tigers from on the field to off the field.

Henning: New-and-improved 2024 Tigers are an Avila — and Harris — product
Full article at link.

Better baseball, finally, visibly, is Detroit’s reality after nearly a decade of foundering.

Who’s responsible for the Tigers finally getting things straight?

Scott Harris, the man 18 months into his job as Tigers front-office boss?

Or, is it Al Avila, the general manager who for seven years was asked to tear down and reconstruct a roster that was old, overloaded with bad money, and too thin on replacement pieces from the farm?
…

This wasn’t all Avila’s failing. Drafting and missing in Latin America had been problems dating from years and decades ago. Also, Dave Dombrowski, who preceded Avila, had been deft at dealing good prospects for players who helped fuel the Tigers’ playoff years and two World Series tickets but who also weakened the farm.

Avila and his domestic scouts did better in later years, and this is where you see much of today’s roster rebirth kicking in: Riley Greene, Spencer Torkelson, Parker Meadows, Colt Keith, Kerry Carpenter, Tarik Skubal, Matt Manning, Casey Mize, Jace Jung, Jackson Jobe, Dillon Dingler — many of the pieces either in place now or headed Detroit’s way were hauled in by Avila and his team.

On the flip side, Avila is responsible for the Tigers’ current ball-and-chain shortstop, Javier Báez, who looks as if he’ll be a long drag

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And Harris:
This is where Harris and his new approach enter a brighter Tigers picture.

They have had the benefit of plugging in Avila’s draft capital, as well as the dividends from a couple of Avila deals, including starting pitcher Reese Olson.

More likely to change ways for the Tigers and keep things viable long-term is the team’s new bosses handling drafting.

Last year’s Draft Day haul looks, even now, like a potential bonanza for the Tigers. It’s the net result not only of different thoughts on young athletes but on how wielding bonus slots can be done more shrewdly and aggressively.

Another plus is the team’s development staff designed to spiff and polish young players and make them big-league-grade. This was a push initiated by Avila that now is in high gear under Harris, as well as Ryan Garko, who was another of Avila’s smart moves.