The Detroit Tigers have finally gotten the message.
To build a winning franchise, the draft and signing big-money free agents is not enough.
Even shrewd trades don’t guarantee long-term success.
Player development is the likeliest path towards a return to contention.
You don’t do anything if you bring in talented high school or college players and don’t give them the tools to succeed.
Spencer Torkelson, perhaps the best prospect in baseball entering 2022, failed miserably this season.
Riley Greene was basically average offensively, as his 99 wRC+ suggests.
Other hitters in the Tigers’ organization were a mess, too, starting from high-profile free agent addition Javier Baez.
It seems like the entire Tigers offense took a step back this past season: they finished dead last in runs scored with 557.
Bringing in a top hitting coach was not an option: it was a necessity.
The Tigers, therefore, have made their first major addition of the offseason, and it’s not a player.
“Huge addition by Tigers. Michael Brdar was most recently the @Padres hitting coach and is a former @umichbaseball assistant coach. Very highly regarded,” MLB insider Jon Morosi tweeted.
Huge addition by Tigers. Michael Brdar was most recently the @Padres hitting coach and is a former @umichbaseball assistant coach. Very highly regarded.@MLBNetwork https://t.co/Opee8RxYZs
— Jon Morosi (@jonmorosi) November 15, 2022
Brdar is just 28, making him one of the youngest coaches in the league.
Good Coaching And Communication Skills
He played for De La Salle High School in Concord, California.
He then enrolled at Diablo Valley College, where he began his college baseball career.
After that, he played for the Michigan Wolverines, and the St. Louis Cardinals picked him in the 36th round of the 2017 MLB draft.
Brdar played just 31 games at the rookie level in 2017: that was his whole professional career.
He then spent two seasons as the hitting coordinator for the San Francisco Giants and joined the Padres for the 2022 campaign.
In this interview from earlier in the year with the San Diego Union-Tribune, it becomes evident that Brdar has two interests: numbers, and coaching.
He also has great communication skills.
His early-career success as a coach may be surprising at first, but he is leaving his mark in every organization he has been.
It’s time for his biggest challenge yet: helping the Tigers being competent at the plate.
NEXT: The Tigers May Make A Serious Upgrade This Offseason