The Detroit Tigers haven’t taken the instincts out of the game.
Yes, they beefed up their analytical brainpower this off-season, adding three staff members, but no, they won’t be taking that brainpower and force-feeding it into the product on the field.
“As far as the game management, they have the info they need,” general manager Al Avila said recently. “Everybody walks away with what they need. You could have analysis by analysis, but our manager doesn’t really use it that way.”
Ausmus has the coaching staff to lean on, his instincts, and a lifetime of baseball experience to use the information the analytics department gathers as he sees fit.