A. J. Hinch

Andrew Jay Hinch (born May 15, 1974) is an American professional baseball coach and former catcher who is the manager of the Detroit Tigers of Major League Baseball (MLB). As a member of Team USA, Hinch won a bronze medal at the 1996 Summer Olympics before playing in MLB for the Oakland Athletics (1998–2000), Kansas City Royals (2001–2002), Detroit Tigers (2003), and Philadelphia Phillies (2004). Born in Iowa, Hinch attended Midwest City High School in Oklahoma, and then Stanford University, where he played college baseball for the Cardinal. In the 1996 MLB draft, the Athletics selected him in the third round, and he appeared in 350 games over seven major league seasons. Following his playing career, Hinch managed the Arizona Diamondbacks from May 2009 to July 2010, and became vice president of professional scouting for the San Diego Padres from September 2010 to August 2014. Hinch joined the Houston Astros as manager from 2015 through 2019, guiding the club through one of the most successful periods in franchise history. They won the 2017 World Series, two American League (AL) pennants, and over 100 regular season wins each from 2017 to 2019, including a club-record 107 in the latter. Due to being implicated in the Astros' sign stealing scandal the following year, Hinch was suspended by MLB for one year and fired by the team. Prior to the 2021 season, the Tigers hired Hinch as manager, and he guided the club to their next playoff appearance in 2024.