A.J. Hinch becomes fifth active manager to reach this career milestone

The Detroit Tigers had to go into extra innings to notch an 8-6 victory over the Colorado Rockies on Wednesday. The victory keeps the Tigers atop the American League, but also holds plenty of significance for manager A.J. Hinch.

The win was Hinch’s 900th of his managerial career, making him the fifth active coach to do so, following Bruce Bochy (Texas Rangers), Terry Francona (Cincinnati Reds), Bob Melvin (San Francisco Giants) and Bud Black (Rockies).

Hinch, 50, is in just his fifth season with the Tigers and is already rapidly moving up the all-time wins list.

Since taking over a team with four straight losing seasons, Hinch’s Tigers are 330-354 coming off a surprise run into the ALDS.

Signs are pointing toward Detroit having a contender and it’s hard to separate their growing success to Hinch’s work since taking over in 2021.

After a 23-13 start, Hinch is on pace to move into the top-8 in all-time wins by a Tigers manager by the end of the season. That select group includes five Hall of Famers and the winners of three of Detroit’s World Series victories.

While Hinch is enjoying a strong performance to open 2025, his impressive career milestone is also thanks to his 212 games spent as the manager of the Arizona Diamondbacks and 810 with the Houston Astros.

Hinch was thrown into the fire almost 16 years to the date when he was named interim manager of the Diamondbacks following Bob Melvin’s firing. The former catcher had never managed or coached a team at any level at age 34.

An 89-123 record with Arizona before he was fired — alongside general manager Josh Byrnes — in 2010 led Hinch to a stint with the San Diego Padres in multiple scouting and baseball operational roles.

In 2014 he joined the Astros as manager and took off with five straight winning seasons, three first-place finishes in the AL West and a 2017 World Series.

A sign-stealing scandal that erupted in Houston led to Hinch’s one-year suspension from baseball. It’s also what ended up bringing him to Detroit.

Over the past three seasons, the Tigers have increased their win total each year and made the playoffs for the first time since 2014.