Detroit — Tigers manager AJ Hinch, speaking at his postseason press conference earlier this month, was quick to absolve the club’s training and medical staff of any blame for the season-long rash of injuries the Tigers dealt with in 2022.
But he also suggested the entire process needed to be reviewed and evaluated.
Three weeks later, the Tigers have made some changes at the top of their training department.
Kevin Rand, who has been with the organization since 2002, will not have his contract renewed. After serving as the Tigers’ head athletic trainer through 2017, he’d been bumped to the role of senior director of medical services working out of the team’s facility in Lakeland.
Doug Teter, who has been the team’s head athletic trainer since 2017 and has been in the organization in a variety of roles since 1993, will transition to a yet-to-be-defined role in Lakeland.
Steve Chase, the strength and conditioning coach the last two seasons, will also not return. Chase had been with the Tigers, previously working as minor-league strength and conditioning coach, for 16 years.
“I don’t think the injuries can be associated with the strengths and weaknesses of our medical department or strength department,” Hinch said. “It was a really rough year and those guys worked tirelessly. They were dealing with something every single day of the season.
“So we’re going to look at our processes. We’re going to look at our processes and see where we can get better and what we what we do well what we do below average and try to address all of that.”
Hinch intimated the system, the coordination between Detroit and Lakeland, needed to be upgraded.
“Lakeland became overwhelmed with humans,” Hinch said. “And quite honestly, I think it exposed that we could probably enhance that department. And I think it’s something that the organization needs to look into — both in size and strength of our of our overall program.
“But it needs to be linked completely together. How we how we handle our medical process has to be unilateral across the organization.”
It is unclear if the Tigers will be hiring a new head athletic trainer and strength coach at the big league level. Assistant trainers Chris McDonald and Matt Rankin are still on staff, as is assistant strength coach Matt Rosenhamer.
chris.mccosky@detroitnews.com
Twitter: @cmccosky
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