May 15 Happy Birthday to Former Tigers or Detroit Wolverines

Jason Karnuth ended his time in the majors with the Tigers.  He was in the Cardinals farm system for over 4 years before getting a shot at the majors in 2001.  He was a right handed starter until hitting the show.  He got in 4 games as a reliever for the Cards and did not record a decision.  His ERA was 1.80 in 5 innings pitched.  He was back in the minors and was sent to the Chicago Cubs organization in 2002.  IN 2004 the Tiges signed him and pitched for Erie and Toledo in 2004 going 5-2 with a 3.58 ERA and 8 saves as a full time reliever.  In 2005v he was 7-2 with 23 saves for the Mud Hens when he got a late season call up to the Tiges.  He debuted for the Tiges on September 19, against the Royals in Kansas City.  The Royals were up 5-2 in the 5th with 2 outs.  Starter Jeremy Bonderman has just given up a double and Jason was called in to stop the bleeding.  He gave up double to Angel Berroa and then a single to John Buck.  Jason then got Andres Blanco to ground out and end the inning.  Jason did not return in the 6^th.  About a week later on September 25, Jason was called into end a game against the Seattle Mariners which the Tigers were winning 8-1.  Jason got the side out 1-2-3 to end the game.  Three days later he was called in again against the White Sox.  The Tigers were down 5-2 going into the 9^th and Craig Dingman had been called in to end the game.  He had given up 3 runs to make the score 8-2 and had put two runners on with two outs when he was replaced by Jason.  Jason got Scott Podsednik to hit a fly ball to left to end the inning.  The Tiges failed to score in their half of the 9^th and lost 8-2.  The game was over and so was Jason’s time in the majors.  He would pitch 2 more years in the minors before his professional career was over.  His final record as a Tiger was 0-0 with a 5.40 ERA.

AJ Hinch may be a future Billy Beane but was a backup catcher for Tigers.  He attended Stanford before joining the professional ranks in 1997 with the Oakland A’s.  He hit .328 his first year and was call up to the Athletics in 1998.  He was the starting catcher for the A’s in 1998 at the age of 24 and hit .231.  He was the Tiges starter in 1999 as well but his hitting dropped off to 2.15.  In 2000 he was sent to the Royals as part of the Johnny Damon deal.  He was a back up catcher for the Royals for two years before the Cleveland Indians signed him as a free agent and then sold him to the Tigers.  The Tigers may have gained interest in him from the Winter Meetings in 2003 that he attended looking for contacts for a job after his playing days were over.  That had to be an odd sight for many of the GM’s to see a 29 year old player talking them up for a post career career.  For the Tigers in 2003 AJ hit .203 as a back up catcher in 27 games.  At the end of the season he was released and signed with the Philadelphia Phillies.  He played 4 games for the Phils before his playing days ended in 2005.  He worked with the Arizona Diamondbacks for few years before being named manager of the Diamondbacks replacing former Tiger Bob Melvin in 2009.  He had never had any coaching or managing experience when he took the reins.   It did not last long and in 2010 he was fired and replaced by former Tiger Kirk Gibson as manager of the Diamondbacks.  AJ went on to the Padres and is Vice President of Professional Scouting.  At one point he was named by Baseball America as one of the top 10 to watch as a future GM or Farm Director.  That coupled with his Stanford education make me think he may be a future Billy Beane.  The fact that he was with the Padres who have Randy Smith as Vice President of Player Development and International Scouting made me think otherwise.   But today he has gotten away from Randy and is the skipper for the Houston Astros.  They made it to the playoffs in 2015 under AJ’s first season as their skipper.