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Tigers pitching coach Chris Fetter (right) and manager A.J. Hinch (Photo by Duane Burleson/Getty Images)
Chris Fetter always loved coaching. But he was well aware that his coaching career, as he saw it, had a ceiling.
He had a knack for relating to pitchers. He had a good eye. He loved working with data to discover ways to help pitchers improve.
Fetter experienced success at Michigan, where he made the Freshman All-America second team in 2006. Drafted by the Padres in the ninth round in 2009, he topped out at High-A, spending parts of three seasons with Lake Elsinore.
As Fetter saw it, that limited his realistic dreams. When his playing career was over, he became a pro scout for the Angels.
“My wife asked me, ‘Hey, is coaching the big leagues ever something that you would want to do?’ ” Fetter said. “And I told her flat out: ‘I didn’t play in the big leagues. I didn’t have that experience. It’s not something that’s in the cards for me.’
“Would I want to be a coach at the college level? Sure.”
Those around Fetter for more than a few moments thought differently. He went to Ball State in 2016 as the pitching coach, where he worked with future big leaguer Zach Plesac. After a year, the Dodgers hired him to be their minor league pitching coordinator in 2017.
It was a dream job in many ways, but after one year he was back in college. Michigan, his alma mater, hired him as pitching coach.
When Fetter was hired by head coach Erik Bakich in 2018, Michigan had not reached Omaha since 1984. The Wolverines had made one super regionals appearance since then, back in 2007.
In 2019, Michigan not only made it to Omaha, but they came within one win of a championship. The Wolverines lost to Vanderbilt in a deciding Game 3 of the College World Series finals.
No Big 10 Conference team had won a CWS title since Ohio State in 1966. In an era where cold weather teams rarely make it out of regionals, Michigan was one step away from winning it all.
The nearby Tigers noticed. A year later, Fetter jumped straight from the NCAA to MLB as Detroit’s pitching coach in November 2020.
At the time, the Tigers hadn’t had an above-average pitching staff in years. Measured by adjusted ERA+, Detroit hadn’t finished in the top 10 in MLB since 2013. They finished in the bottom three in 2015 and 2017. In 2020, they were dead last.
Change was slow but steady. Tigers pitchers moved out of the bottom tier in 2021, 2022 and 2023. Then in 2024, they broke out. Detroit finished third in MLB with a 3.61 ERA and second with a 3.70 fielding-independent pitching ERA, owing largely to strong rates for walks and home runs allowed.
Lefthander Tarik Skubal won the American League Cy Young Award unanimously this year. Righthander Reese Olson has developed into a solid starter.
And even after veteran righty Jack Flaherty was dealt at the trade deadline, Detroit managed to creatively figure out ways to ride young pitchers and a top-notch bullpen to a playoff run.
The Tigers went 34-19 after trading Flaherty and earned a playoff spot. In their final 20 games of the season, they allowed zero or one run eight times.
For his work with Tigers pitchers, Fetter is the BA Major League Coach of the Year.
“(Fetter) does a great job of adapting to the pitcher,” Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said. “I think in coaching, you can get caught up in the one-size-fits-all (mentality). As a major league coach, you can want the players to adapt to you, and in reality, we have to adapt to them. He’s a great example of that.
“He has a soft touch when he needs a soft touch. He has a firm hand when he needs a firm hand. He’s relentless in his research on how to make guys better and he speaks the language that the player can understand. He’s elite at all aspects of the job, and it’s one of the reasons that so many of our players have benefited from his influence.
Skubal agrees.
“I think he’s just really good at communicating, which is I think everything, especially at the big league level,” Skubal said. “Guys are going to be very talented and very skilled, but being able to communicate and work on those little things and those kinds of fine adjustments can take your game to the next level.
“He knows how to communicate, especially on days I pitch. He knows my body language, my tendencies, all that stuff. He keeps me in line and keeps my goals simple. I really like that aspect of him. Our conversations are pretty open and honest. I don’t want someone to just be a ‘yes’ man. I want someone to coach me and try to get the best out of me. I think he really does that for me.”
Fetter is quick to credit others. He notes that Tigers assistant pitching coaches Robin Lund and Juan Nieves, minor league pitching coordinator Gabe Ribas, farm director Ryan Garko and many others play vital roles. There’s a cohesiveness to the Tigers’ pitching development at the scouting, player development and major league levels that had been lacking at times.
Keider Montero, Ty Madden and Brant Hurter went from making their MLB debuts in 2024 to pitching vital innings within a matter of days.
“I was just so thrilled with the amount of guys who we had come up and hit the ground running,” Fetter said. “There are a lot of things that can kind of go overlooked in player development, but these guys turned over every stone and allowed these guys to come up and be themselves.
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