Fetter's Used Personal Touch, Keen Knowledge to Significantly Improve Detroit's Pitching Staff

The former Michigan pitching coach is valued by his hurlers and Tigers manager A.J. Hinch, who says, "In every aspect of the job, he dominates. And the players respond to him."

Photos Courtesy of Allison Farrand/Detroit Tigers

Tigers pitching coach Chris Fetter sizes up starting pitcher Casey Mize warming up in the bullpen at Fenway Park before a game in Boston. Mize said of Fetter’s approach: “Pitcher to pitcher, he needs to know how they want to receive information or if they’re willing, and how you can approach that. But, for me, that’s awesome. And he’s done great things for all of our guys.”

Detroit pitching coach Chris Fetter (No. 41) talks with Tigers All-Star starter Tarik Skubal in the dugout at Comerica Park during a game this season.

By Steve Kornacki

DETROIT – The numbers don’t lie, and they say that Chris Fetter has done quite a job for the Detroit Tigers in four seasons as their pitching coach.

Detroit manager A.J. Hinch made Fetter -- whom he got to know while both were in the San Diego Padres’ organization -- his first phone call for the job upon getting hired by Tigers general manager Al Avila after the 2020 season.

Fetter, 38, had turned the University of Michigan pitching staff into a dynamic unit that reached the College World Series championship game in 2019 with two future MLB pitchers – Tommy Henry and Karl Kauffmann – and Triple-A hurler Jeff Criswell.

Now, Fetter is well on his way to making dramatic improvements with the Tigers.

Detroit’s 5.63 ERA ranked 30^th in MLB the season before Fetter and Hinch arrived. At the All-Star break, the Tigers rank 14^th with a 3.95 ERA. Detroit ranked 29^th in strikeouts, but is ninth now. Its ranking in walks issued has improved from 11^th fewest to the fifth fewest, while the WHIP has improved from 1.43 (23^rd) to 1.22 (tied for ninth).

All-Star left-hander Tarik Skubal has emerged as a strong Cy Young Award candidate for Detroit, while Reese Olson has developed into a front-line starter. Jack Flaherty resurrected his career this season under Fetter, and chose the Tigers as a free agent because he saw what Fetter had done to turn Michael Lorenzen into an All-Star starter. Casey Mize, the No. 1 overall draft pick in 2018, is making strides in his first season back after Tommy John surgery.

The bullpen has become solid with high-leverage pitchers such as Jason Foley, Andrew Chafin, Tyler Holton and Will Vest.

I spoke with several of those pitchers and Hinch recently at Comerica Park.

When asked about what Fetter does best, Hinch said, “He really covers the entire pitching department, and at a high level. And he connects with the players as good as anyone I’ve seen in that job. He’s thorough. He’s very versatile. He doesn’t coach the same way to every player. He doesn’t expect a player to learn the same way.

“Great preparer. He does in-game adjustments. I mean, in every aspect of the job, he dominates. And the players respond to him. It’s important, as a modern-day coach, that you’re able to speak a few different languages, do it in a couple different ways. Show a tireless work ethic, and get results, and he does all of that.”

Hinch clarified that “I didn’t mean languages as in foreign languages. I’m talking about how people learn. Our way as coaches is to teach in ways that the players can learn. He does that as good as anybody.”

Olson’s development this season has been particularly telling where Fetter’s impact is concerned.

Olson, after giving up five runs (four earned) in 5 1/3 innings of a loss June 12 to the Washington Nationals, sat on the dugout bench with a vacant stare after being taken out of the game. He was searching for answers, and Fetter put his right arm around him as they spoke.

“We’ve been working together for over a year now and he knows how to approach me,” said Olson. “He’s not going to approach me the same way he’d approach [veterans] like Skub [Skubal] or [Flaherty]. He was just letting me know that everyone here believes in me, and that we’re going to iron this stuff out and get through it.”

Olson, in his next start, shut out the powerful Atlanta Braves over six innings, allowing four hits with zero walks while striking out eight.

And in his five starts since that game where Fetter pumped his confidence with some well-timed encouragement, Olson is 3-0 with a 2.40 ERA and a tremendous 0.93 WHIP. His strikeouts-to-walks ratio is an excellent 31-to-6 in 30 innings over those outings.

Lessons learned, for sure.

“I love working with Fett a lot,” said Olson. “When it’s collaborative, he’s kind of hands off until you need him. For example, last year when I got called up, my first two starts were good. He said, ‘Keep doing what you’re doing. Don’t change anything.’ And once you feel like you get to a point where you need him, he’s got you covered.

“He’s on top of everything and is super intelligent and very smart. You couldn’t ask for a better pitching coach.”

Olson continued, “He’s just super straight-forward. For example, what I’m going through right now, he came to me this morning and said, ‘Here’s what you were doing well when you were performing.’ When you’re kind of struggling, he reassured me that I had the ability to pitch well. He laid out the reasons I was going through the struggles, and what it’s going to take for me to get back. And he was reassuring me last night, making sure I’m feeling good, letting me know it’s a rough stretch, and everyone here believes in me. So, to have a guy like that in the park is really good.”

Olson had allowed 17 earned runs over three consecutive starts with that defeat to Washington dropping him to 1-8. His earned run average had swelled from an impressive 1.92 to 3.68. But he’s now 4-8 with a 3.30 ERA.

Fetter’s connection with Olson is a prime example of what attracted Hinch to hire him straight out of the Big Ten.

“Well, I’ve known Fett awhile,” said Hinch. “As a player when we were both in the Padres’ organization. So, part of it’s his intellectual curiosity. Part of it is the resume that he built. Having connected with a lot of young players. I recruited him for a long time to get back in the dugout, professional level.

“And then it coincided with he was in Ann Arbor when I got the Detroit job. So, I believe in Fett. I’ve always believed in him. He was the first guy I called when I got the job because I’d been calling him every offseason when I was managing elsewhere. So, his ability to improve players fit perfectly with what we need here.”

Photo Courtesy of Allison Farrand/Detroit Tigers

Tigers pitching coach Chris Fetter covers his mouth while talking on the mound at Comerica Park with (left to right) third baseman Gio Urshela, pitcher Reese Olson (glove partially covering face), catcher Jake Rogers and second baseman Zach McKinstry.

The New York Yankees and Chicago White Sox also tried to lure Fetter onto their coaching staffs while he was with the Wolverines.

Fetter was a standout pitcher on Michigan teams that won three consecutive Big Ten regular season championships (2006-07-08) while adding two conference tournament titles and three NCAA Tournament berths. He won the Geoff Zahn Top Pitcher Award and was a Collegiate Baseball second team All-American in 2008

Fetter allowed No. 1-ranked Vanderbilt two runs over seven innings in the NCAA regional championship game in Nashville in 2007. He didn’t figure in the decision but was instrumental in the 4-3 win that came when Wolverine pinch-hitter Alan Oaks homered off future American League Cy Young Award winner David Price in the 10^th inning.

The lanky right-hander still ranks first in career innings pitched (332 1/3) at Michigan and third with both 28 wins and 281 strikeouts. The Padres drafted him in the ninth round after his senior season, when he was a team captain. And despite a promising first year in the minors, Fetter never advanced past Class A teams. He was 6-11 with a 3.56 ERA in four pro seasons.

Fetter’s playing career was over after 2012, and he worked with pitchers the next year for the Padres’ Double-A team in San Antonio. He became a scout for the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2014 before becoming Ball State’s pitching coach the following season for Rich Maloney, who was his coach at Michigan. Then Fetter spent 2016-17 as minor league pitching coordinator for the Dodgers – where he learned much about analytics and development approaches.

Erik Bakich brought him back to Michigan in 2018 and they formed the most impressive coaching staff in college baseball for three years along with current Tigers hitting coach Michael Brdar.

From there, it was onto Detroit.

Hinch does not allow members of his coaching staff to talk to the media about the team, but here’s what several current and former Tigers had to say about their experience with Fetter:

Michael Lorenzen, now with the Texas Rangers, came to Detroit in 2023 and developed into an All-Star under Fetter.

“Chris kept it simple for me,” said Lorenzen. “I think he keeps it simple for guys. He reinforces how we just need to trust the process. So, if you have a bad outing, take a step back and look at it. Was it anything that you did wrong? Was it just baseball? And a lot of times, it’s just baseball.

“So, sometimes you make changes, not understanding that what happens is just what happens in the game of baseball. Then, three weeks down the line, you’ve created some bad habits that you didn’t need to create if you’d have just stuck with the process. So, that allows you to create some consistency with your work.”

The Tigers traded Lorenzen to the Phillies, for whom he pitched a no-hitter, and he signed a free agent contract for 2024 with the Rangers.

He said providing him a model for consistency was the most important thing Fetter did for him.

“He didn’t make too many changes,” said Lorenzen. “He just said, ‘Keep doing what you’re doing.’ If I had a bad start, Chris just said, ‘Trust it.’ Next start, I trusted it, didn’t make a change, and had a good start.”

Casey Mize has been limited by injuries and other factors, and has not won more than seven games in a single MLB season. Fetter works closely with Mize, 27, to get him on the track everyone knows he’s capable of reaching and maintaining.

“Fett’s great,” said Mize. “He’s great at doing a lot of work behind the scenes and maybe some stuff that we don’t quite understand. But he’s good at translating that to us in baseball terms. He tells us, ‘If you make some adjustments, these are the results you can see.’ It’s a really calculated approach when he comes to us with improvements we can make because he’s done the work that we don’t see that he’s convicted to. So, there’s a lot of trust that goes along with that.

“For me, in particular, it’s not a ton of mechanical stuff here and there. It’s just a lot of game plan and mind-set stuff with him: ‘Here’s how we’ve approached this guy. Here’s how your pitch mix could look to get the most success.’ It’s an array of things that his job entails. Pitcher to pitcher, he needs to know how they want to receive information or if they’re willing, and how you can approach that.

“But, for me, that’s awesome. And he’s done great things for all of our guys. So, he’s been great.”

Detroit late-inning reliever Andrew Chafin said he works mostly during games with Juan Nieves, the ex-Major League pitcher who is an assistant pitching coach along with Robin Lund. However, he enjoys touching base with Fetter.

“He’s very knowledgeable,” said Chafin. “He knows what to tell guys and how to say stuff in order for them to be able to interpret their individual needs.”

Quite simply, Fetter knows how to relate.

Has he had one message that’s stuck with Chafin?

Chafin smiled and said, “At one point, he said, ‘Don’t suck.’ ”

The left-hander, who relishes pitching, chuckled and said that cleared out his mind.

“Sometimes a coach just has to get you to take your mind off something and hit the re-set button,” said Chafin.