Tigers nurturing young analytics department

DETROIT — While the Tigers look to pare down their payroll this offseason, their analytics department is quietly growing — and growing up.

“It’s in its infancy, as analytics departments go,” general manager Al Avila said during his end-of-season gathering last week.

It’s not going to stay that way for long. If the Tigers are going to do more with a lower payroll, analytics will likely play an increasing — but not necessarily dominant — influence in how the team spends its money.

Avila created the department last offseason as part of his organizational buildup after being promoted to GM in August 2015. The Tigers hired former Blue Jays analyst Jay Sartori from Apple last November to run the department with baseball operations director Sam Menzin.

Initial reaction was that the Tigers were moving in a different direction after years of relying more heavily on traditional scouting. However, Avila made it clear that analytics would be a part of their evaluations rather than a force. When the Tigers signed Mike Pelfrey to a two-year, $16 million contract during last December’s Winter Meetings, Avila …

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