Before the Pirates' pitchers and catchers warmed up for
their first workout on Wednesday, they gathered to meet with Clint Hurdle.
Pittsburgh's manager delivered a quick message, he said, one meant to
"reinforce the belief that the game leans heavily upon pitching."
The Pirates will certainly lean heavily upon pitching this
season, counting on their talented rotation and bullpen to help them contend in
the loaded National League Central. Hurdle said this year's team reminds him of
Pittsburgh's 2013 club, a group that found success through stellar run
prevention. General manager Neal Huntington agreed.
The Pirates like their young core. The Pirates like this
group of players. To the Pirates this feels a lot like the 2013 group of
pitchers. The Pirates have a group of young players. The Pirates added a couple
veterans that balanced the starting pitching out. The Pirates have some young
players that were ready to take the next steps forward in their careers. The
external noise was, 'We weren't good enough.' We didn't get as far as we needed
in the postseason, but we put together some good runs. This Pirates team has
that feel as they head into the 2019 campaign.
The Pirates are beginning Spring Training with four sure
things in the rotation: Jameson
Taillon, Chris Archer, Trevor
Williams and Joe Musgrove. Jordan Lyles will
compete with Nick Kingham and Steven Brault for
the fifth spot. They have plenty of options to round out a bullpen that will be
led by Felipe
Vazquez, Keone Kela, Kyle Crick and Richard
Rodriguez.
If you look back into history championship teams typically
are based around starting pitching, and you win the games that you're supposed
to win because of your back end.
But can these Pirates score enough to support their pitching
staff? They finished last season with 692 runs, 10th-most in the National League,
but didn't bring in any big bats this offseason to bolster the lineup. Instead,
they are looking to get more out of their returning players with the help of
hitting Coach Rick Eckstein and assistant hitting coach Jacob Cruz, both of
whom were hired this winter.
The Pirates don't want to put the weight of the world on
Rick Eckstein and Jacob Cruz, but they're here for a reason and that’s to get
this pitching ready to pitch. The Pirates believe that the new voice, the new
thoughts, the new approach, the new emphasis can help their entire offense take
a step forward.
That new approach will apparently be taught throughout the
organization. With former hitting coordinator Larry Sutton now coaching in the
Royals' system, Huntington noted that Kevin Young and Drew Saylor will take on
leadership roles at the Minor League level. Young, a former player and current
special assistant in the front office, had "offensive coordinator"
added to his job description this year. Saylor, hired as the Class A Short-Season
West Virginia manager, will also serve as the Pirates' assistant hitting
coordinator.
Huntington didn't get into any specifics about that new
approach, but Hurdle has mentioned a focus on driving -- not just lifting --
the ball more. Eckstein and Cruz are still relatively new to the organization,
focused first and foremost on building relationships with Pittsburgh's hitters.
The idea is how do the Pirates get better? How do the
Pirates adapt to and adopt the modern philosophy? How do the Pirates move
forward in this space? This hitting space is evolving quickly. Most
importantly, how do the Pirates put their hitters in position to do damage and
help them do the most damage that they can do, whether it's home runs or balls
in the gap, hard contact, taking the walks that they're supposed to take,
helping them understand how to be the best hitters that they can be. The
Pirates as a team felt like the best way to do that was to make an overall
change.
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