Clint Hurdle
Clint Hurdle
Clinton Merrick Hurdleis an American former professional baseball outfielder and current manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates of Major League Baseball. Hurdle played in MLB for the Kansas City Royals, Cincinnati Reds, New York Mets, and St. Louis Cardinals, and has also managed for the Colorado Rockies...
ProfessionCoach
Date of Birth30 July 1957
CityBig Rapids, MI
battle dealing fix quite
I think he's dealing with it quite professionally. I know he's had enough hearing, 'Keep battling.' I told him how to fix that is to go out and battle and do well.
battling bulk easy game improve lead pieces quality seeing spend until year
We've always wanted to improve our bullpen, but until this year we weren't able to get the pieces we wanted. It's been frustrating. . . . It's not easy to spend the bulk of the game battling for a lead and then seeing it get away. . . . Now we have some depth. We have some quality arms.
battle carried emotions learned pitches survive
He experienced every emotion. He pitches well at times. He learned to battle and survive at times. He didn't back down from anything. He carried his load.
bat credit field onto taken
(Defensively), he's been outstanding. To his credit he hasn't taken his bat onto the field for one inning. That's why he's a pro.
barrel bat drive focus forward help looking productive role swinging talked watching
He's swinging the bat very well. He's got some barrel down there to drive in some runs. There are some things we've talked to him about we want him to focus on and take into the season, but I'm just looking forward to watching him play in that role and getting more opportunities to help us be productive offensively as well as defensively.
bat behind fourth guy hitting initially kid legitimate maybe obviously opportunity pick pitch power ran run stuck support took
Initially we stuck him in there because we had run out of options. He is a big kid who has some power and we thought maybe we can find a guy to pick up some run support when they didn't want to pitch to Helton. Obviously he took that opportunity and ran with it. He is a legitimate fourth bat in the lineup. He is not just hitting behind Helton any more.
again ball bat both good last needs nice point quick release season strides swung threw throwing time trouble using
He made nice strides this spring. He just needs to keep making the strides that he made. There was a point in time last season where we were having trouble throwing the ball around the infield. Now he threw the ball accurately, his release times were quick and efficient. I think he swung the bat efficiently. He's using his off-gap again from both sides. He had a good spring.
bat believe guys handle left meeting run somebody swinging tells three
I told my guys in the meeting today, man, it's like a snake. If somebody tells me it's dead, I'm going to run over it three times before I believe it. You tell me he's not swinging the bat good, I'll believe it when he's left here and we've been able to handle him.
ability dealt recreate since slow
It is something we have dealt with since Day 1. You can't recreate that environment. It's just the ability to go out there and slow the inning down as much as you can.
ceiling
I think we'd like to see his ceiling or find his niche,
groups humility leads passion talked unique work
I think we've talked about it all -- his humility, his work ethic. He has a unique passion for the game. He leads by example. In the groups that he's been in, that's been talked about.
found
I think we've found out about his toughness,
ahead break dissect distance elevate everybody far good months numbers opportunity pack scheme spell themselves three time
I think by far and away he was way ahead of the pack at the time he went down. But the numbers he has now, they still spell out pretty good in the big scheme of things if you want to dissect numbers and break them down. Everybody else had an opportunity of three months to really put some distance between themselves and him and elevate themselves, but it didn't happen.
group todd win
I think it was as important for the group to win without Todd in the lineup as it was for Todd to see the group win without him,