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
baggage came cutting farm good guys laid last players success together work
We are a work in progress. These guys had a lot of baggage laid on them last year. We weren't that good last year. There were a lot of young players cutting their teeth, but they also are players who came up together (through the farm system) and had success together. And they want to have more success together.
gotten guy innings people power strike wild
When you have a reliever that's a power guy that can strike people out (80 in 67 innings pitched), he's never out of the inning. As wild as some of these innings have gotten with him, he's been able to put them away.
bubble good gum guys middle numbers
Those guys (the middle relief) have some good numbers on the back of their bubble gum cards.
given guys maintain opportunity pitching tom velocity
We know Tom is experienced and he is not going to rattle. We want to see them maintain velocity once we have them pitching back-to-back days. Guys are going to be given every opportunity to show they can't do it.
bench guys
We have always been big on guys on the bench being versatile.
confidence good guys helps starting
We are new at this. We are starting to like it. We need to keep it going. Each one is a confidence builder. Each one helps the guys feel they belong. Guys each get a chance, and when they perform, they feel good about themselves.
bitter bridge brought five forward gap group guys hung large moving players rather six steps taken taste took woods
We are moving forward with a large group of players rather than having five or six guys we brought in to bridge a gap for a year. We had our first taste of the process. The first two months, it was a very bitter taste. We took a lot of ridicule. But we hung together. We are not out of the woods yet, but we've taken steps forward.
behind guy hitting last legitimate options ran role settled stuck
We stuck him in there when we ran out of other options last year. He settled into that role real well. He's not just a guy hitting behind (Todd) Helton anymore. He's a legitimate fourth-place hitter.
balls guy hard hit level nice sniff spinning worked
He's hit some balls up here at this level that he didn't sniff in the past. Anything down, hard and away, anything down spinning away, he's really worked hard to make some adjustments, and it's really nice to see a guy that's worked that hard.
admire asset attention brought energy fed focal gone guys handled help hot kept learned lessons months others paying players point seeing standpoint team time tough transition tremendous trying valuable waste younger
He's had to have two very very big months to get him where he is right now, but he can get hot like nobody's business. He's probably learned some very valuable lessons through this year. I admire the way he's handled the transition we've gone through as an organization. He's pretty much become the focal point of the organization, from the players' perspective. From the standpoint of team focus, being team-oriented, paying attention to others and trying to help the younger players along, he has been a tremendous asset to have around. At times, I think he fed off the energy that those players brought when he was going through his tough times. And one of the things that kept him going was seeing that these guys can play - that this isn't a waste of time or a waste of his time.
chance guy head heart kid older pushing script unless work
I had a script but didn't need it. There's no chance for this to work unless his head and heart are in the right place, and they are. He's not a 23-year-old kid pushing the older guy out of the rotation, and he realizes that.
behind confidence confident guy helped past tonight
Here's a guy that has been through so much over the past year. He's put all that behind him to become a very confident pitcher. Tonight his confidence in his sinker helped him get 13 groundball outs.
guys hope pray
Guys that are able to play, we'll get out there and play, and guys that aren't able to play, we'll pray for them and hope they get better.
guys talent three
Those three guys give us the most flexibility and the most talent we've ever had at the end of a game. We're going to be good.