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
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.
either fastball good hitting league major marriage nailed three took
Hitting a Major League baseball. I wasn't that good at either one. I think I've got the marriage thing nailed down now and that took me three tries. I know I can't hit the fastball anymore.
balls capable hitting leaving obviously pitching team
Because they're capable of doing it. And obviously I think the other team would be the first one to tell you, they're not pitching like they can or like they need to. They're probably leaving balls up over the plate. We're getting some balls to hit, and we're hitting them.
doubt earlier fourth hitting matt mind months protection providing season statement
There's no doubt in my mind that he's gong to get better, and that's what I told Matt earlier in the season when we had a sit-down. I said, 'You're not just hitting fourth anymore. You're our cleanup hitter.' Two months later, I told him, 'What you are doing now is providing protection in the lineup.' That's a big statement for a second-year player.
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.
breaking catcher command except hitting spots stayed tilt
His command was excellent. He was hitting his spots where the catcher set up and stayed down for the most part, except when he wanted to go up. When he went up, there was tilt on his breaking ball.
ball cage flashes hard hitting leagues minor power seen
He's exhibited major-league power in the minor leagues and we've seen some flashes of it at this level. He's working hard in (batting practice) and he's working hard in the cage and hitting the ball hard where it's pitched.
bottom dose gaining hitting line opening players playing reality respect special spring
It's a special spring for him. He's gaining the respect of his teammates. He's gaining the respect of players he's playing against. But the bottom line it's still spring training. So, there's the dose of reality ... that there's going to be an opening day for him and he's going to be hitting .000 and he's going to have no homers. But we do like what we're seeing.
consistent hitting home jury maybe shown talking work
I think the jury is still out on his bat. We'll work more with him and maybe see if there's a little more there. We're not talking about hitting home runs. We want him to be more consistent with the barrel. He's shown some improvement.
against confidence defense gives guys hitting initiate last months people pitch run season solid teams three timely type
The confidence that comes from getting on any type of run gives you that confidence once you initiate that run again. We've got to pitch well, we've got to play solid defense and we've got to get timely hitting and execute, which is what we did for the last three months last season - with a lot of guys people didn't know against a lot of teams with some pretty big names.
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,