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
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.
best games strung together
He's strung together probably two of the best games in the big leagues.
consistency flashes league major minor period power pull pulling seen short taken throughout
He's exhibited Major League power in the Minor Leagues. We've seen some flashes of it at this level. He's taken it and been able to put it in play with some consistency for a short period of time. That's what we're all pulling for him to pull off throughout the season.
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.
guy interest move
He's out there -- we have some interest in him. We'll see how much interest he has in us. That being said, I'm not a hypothetical guy and I don't like to speculate. We'll try and get him signed. If we can't get him signed, we'll move on.
freedom good hitter power run smart third
He's our third baseman. We'll give him the freedom to play. We're not going to give him any power goals. We feel he's a good enough hitter and a smart enough hitter to be a good run producer.
outside prepare
He's probably on the outside track, but we have to prepare for a lot of different scenarios.
front three work
But to get out of there with three runs, he did OK. He got some things accomplished but he's got work in front of him.
fastball previous seen
He pitched without the fastball we've seen previous to this,
strikes struggled throw
He really struggled to throw any strikes (on the third-base side) of the plate,
catch good played short slope throw toss yesterday
He played short catch yesterday and long toss today. We'll try to get him up on a slope and throw tomorrow, and see where we go from there. He's making good progress, though.
ball changed good guy pirates seen strikes threw uniform
He pitched a good ball game. He was very efficient, threw strikes and changed speeds. We've seen him in a Pirates uniform and he's a no-nonsense guy who comes right after people.
corner himself painted
He painted himself into a corner and pitched himself out.
ability corner fought gray hairs himself painted pitch
He painted himself in a corner and fought his way out. That showed some pitch ability. One, some fortitude, two, and some more gray hairs on the manager, three.