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
acquire baggage carrying growing last players share
What's unfortunate is the baggage the new players are carrying around. Of course, we acquire our share of it last year, but we'd like to think we are growing from that.
handle maybe might next players rookies year
We might not have any rookies next year, or maybe one or two. We've had the young players we wanted to look at this year show us they can handle the challenge.
adding players start wrong youth
There's nothing wrong with that. Now you can start adding up the one- and two-year players and see that we've got a lot of youth on our side.
almost anywhere ask bit field innings low player position ready spring
We had almost every position player play anywhere from the low 60s to 100 innings in the field (in spring training). We're not probably going to ask him to do that much, but it's going to need to be a little bit more than him just getting 25 at-bats and being ready to go.
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.
bottom fact gained home line opening played players respect special spring teammates zero
Obviously, he is having a special spring. He's gained the respect of his teammates and he has gained the respect of the players he has played against. But the bottom line is it is spring training. The fact is there is going to be an Opening Day and he is going to have zero home runs.
ability becoming defining game growth league major man next player slow step toughest
One of the toughest things to do as a man in anything is to slow down when we're not doing what we think we should be doing. As men, we want to step on the gas. That's a defining point. It's a growth thing for me. It's the next step into a player becoming more entrenched at the Major League level, to have the ability to slow the game down.
beauty force passion player work
You have to like what you see. His humility. His work ethic. His passion for the game. . . . The beauty of a young player is when they force your hand.
believe grow half last learning ourselves players position process saw season second surprise
We've put ourselves in position to surprise people. We went through a learning process last year, and I think you saw in the second half of the season that our young players started to believe they could compete. We started to grow as a franchise.
anybody becoming career exciting hard leagues minor nod player starting time work
This will be a very exciting day for him. He's put in as much hard work into becoming a starting opening-day player as anybody that we've ever had. He's had 11 years in the minor leagues and to get this nod at this time in his career has to be very gratifying.
emphasize falls job player scouts
It's something we have thought about and if it falls into place, it falls into place, ... But I don't want to do it just as a novelty; I want to do it for some meaning. It think it would emphasize the job player development has done for us, and the job the scouts have done.
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.
ball bigger certain coach confidence giving next opening players statement time
It's Jason's time to take the next step, and sometimes when players can't get to certain places, it's up to a coach to take them there. I want him to know going in that I've got the confidence in him to do that. By giving him the ball Opening Day, I can't make a bigger statement than that.
club core formed group growing next players step together
There is more anticipation on the part of the players than there has been in a long time. The club is growing together and has formed a core group together. They know now that they can compete. The next step is to win.