Aaron Shakelford had heard the tales of what professional baseball was like. Guys are just focused on themselves. The team comes second. It’s a selfish league.
But that wasn’t the case for his teammates with the Class High A Greensboro Grasshoppers.
“I didn't get that, from day one, with this group, and that's a testament to this staff who built that environment from the start," Shakelford said during a Zoom call with local media Tuesday.
That staff was recognized by the Pirates Tuesday, who named the Greensboro staff, headed by manager Kieran Mattison, as the organization’s Staff of the Year.
“I was blessed to have a very talented group of coaches to work with,” Mattison said over Zoom. “Just wanted to get better every day and want to get better for the simple fact, we just wanted to be in a position to help the players and serve them and give them everything they need to be successful.”
That staff included pitching coach Matt Ford, hitting coach Ruben Gotay, development coach Blake Butler, certified athletic trainer Victor Silva, baseball operations/minor-league operations assistant Tyler Saundry, minor-league strength and conditioning coach Henry Torres, nutritionist Eric Turner and clubhouse manager Kenny Berdejo, all of whom were recognized by the organization.
Additionally, Class AAA Indianapolis pitching coach Joel Hanrahan was named the Danny Murtaugh Coach of the Year.
Shakelford, Indianapolis outfielder Bligh Madris, Altoona infielder Josh Bissonette and Bradenton right-hander Logan Hofmann as the Manny Sanguillén teammates of the year.
This year, the Grasshoppers finished first among all High-A teams in runs scored (723), hits (1,049) and total bases (1,865), second in home runs (188), third in slugging (.454) and OPS (.790).
They fell one game short of winning their league’s championship this year, but the players’ growth and their ability to come as a team after being without the minor leagues in 2020 was worthy of recognition, in the organization’s eyes.
“The reason why our Greensboro staff was selected as staff of the year this year, when you create an environment where – as Kieran and his group did – everybody cares about each other, that adds another layer of pressure as it gets to the end of the season,” director of coaching and player development John Baker said over Zoom. “Now it’s not just about ‘my own career’ or the public-facing Greensboro Grasshoppers. Quinn Priester is on that mound trying to pitch as well as he can for Blake Sabol and Nick Gonzales or Matt Gorski and Jared Triolo. It’s for each other.”
That comradery and being back together is what Mattison missed most last year, as he, his staff and the team were thankful to have baseball back.
“Even for the small things, like grateful to even smell grass and the fresh-cut grass, the dew on the ground at spring training,” Mattison said. “When you lose a season, it makes you really put things in perspective and have the understanding like, ‘Hey, I get to do this. It’s a privilege to be able to compete and do it at this level.’ It’s full of gratitude on a daily basis and not to take one day for granted just because that’s what you’ve always done growing up and even playing the game.”
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• For Hanrahan, this award is just more recognition for his rise up the organization's coaching ladder, receiving praise for how he is able to merge new coaching ideas with the ability to connect to his pupils as a former player.
"Having been there, having been a two-time All-Star, having pitched out of the bullpen before, having pitched in Pittsburgh before is sometimes a strike against when you’re coaching a younger player," Baker said. "But he leveraged both his relationship ability, his experience but also exemplified the mindset of taking this new information and accepting it and putting it into practice. Obviously, we’re very proud of him and the work that he’s done. Across the board from Hanny, just a fantastic job that he’s done this season."
• One of the goals of this year for Baker was for the minor league teams to win, and the Pirates' farm system ranked first in the National League in win percentage.
"If you’re thinking about what you can do for the team and the team is thinking about winning games, it takes scoring runs to win games, it takes preventing runs to win games," Baker said. "Generally, if we’re scoring runs and we’re preventing runs, our players are playing well. Those individual concerns take care of themselves when you build the appropriate team environment.”
"Baseball is a team sport," Mattison said. "You have a lot of individual accolades, but at the end of the day, somebody has to be on base for somebody to have RBIs. Somebody has to make a play for somebody to go out and throw a no-hitter. No matter how you look at it or how selfish you can be, it’s an unselfish sport where everybody has to pull their weight in order to go out and win on a nightly basis and have success.
"When you have a group of young men that jell together and do it for one another, you see something very special. You see guys learning to bring the best version of themselves every day and also hold each other accountable, because they genuinely care about their teammate. They want what’s best for their teammates. That’s a cool environment to be in. The byproduct is winning. Why are we coming up with plans for different plans on an individual basis and seeing them perform in a team setting? Because we want to win."
• Tuesday was the first day of the Pirates' minor-league awards, which will run through Thursday. Each of the awards are named after a notable player in the franchise's history, something that Baker wanted to emphasize.
"One thing they've always tried to do in, in this kind of modern era of baseball, is link what we do now on the field to the greats of the past and the history of the organization," Baker said. "There’s just been a ton of history in this organization, so we wanted to make sure that we could kind of rebrand these awards and honor some of that. So you'll see that each award is a tip of the cap whether it be to Bob Friend or Willie Stargell or Honus Wagner. [Roberto] Clemente is the greatest Pirate of all time, but we wanted to make sure that we tip the cap to some of the other Pirates."
