For the first time since he took over as manager in 2020, Derek Shelton’s coaching staff is going to look different ahead of his third season with the Pirates.
After retaining the entire staff after his first season, the Pirates made two significant firings last fall, dismissing hitting coach Rick Eckstein of his duties in August and third base and infield coach Joey Cora after the season ended.
Taking Eckstein’s spot is Andy Haines, who Ben Cherington praised for his willing to collaborate with both players and other levels of coaching and the front office.
“We’ve seen the hitting space grow exponentially in the last few years,” Shelton told reporters during a lunch at PNC Park Thursday. “I think when you find guys who have done it, they’re not as open-minded as we thought Andy was. We thought that was kind of a unique blend, a guy who has been a major league hitting coach, been around some really good hitters. But he’s still open-minded to … you guys saw us practice differently last year. We will continue to break boundaries on that. Andy was really open in our conversations about how to do that. And actually added some things in that we thought were important.”
Haines served as the Brewers hitting coach the past three seasons. While the Brewers went to the playoffs each season with him on staff and some players had strong campaigns in 2021, the overall offensive output was not up to the club’s standards and they fired him at the end of the season.
“You’re gonna have up and down offensive years,” Shelton said. “I can personally attest to that being a hitting coach. There are years where you have guys that struggle. Then all of a sudden it falls on the hitting coach.
“I think the big thing for us is his plan going forward, his work not only with major league hitters, but this guy has been a [hitting] coordinator. He’s managed in the minor leagues. That plays a large part when you become a major league hitting coach; there’s a lot of different factors. I really felt that when we interviewed Andy and we talked about hiring him, he fit in well with the rest of our hitting group with [assistant hitting coach] Christian [Marrero], [major league assistant] Timmy [McKeithan] and kinda moving forward that way. We really look to Andy to lead that group.”
Haines will focus on the major league level, but will collaborate with minor-league coaches too. Shelton had expressed a desire for the new hitting coach to lead the hitting program, not just serve as a major league coach.
"If we’re not on the same page, and we’re not building off each other and challenging each other between player development and the big leagues, then we’re gonna fall behind," Shelton said. "We’re definitely not gonna let that happen."
The Pirates made several other changes to the staff this winter, including having Mike Rabelo move to third base coach – something he had done as a minor-league manager – while still retaining his field coordinator duties.
Last year, the Pirates led the National League with 19 outs at home plate, the third time in five years they had the most outs there in the senior circuit.
"[I] have total trust that he’ll pay attention to making wise decisions," Shelton said.
Radley Haddad was added to the staff as game planning and strategy coach. A former bullpen catcher and assistant with the Yankees, he will work with catchers and pitch sequencing.
“It was something I felt strongly on, as we transition, especially with a young staff, that we have someone specifically in that role,” Shelton said. “We searched for a really different skill set… We tried to isolate on someone with some sort of catching background because of that. Because of that, in-game will be directly going to the catchers and talking about how the sequence goes. The other thing that I kinda felt strongly on was it frees up Oscar [Marin] to do more things in game, to have different conversations.”
Trying to do things differently is a goal for this coaching staff. It can be something simple, like how the Pirates opt to do more machine based ground ball drills in order to simulate velocity you can’t get with fungo. It could also be elaborate, like the Get Better At Baseball Camps that have been held in Bradenton this offseason.
“The one thing we’ve always asked is for everybody we hire, regardless of whether it’s at the major league level or the PD [player development] level, you have to be willing to learn and grow and challenge ideas,” Shelton said. “Our group has done that. We’re not going to apologize for doing things differently. The game is changing. We’re trying to figure out ways to expedite development and make sure development is done in the right way.
"The challenge that Ben and I have put forth on our major league staff and our CPD staff is think of ways we can things differently, then have the why behind it. We’re also not gonna apologize that if we do it for six months and it doesn’t work, we’re gonna adjust. We have to have that ability to do that. I think that’s the thing that’s most exciting to me.”
To round out the coaching staff, the following coaches are returning in their same roles as 2021: Bench coach Don Kelly – who will also take over infield duties – pitching coach Oscar Marin, first base coach Tarrik Brock, bullpen coach Justin Meccage, Major League coach Glenn Sherlock and bullpen catcher/assistant catching coach Jordan Comadena.
Heberto Andrade, who had been with the organization 18 years as a bullpen catcher and assistant coach, is leaving for a new opportunity with the Padres.
