Andy Haines’ rise to becoming a major-league hitting coach a decade ago was aided by the breakout of one of his star pupils, Christian Yelich.
His dismissal as Brewers hitting coach this fall was due in part to the up-and-down results of several key hitters, including Yelich.
That time with the Brewers is going to be different than his upcoming job as Pirates hitting coach. There, he worked with mostly veterans. With the Pirates, it will be almost exclusively young players and rookies. That experience as a minor-league coach and hitting coordinator was part of the reason why Derek Shelton and Ben Cherington ultimately chose him for the job.
He is inheriting a group that is desperate for some new life on offense. Over the last two seasons, the Pirates have combined for a team batting average of .232 (26th in baseball in that time), 828 runs (30th), 183 home runs (30th), a .665 OPS (29th, just one point better than the Rangers) and 80 OPS+ (30th).
“With hitting and offense in general, there are no parallels to what the world is right now,” Haines said over Zoom Friday. “We all want things right now, but it takes time to get to success. It can be painfully slow sometimes.”
But even with those poor results the last two years, there are some potentially building blocks. Bryan Reynolds received some MVP consideration after an outstanding All-Star campaign. Top prospect Oneil Cruz should spend the majority of next season in the majors. He was ranked inside Baseball America’s top 20 prospects at the end of last season, after Ke’Bryan Hayes started the year inside the top 20.
The Pirates also added prospects Travis Swaggerty, Cannan Smith-Njigba, Jack Suwinski and Diego Castillo to the 40 man roster this November. Depending on how a potential Rule 5 draft goes, Mason Martin and Cal Mitchell could also be in the mix too.
After a year of having to dive into the waiver wire to fill holes on the roster, next year’s team should have a batch of prospects to call upon as the season progresses. That offers more potential upside, but a need for more player development.
"They understood where they were with their prospects and how important the players were that were coming and the entire organizational outlook," Haines said on the Pirates' search for someone to lead their hitting program. "That’s two things I love. I always say the minor leagues are like dog years. I was there a long time. I love players. I love helping players develop and grow. I love the major league game. So I love both."
Haines subscribes to the Pirates’ more individualized player development philosophies, and also their belief that they have to keep learning and looking for new ways to reach players.
“I think sometimes in the hitting space, as an industry we feel like we’ve made all these strides and have so many answers,” Haines said on what he thinks the next trends for hitters are. “To be honest, we don’t have game data on the bat path. We have a lot on the [batted] ball data but we don’t have swing path data. That’s starting with new technology called ‘Hawkeye’ but that’s in the early and we’re getting bits and pieces of it. Just getting game data from the players – swing path, angles and actually how the best players move when they’re not on time, how they move when they’re on time, how things break down. Then how we train in baseball in practice, that’s next level for me.”
The Pirates have incorporated Hawkeye cameras into player development. One player who took a noticeable step forward with the new technology was Altoona outfield Matt Fraizer. With it, the coaching staff was able to identify that his contact point was too deep, so the focus was to get the barrel of the bat out in front more.
Those changes resulted in him winning the Class High-A East MVP award and being named the organization’s Honus Wagner Player of the Year.
Hayes appears to be a similar case. Last year, almost all of his fly ball and line drives went to the opposite field or center, signaling that he has a deep contact point. He generates high exit velocities, but it didn’t result in as much extra-base power as expected last season. Getting more out of Hayes offensively will be key for Haines and for the Pirates’ rebuild.
And while Haines, like every Pirate hire, has a firm grip on analytics, doesn’t base his assessment of individual players
“You really have to see the game from the player’s lens,” Haines said. “It’s easy to see it the way we want it to look. But I think the best coaches and the most impactful people I’m around as mentors, they have a gift of seeing things [through] other people’s eyes — where they want to go and how you help them get there.”
Haines also brought up the desire for more contact in the game, something that director of coaching and player development John Baker has also discussed. Some of that philosophy change can be seen in the players they are targeting in trades. At last year’s trade deadline, they acquired Tucupita Marcano and Castillo, both of whom are now on the Pirates’ 40 man roster. According to FanGraphs, of the 377 minor-league hitters with at least 400 plate appearances last year, Marcano’s 6.1% swinging strike rate was the fourth-lowest, and Castillo’s 6.8% whiff rate was 16th-lowest.
It can be a fine line to walk, though. Last year, Kevin Newman had the lowest whiff rate of all National League hitters who qualified for the batting title. His .574 OPS was also the lowest in the NL, 121 points lower than the hitter in second. Newman hit .308 with an .800 OPS in 2019, so he has proven he can hit in the majors, but after two down years at the plate, he’s on the hot seat.
And while the Pirates have a good collection of hitting prospects set to make their debuts in 2022 or 2023, there are almost as many hitters on the fringe of being big-leaguers or not. That includes Newman, Cole Tucker, Yoshi Tsutsugo, Michael Chavis, Anthony Alford and Greg Allen. At least a few of them will need to click as well for the Pirates’ lineup to click.
Because that's the key point for this Pirates team: There could be a wave of prospects coming, but it can't just be them who hit or develop. It's going to have to be everyone.
“Development never stops,” Haines said. “It's kind of a misnomer that you have the minor leagues and you [reach] the big leagues. No, man, it never stops. It has to continue.”
