Clint Hurdle: Even more popular with players than fans

When Pirates manager Clint Hurdle passed on a managing offer from the New York Mets during the offseason to become Pittsburgh’s new skipper, many reporters and baseball fans alike were quick to point out that he had his work cut out for him.

They were right.

Everyone knew about the Pirates’ stretch of 18 consecutive losing seasons, but the team’s performance in 2010 was more of an immediate cause for concern.

In addition to ranking among the worst of the National League in an assortment of offensive statistics, the Pirates finished with a Major League-worst 5.00 team ERA, .282 batting average against, and 127 errors last season. Their 57-105 record was also the worst in the Majors, marking their worst winning percentage since 1954 and third-most losses in their 129-year history.

It’s easy to see that something is different this year though, and that Hurdle’s new, optimism-fueled regime has not only been heard and accepted, but applied routinely since Spring Training. The Pirates currently sit in a three-way tie with St. Louis and Milwaukee for NL Central lead with a 52-47 record – their best since 1992 – and baseball is officially back in Pittsburgh.

According to injured relief pitcher Evan Meek, such a response to a new manager is far from guaranteed.

“It’s tough for a new guy coming in and taking the reins of a clubhouse of grown men. Just because someone has the manager label, doesn’t mean that they’re automatically given respect by the players. That’s just the truth,” Meek said.

“Players have to feel out their manager, a manager has to feel out their players. It just seemed like right off the bat in Spring Training he was like a magnet and guys were just like ‘yeah, let’s do this’.”

With Hurdle at the helm, the Pirates have enjoyed a fresh start one the franchise and its fanbase certainly deserve.

The media has reminded the players and coaches all season about the consecutive losing records, the last place finishes, and other negative points from the Pirates’ extensive history. It’s a burden that the current generation of players had no part in creating but unfortunately inherited. Hurdle has encouraged the players to forget about the past and just play baseball in the present.

“His philosophy for this year is ‘We’re not going to look back, we’re not going to let the weight of the losing seasons consume us’,” said second baseman Neil Walker. “He’s trying to instill that confidence in us as players, and to change the mindset to where we expect to win every night.”

After all, if anyone knows about the past, it’s Hurdle.

He appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated in March 1978 after playing only nine Major League games for the Kansas City Royals, and was ominously touted as a phenom. Hurdle never quite lived up to the hype and, in 1988, after calling it quits the year prior on a playing career that consisted of 515 games across parts of 10 Major League seasons, he started his managerial career with a minor league team in the Mets organization.

It was with those Class-A St Lucie Mets where Hurdle initially found his true calling, as his ability to communicate with and befriend players while enforcing a tight ship made it only a matter of time before he would become a Major League manager.

Hurdle eventually got that chance with the Colorado Rockies in 2002 after serving as a hitting coach in the organization for eight years. He practically had to build the team from scratch, but his hard work paid off when the Rockies made it to the World Series in 2007. Then, after being dismissed as the Rockies’ manager in 2009, he went back to his roots and became the Rangers’ hitting coach last season, and watched them put together one of the best offenses in baseball en route to representing the American League in the World Series.

It’s that kind of valuable experience that few managers have that is another reason why Hurdle is a hit among the players in the clubhouse.

“He comes from experience, he’s won before. He’s been in the World Series, which is where we want to go; he’s great with young players, which is what we’ve got; there’s just a laundry list of good things to say. He’s just incredible,” Meek said.

Not only does Hurdle have a knack for being able to get through to his players thanks to the energy he brings every day, he has just as close of a relationship with each one of his coaches.

“I feel like I’ve got a pretty good feel for what he’s going to do – which is everything – since he’ll surprise you with some stuff sometimes. But that means you’ve got to be ready,” Pirates third base coach Nick Leyva said.

The result provides players a conducive learning environment; something extremely valuable considering the roster consists entirely of players younger than 31 years old. With an average age of 27, they’re the youngest team in the National League.

Such a rapport with his players and coaches allows Hurdle to not only properly control every aspect of the team, but to step in if there’s ever something that he thinks might need work or with which he doesn’t agree.

“I like him. Some of the managers that we have had here in the past haven’t been nearly as vocal as Clint has. The energy that he brings, he’s not afraid to get his hands dirty; he’ll get right in there in the drill and show us how it’s done,” said catcher Ryan Doumit, who is currently on a minor league rehab assignment. “He’s got great energy, and guys feed off that.”

While the city of Pittsburgh is rallying behind him, grateful for his contributions to the Pirates’ remarkable turnaround this season, Hurdle saw the same thing occur when he was in Colorado. As such, he knows that the feelings from fans can vanish at any moment, especially if the team starts to struggle. After all, he had a parade thrown for him in Colorado after the Rockies made it to the World Series and was fired less than two seasons later.

Regardless, the Pirates are one of the most interesting stories in baseball this season. There are plot lines aplenty, from the dramatic pitching turnarounds from Jeff Karstens, Paul Maholm, and Charlie Morton to the maturation of young impact players like Andrew McCutchen and Walker to virtually every member of the bullpen sporting an ERA under 3.50.

Pirates third baseman Pedro Alvarez, currently raking in Triple-A on a minor league rehab assignment, couldn’t have said it better.

“I think [Clint]‘s a perfect leader for us right now. He just has to show us the way and we’ll take care of it from there on out.”

Now well into the season and after the All-Star break, the franchise perennially discarded as a legitimate threat in the NL Central, most definitely are.