PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – Even with the change at manager under the first few games of Don Kelly, hitting remains an issue. It’s been an issue all year. Pirates GM Ben Cherington explained during his weekly show on 93.7 The Fan and the Pirates Radio Network the three reasons he believes why it is happening.
Cherington said a bunch of players are playing under their preseason projections and career performance. The Bucs general manager said some of that will work itself out over the course of the season, history has shown them that. Injuries have impacted, especially on the right side of the infield. Then he admitted they have to do a better job of finding and developing position players. Cherington said he believes in what they are doing in terms of the draft and evaluating international players. They’ve made several changes over the last two years, but said it takes time to see the results of that improvement.
Updating the injuries
· CF Oneil Cruz- day-to-day with a lower back issue that happened late in the game Saturday. Cruz leads the team with eight home runs and 16 stolen bases
· 2B Nick Gonzales-is getting back to baseball activities. The hitting is in a good spot. He’s running the bases. The last hurdle are the turns on the bases. They expect a rehab assignment soon and shouldn’t need the full-length to return.
· SS Isiah Kiner-Falefa-could return ‘any day’, not going on the injured list
· 1B Enmanuel Valdez-will be out ‘a while’ with left shoulder inflammation
· C/1B Endy Rodriguez-returned to full baseball activities ‘It's just a matter of time’, the last thing was being able to throw consistently without issue after a cut finger. Probably will have a short rehab assignment soon.
· 1B Spencer Horwitz-‘hopefully we are getting closer to it’ as he is halfway through his rehab limit of 20 days. The left-handed hitter missed all of spring training with offseason wrist surgery and is having no issues at bat or in the field.
Don Cares
It was more than just the local connection, it was just an attitude that Cherington believes we are seeing early on about why they wanted Don Kelly to take over as manager.
Cherington said they were fortunate that Kelly was already on the coaching staff and is unequivocally the right man for the job.
"I've known this guy for a long time, he literally wakes up every day and comes to the park and thinks about everybody but himself,” Cherington said on 93.7 The Fan and the Pirates Radio Network. “It's personal for him. This place matters for him. People are going to respond to him."
Changes are coming soon, likely during the road trip, to add a bench coach as Kelly is currently doing both jobs.