The Pirates' only changes to the coaching staff this offseason will be pointed, not surprisingly, at the offense.
Both hitting coaches, Jeff Branson and his assistant, Jeff Livesey, were informed Monday that their contracts won't be renewed for the 2019 season, per a statement issued by Neal Huntington. Those two had been with the major-league staff since 2014.
The statement concluded with the following: "No additional changes to the Major League coaching staff are expected."
Of Branson and Livesey, Huntington said, “We appreciate all of the time, energy and effort that Jeff and Jeff put into the team. Both are high-character, hard-working, good baseball men. We felt that this was the right time to take our Major League hitting program in a different direction.”
The Pirates, 82-79, ranked in the bottom half of the National League in runs (10th), home runs (13th) and OPS (ninth) during a season in which both Starling Marte and Gregory Polanco set career highs. Aside from Corey Dickerson, who finished with a .300 average, much of the offense was inconsistent for long stretches, and the team finished in fourth place despite having the second-lowest ERA in the NL since July 8.
Last offseason, Huntington expressed confidence in his roster's ability to hit for more power in 2018 after finishing second-to-last in the league in home runs, including Andrew McCutchen's team-high 28. The season, Polanco hit a career-high 23 home runs and Marte set a career high with 20; however, Josh Bell, who hit 26 as a rookie last season, finished with only 12 in 148 games.
Also, Dickerson finished with only 13 — 14 fewer than last season — and Colin Moran had 11. The Pirates scored the fewest runs in the NL from May 18 through July 7, a time in which they went 14-31 to fall to 12 1/2 games back in the Central Division. Backed by their blossoming pitching staff, the team went on an unprecedented 11-game winning streak in July to close within six games in the division. That contributed to Huntington's decision to acquire Chris Archer and Keone Kela at the non-waiver trade deadline.
But they scored the second-fewest runs in the NL from July 5 through Sept. 2 when they fell out of the playoff chase by losing 22 of their next 35 games. Huntington told reporters shortly before first pitch of the season finale Sunday in Cincinnati that he and Hurdle had yet to determine if there were going to be any changes to the coaching staff for 2019.
Most coaches in Major League Baseball operate on year-to-year contracts and, if they're no longer wanted, they're told that they won't be renewed as soon after the end of the season as possible so they can find new work when other openings are created. Joey Cora, the team's third base and infielders coach, will remain with the staff after another ugly season for the infield defense and a number of botched calls on the bases.
While Huntington would not reveal those changes prior to the finale, he did offer a hint when asked about the key to getting his offense to perform with more consistency.
“We’re talking about how we improve our game-planning, how we better individualize our game-planning, how we better prepare our hitters for what they’re going to face, how we impact their mentality and their approach, and how we help them understand what type of hitters they can be," he said. "Essentially standard stuff, but incremental gains in a lot of different areas will make us a better team next year."
The Pirates' hitters were often slow to make adjustments during those difficult stretches throughout the season. Polanco and Moran both had success after moving off the plate this season, though it took until June and August respectively for those adjustments to be made. Adam Frazier used advice from his father to have a resurgence after returning to the majors in July.
Frazier's father, Tim, sent him a photo from last season of a game against the Braves where he was holding his hands roughly six inches lower in his batting stance. Frazier batted .306 with a .890 OPS, seven home runs and 27 RBIs in 55 games after being recalled July 25.