NEWSFLASH: Rangers To Announce Clint Hurdle As New Hitting Coach
Joey Matschulat
Former Colorado Rockies manager Clint Hurdle warms up his team during batting practice on Wednesday, April 8th.Three weeks ago, ESPN.com's Rob Neyer contended that major league hitting coaches "are probably useful in some limited way," implying that at the end of the day, all of this chatter about Rudy Jaramillo's shortcomings and Rusty Greer's qualifications -- or lack thereof -- is completely overblown. You know it, I know it and, heck, perhaps even the Texas Rangers know it.
Also know that the hitting coach vacancy is reportedly on the verge of being filled, as multiple local media sources -- including Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram -- have reported that the Rangers are expected to name former Rockies manager Clint Hurdle as their new hitting coach in the coming days. Hurdle, as expected, declined comment, and John Blake, the ballclub's executive vice president of communications, denied that the Rangers had already made an offer, but it's pretty much standard fare for this sort of stuff to leak out before official announcements can be made.
Now that we're (safely) operating off the assumption that Hurdle has triumphed over his competition, we can ask ourselves these most pertinent of questions: (a) What do we actually know about him, and (b) what can he actually do to make the Rangers better? Frankly, the latter question may not be truly answerable until spring training, when those coach-player interactions really commence and the forging of new relationships begin in a proper working environment. It won't be enough for Hurdle to be adept at recognizing and correcting mechanical flaws; he's also going to have to be approachable.
And the answer to the first question largely addresses that "approachability" concern, because what we know about Hurdle -- beyond his long-standing ties to Jon Daniels, Thad Levine, Scott Servais and Ron Washington -- is that he, like Jaramillo, persevered through multiple managerial changes in Colorado "because of strong endorsements from players" and garnered "universal respect" during his time served as a hitting instructor. It's because of this anecdotal evidence that I'm inclined to think that any lingering clubhouse perturbation over Jaramillo's departure is going to dissipate pretty quickly.
Indeed, that strong player-supplied support and a bevy of experience were probably the absolute biggest things going for Hurdle entering Monday's barrage of interviews; decade-old statistics reveal that Hurdle-coached offenses -- ranging from 1997-2001 -- were quite adept at avoiding strikeouts, but also fairly adept at avoiding walks and not particularly accustomed to working deep counts. Of course, that's more indicative of the hitting talent that management entrusted to him than anything else; in a similar vein, a big bounceback by the offense in 2010 would, in reality, be largely attributable to the hitters, but substantially credited to Hurdle by the mainstream media. That's just how baseball coaching seems to work.
Reader Comments (8)
"were quite adept at avoiding strikeouts, but also fairly adept at avoiding walks and not particularly accustomed to working deep counts"
The rockies had the fewest strikeouts for 4 consecutive years under Hurdle. I would say he preaches putting the ball in play.
Yep. Rusty would have had nothing (no MLB coaching opp) to lose, but I suppose CH is in a pretty good spot as well: even if it's a 1-year contract, if the offense sputters, he won't necessarily be blamed right away; if the offense merely matures, he'll receive plenty of credit; and if that happens BUT the Rangers don't contend, then he's poised to take over the reigns when Wash's contract expires. So, despite passing up other likely MLB coaching offers for this 1-year contract-- You're right, Joey-- he's also in a win-win situation.
And if he only has one (pretty sensible) "ol' vet" (MY), one "tweener" (Kins) who respects that vet, and a bunch of talented but eager young hitters to win over, I think his timing for entry couldn't be better. He might just start getting to know MY today.
Does he golf?
I have no problem with the Clint Hurdle hire; although, the only person I truly didn't want us to hire was Carney Lansford (anyone involved in putting together/coaching that Giants offense should take a couple years off to ponder whether they really have what it takes). I don't really have much to say about Hurdle other than that I'll be eager to see how he comes across in an interview. I'd say the odds are good that the announcement will come tomorrow if the Yanks finish off the Phils tonight.
Oh, and I know I can go see an interview of him when he was with the Rockies (or when he was fired). I'm not really interested in what he had to say then. I'd like to see what he says about Texas. Normally hiring a new hitting coach is not that big of a deal; however, this is Texas, and he's following one of the most beloved, accomplished, and high profile hitting coaches ever. Clint Hurdle will receive as much attention as any other hitting coach in the business outside of maybe the guy he's replacing.
I really like this move. I've been a Rangers fan my entire life, but living in Denver for the last 8 years I've had a bird's eye view of Hurdle and have followed the Rockies pretty closely. I think he'll be a very good fit. He's personable, does a great job with the media and from everything I've seen he's pretty universally liked. Seeing him on the MLB Network occasionally and getting a better opportunity to see his personality - I now like him even more. Greer would have been bold and garnered quite a bit of support from the fan base, but his lack of experience had me a bit worried. I think of all the candidates mentioned this was the best move...now I guess time will tell.
Once we have a new ownership group in place, I think it would be a nice gesture to hire Rusty to be a roving hitting coach of sorts. Keep him in the metroplex. When the Rangers are home, he can hang out with Hurdle, pick his brain, and work a little with some of the hitters so that they get a little extra individual attention. He could do the same for OKC and Frisco. It would get Rusty's foot in the door and get him some of the experience he lacks. I think it would also endear the new owner to the fanbase (we love us some Rusty).
Hurdle becomes manager and rusty becomes hitting instructor...this is a no brainer
"The rockies had the fewest strikeouts for 4 consecutive years under Hurdle. I would say he preaches putting the ball in play."
Yeah, that was kind of my point. The numbers don't seem to reflect the '97-'01 Rockies as being particularly patient offensive ballclubs (which is the direction that the Rangers seem to want to move in), but rousing player endorsements and substantial experience are worth more in the eyes of the Rangers than decade-old NL statistics, I suspect. Interested in knowing whether those numbers are something that Daniels/Levine/Servais brought up during the interview.