In the past year, the Pirates added the veteran leadership of A.J. Burnett and Wandy Rodriguez to their clubhouse. In one of the more under the radar moves this offseason, the Pirates signed veteran Jose Contreras to a one-year deal, but Contreras has yet to make his Pirates debut because of injury.
Contreras is in Altoona and appeared in Saturday’s game, throwing eight pitches through one inning. The 41-year-old pitcher is coming off of Tommy John surgery, but Pirates Manager Clint Hurdle said he’s looking forward to getting the hard-thrower to Pittsburgh.
One of the bigger reasons that Hurdle is looking forward to having Contreras on board it to mentor some of his pitchers, such as Jared Hughes.
“Hughes would definitely be a guy. There isn’t a guy in there that pitches that he couldn’t be a mentor for,” Hurdle said. “Wandy and A.J. have their own resumes. I know that when he was in spring training, they actually sought him out on a couple different occasions for advice.”
According to Hurdle, baseball is only part of what describes Contreras.
“The story with him is much more than just the pitcher. You dig into this guys pedigree, you talk about the catcher [Gattis] over there with his story, this guy’s story is unique,” Hurdle said. “What he is able to accomplish from a number of different perspectives is amazing.”
We hear the phrase “for the love of the game” often tied in with baseball. Despite his big, quiet demeanor, Hurdle says that Contreras has a passion for the game that has helped him out later in his career.
“The key to his character is his skill-set and he loves the game of baseball. He has a tremendous passion,” Hurdle said. “It’s unbridled and you don’t see it because he’s a big reserved man, but if you sit him down and talk to him, he said he’ll pitch until they rip the uniform off of him.”
Despite being 41 years old, don’t plan on Contreras stopping anytime soon and don’t bank on Hurdle being the one to tell him he’s done.
“You have to be a pretty big guy to rip the uniform off of him,” Hurdle said.
Photo Credits: Getty Images
