Each year, there seems to be that one player that breaks out from behind that shadows and takes the city, and league, by storm. Last year for the Pirates, that guy was James McDonald. Now, we of course know the story with McDonald. He came over in the Octavio Dotel trade with the Los Angeles Dodgers. Last year was the year that J-Mac became a household name, at least for the first half of the season. McDonald was considered an All-Star snub and in the running for the Cy Young Award before the mid-summer classic. After that, McDonald fell off in a big way. A lot of McDonald’s success was attributed to the work that veterans A.J. Burnett and Rod Barajas did with him early on. While McDonald is still searching to find the electric stuff that he had last season, there’s a new guy who broke out this year. As an even bigger surprise than McDonald, this guy came out Locked and loaded.
See what I did there?
Jeff Locke was in contention for the No. 5 spot in the rotation, a spot behind Jonathan Sanchez at that, in spring training. Under the tutelage of Burnett and Wandy Rodriguez, Locke has quietly been the Pirates best pitcher this season. Locke has a 5-1 record with a 2.45 ERA as of print. Whether it’s sustainable or not is up for debate, but one thing is for sure, no one, not even Pirates Manager Clint Hurdle, saw this type of success coming from the left-hander.
“Locke’s showing up now going for six straight tonight; I didn’t have that, did you? Coming out of spring training, did anyone here say that Locke was going to get on a roll and will be going after six in a row before June 1,” Hurdle asked. “That’s the kind of thing that is good about sport. So when you get a couple of those guys that show up and add to the value of what you already have going on with veteran guys, it’s a welcome addition.”
Hurdle said that he implemented a drill while he was in Colorado where the staff would evaluate the team and make sleeper picks. While Hurdle didn’t say who he picked, one could assume it was Locke.
“I heard about a drill in Kansas City and put it into effect while in Colorado, where the staff in spring training would pick a player that would show up that nobody thought would and a pitcher that nobody thought would; just a dark horse,” Hurdle said. “We pick them at the beginning of spring training and then revisit them at the end of the year. We put a pot together and see who figured out what.”
“If you look at championship teams or teams in the playoffs, there’s usually a pitcher in the bullpen or rotation that came out of nowhere that did something of big value. There’s usually a position player that will show up and have that big year out of nowhere. That’s all part of it.”
In his 39 seasons of professional baseball, Hurdle has seen it all. He’s seen the young stars that turned into superstars and he’s seen the young players with potential, that fizzled out (he was one of them). Watching the players blossom and grow up before his eyes is one of his favorite parts of managing.
“It’s part of why you coach. There’s stories that I share with my daughter and my son; my daughter hangs on every word. She wants to know things that a lot of people don’t want to know about our club,” Hurdle said. “She has an interest in the stories that I can take home and share with my kids and my wife. Two years ago talking about Jeff Locke, I can remember going home and saying honey, this kid just made his first big league start. If you could just see his eyes. He couldn’t talk and I think it would be hard to spit. Seriously, you have these conversations and then he goes out the other night and I say send him out in the seventh and he goes, “yeah, okay.”
When Locke was first called up just two short years ago, he didn’t have the best start to his major league career. In fact, Hurdle can remember hearing the jeers from the fans. Funny how in a short time, those jeers turned to cheers.
“The transformation is special, it’s significant and it adds value to an organization and the people that helped develop him. I remember some of the early catcalls from the fans in his first year when he was here pitching,” Hurdle said with a smile. “You give it up and two years later, “Where is my Locke shirt? How come you aren’t selling Locke shirts?” It’s a crazy dynamic.”
A crazy dynamic indeed. While no one know whether Locke can keep up his current pace or not, the only thing you can do for now is enjoy what he’s doing now; just like the rest of the team.
Photo Credits: Zimbio
