Despite making the playoffs in 2013, the Pittsburgh Pirates knew its biggest deficiency was pinch-hitting so immediately assistant hitting coach Jeff Livesey was tasked with putting a change to this.
Pinch-hitting is by no mean an easy art to master. Essentially a batter is coming in cold to a pitcher that sometimes is very locked in or at the very least has thrown many pitches. The batter is then tasked with making a contribution that can help his team.
Last season, Travis Snider found success as a pinch-hitter and ranking among the Major League-leaders in hits. Ultimately he was trusted to either start in place of Gregory Polanco in right field or pinch-hit to the middle-to-late part of games and then take Polanco’s place.
Though this season started with a relatively young bench, however with the additions of Travis Ishikawa and Michael Morse, there is more of an established veteran presence.
Ishikawa and Morse each have their own routines that they often go too since it is something which has worked for them throughout their playing careers.
“I just get a read on the game and plan accordingly,” Ishikawa said. “I do a little bit of stretching and hitting off the machine. You have to have an understanding of when you may come into a game. I try to get a little sweat going that way I have my heart rate up and I’m warm. If it’s not my turn, I’ll do it a couple innings later when I may get another chance to come in.”
For anyone who happens to be on the bench in a game, Livesey comes up with a program that he feels will put each individual player on a path which will allow them to find more success.
“We’ve got a great setup in the cages where we have two cages and some guys like to drill work beforehand whether it be tee, toss or coach’s arm,” Livesey said. “We all finish up with the machine and we have a nice machine in there that gets up to a game speed with more velocity. We have video running in the cage of the starter and obviously we have the game on and scouting reports. We get them what they need as far as work, and prepare them as best they can because it’s a tough job.”
Livesey is in his second season as assistant hitting coach and has been able to find a way to find a plan of attack for each player.
“It’s different with the younger guys and the guys we had earlier in the year,” said Livesey. “It’s not their program because they haven’t done it so it’s me setting up their program for them. A lot of young guys don’t like hitting off the machine and just want soft toss or coach’s arm but that’s what they’re used to. It can be a challenge to get them up to speed with the machine velocity and the scouting reports, especially with the bullpen.”
Now the Pirates have a mixture of youth and experience on the bench which is something Ishikawa stated places the team in a good position.
“When a manager has a few guys he can trust coming off the bench in those spots,” Ishikawa said, “it definitely gives him more flexibility and makes the decisions easier. That’s a part of my game that is a majority of my game so I take very seriously and put a lot of pride into it. I want to be the best out there at it.”
With the team’s success over the course of the past two seasons in the pinch-hitting department,
“Anything I do, I try to do the best I can,” said Livesey. “I try to get them mentally and physically prepared going in and help the club out anyway we can, so I take a lot of pride in it.”
