Pirates' Clint Hurdle believes Josh Bell won't mishandle fame

While Josh Bell finds himself in demand all over the major leagues, Clint Hurdle doesn’t believe the fame will negatively impact his slugging first baseman.

“We’ve had a couple conversations along the way,” the Pittsburgh Pirates manager said.

Hurdle told Bell, “Let’s continue to revisit what got you here and what you needed to do to find your rhythm and your place.”

That means not bowing to every external demand, Hurdle said.

“You want to be nice, but ‘No’ is a complete sentence and it works. Say it friendly, say it amicably, ‘I’m good right now.’ Just keep taking care of yourself.”

Meanwhile, Bell entered the last day of May on Friday night at PNC Park on the verge of several significant records.

With 12 doubles and 12 home runs in May — tying Paul Waner for the club record of 24 extra-base hits in any month — he was only the third player in National League history with that many of each in any month. The others: Hank Aaron and Frank Robinson.

“Being mentioned in the company he’s being mentioned is pretty significant,” Hurdle said.

Before Friday, he was second in the NL in batting average (.341) and RBIs (51) and fourth in homers (18). Plus, he led the league in OPS (1.258), total bases (92), hits (44), extra-base hits (24) and RBIs (30) in May. He opened the game Friday against the Milwaukee Brewers with an opposite-field RBI single to left field, giving him 52 RBIs.

All this after collecting only 12 homers and 62 RBIs and hitting .262 in 2018.

“He believed last year all year long that he should have been playing at a much higher level than he was playing,” Hurdle said. “He kept working trying to figure things out and learning.

“The year before, he had a lot of success for a rookie in a lot of different ways (26 homers, 90 RBIs), and he didn’t have the pom-poms on. I think he’s been raised well and has grown into his own man. I think he’ll be fine.”

He wants to work

Closer Felipe Vazquez has pitched only once in the past 11 games, with the margin of victory averaging 5.6 runs in that time.

“We may look to try to utilize him a little differently if things continue on the plane they’re on right now,” Hurdle said, “because he needs to pitch. He’d like to help out the cause.”

Hurdle recognizes there are bigger problems than Vazquez’s diminished workload. Vazquez has been inactive because there are few save opportunities for a team that has surrendered 85 runs in 11 games.

“We’re picking on the wrong things right here,” Hurdle said. “We have to find a way to take care of Felipe, but there are other reasons we’re even talking about this.”

The rotation

Hurdle announced the starting rotation over the next five games, starting with Nick Kingham on Saturday.

Jordan Lyles has recovered from a mild hamstring strain and said he plans to pitch Sunday. Hurdle confirmed Lyle’s plans, adding with a smile, “Don’t you love it when these guys are self-pronounced healthy?”

“Yeah. He went out and threw his BP and felt very strong and no issues.”

Steven Brault, Joe Musgrove and Chris Archer will pitch the Atlanta Braves series Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.

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