Pirates hitting coach Rick Eckstein took 2020 woes personally, made Gregory Polanco a pet project

When the Pittsburgh Pirates finished last in the major leagues in on-base and slugging percentages and in the bottom five of most other major offensive categories, Rick Eckstein took it personally.

How could he not?

The Pirates finished with the worst record in baseball, had a pair of starting outfielders batting below the Mendoza line and not one hitter who played in 25 games or more finished with a batting average above .250.

“Obviously, as the lead hitting coach you put a lot on yourself to try to understand what last year presented us, what challenges and how we faced those challenges,” Eckstein said Saturday from Bradenton, Fla. “I revisited a lot of conversations to see, was it me? Was I the one that was part of the problem, or can I be part of the solution mentally?

“One of the things that I came to grips with was, by and large, we weren’t thinking in a way that would allow to take that step in the direction to where we could bring our personal best.”

So, Eckstein re-evaluated the processes the Pirates went through last season to figure out why the batting averages of hitters at the top of the order plummeted, why Bryan Reynolds dropped 125 points (from .314 in 2019 to .189 last summer), Gregory Polanco 89 points (from .242 to .153), Kevin Newman 84 points (from .308 to .224) and Adam Frazier 48 points (from .278 to .230).

It forced Eckstein to challenge his core beliefs and search for answers. He dug deep into the archives to look for tells, rediscover swings and find answers to a problem that persisted in a 60-game nightmare of a season for a hitting coach credited for helping Josh Bell to career numbers in a 37-homer, 116-RBI season a year earlier. Eckstein emerged confident that the Pirates would recover.

“I don’t forget last year. It’s a motivation to really, you know, keep myself focused in a way,” Eckstein said. “The hitters have shown up and they’re really focused. They haven’t forgotten what last year was. I think that’s a motivator to showing up every day this year and proving what we’re capable of and proving we belong and proving that we can show up every day and bring our best to the field every day and express our talent the way we know we’re capable of.”

The results have been promising. Through the first 19 Grapefruit League games, Newman (.643) and Frazier (.591) were two of the game’s hottest hitters and the Pirates ranked in MLB’s top half in home runs (tied for ninth, 22), RBIs (11th, 83), doubles (12th, 29), slugging (12th, .438) and batting average (14th, .252).

Perhaps the Pirates have found an elixir?

“I’ve been asking the same thing,” Eckstein said, “because I wanted a dose of it.”

Truth is, many of the Pirates’ hitters blamed last season’s scuffles on losing their timing during the sport’s nearly four-month shutdown because of the covid-19 pandemic. Even Pirates manager Derek Shelton, a former hitting coach with the Tampa Bay Rays, had no answer for why a .300 hitter like Reynolds suddenly couldn’t find his swing.

“That’s honestly the million dollar question,” Shelton said. “Timing is something. I know we talked about it a lot last year. For hitters in general throughout the league, it’s something different for every guy. There’s no magical fix to it. When your timing gets thrown off, it throws off everything else that happens in your swing.”

Polanco is a prime example. The right fielder led the Pirates with 65 strikeouts but also was tied for second with 22 RBIs, thanks to hard contact when he did connect. Eckstein saw Polanco’s immense talent but inconsistent hitting and understood how important his bat could be to the Pirates if he could shorten his swing and help him fulfill his potential.

So, Eckstein undertook a research project involving Polanco. With the assistance of Marc Caiafa, senior vice president of production at MLB Network, Eckstein used MLB’s video library to spend 48 hours studying Polanco’s swing.

After discovering areas for adjustments, Pirates assistant Tim McKeithan of the analytics team made a presentation for Polanco to understand the stages of refining his plate approach and swing. Polanco worked on the first stage this offseason with new Pirates assistant hitting coach Christian Marrero in Miami. Eckstein said Polanco is showing signs of Stage 2, batting .368 (7 for 19) with two doubles, a triple and two home runs with a team-best eight RBIs in seven games this spring. Next, they want to attack the third stage.

“He understands things that he needs to work on, and he’s come up with a nice program and routine for himself that he can take into the game that he feels confident with,” Eckstein said. “I think in a small sample, it’s shown how he’s able to compete and shorten his stroke but also drive the baseball. So it’s still a work in progress, but I do know that Gregory has shown some things, an upside that we’ve all been waiting to see, and now it’s just continue to keep building on it and keep growing with it.”

It’s a challenge the Pirates’ lead hitting coach is taking personally, knowing what Polanco’s power means to the Pirates’ lineup and what his turnaround would mean for their confidence in Eckstein.

“I don’t feel like I’m re-teaching Gregory something new,” Eckstein said. “I feel like I’m really redefining things in his career and really putting pieces back in place that for one reason or another — maybe it was surgery-related or injury-related or whatever — I feel like that’s starting to come together for him.

“I don’t want to put words in his mouth, but the feedback I get from him is very positive and very encouraging and very confidence-filled. So Gregory is not only big for us as a team and our offense, but he can affect the game with one swing.”