Headlines

  • Guardians, Andrés Giménez Finalizing Seven-Year, $106.5MM Extension
  • Guardians Nearing Extension With Trevor Stephan
  • Brewers Sign Luke Voit To One-Year Deal
  • Guardians Discussing Extensions With Multiple Players
  • Cristian Pache Will Not Make Athletics’ Roster; A’s Exploring Trade Scenarios
  • Triston McKenzie Shut Down For At Least Two Weeks With Teres Major Strain
  • Previous
  • Next
Register
Login
  • Hoops Rumors
  • Pro Football Rumors
  • Pro Hockey Rumors

MLB Trade Rumors

  • Home
  • Teams
    • AL East
      • Baltimore Orioles
      • Boston Red Sox
      • New York Yankees
      • Tampa Bay Rays
      • Toronto Blue Jays
    • AL Central
      • Chicago White Sox
      • Cleveland Guardians
      • Detroit Tigers
      • Kansas City Royals
      • Minnesota Twins
    • AL West
      • Houston Astros
      • Los Angeles Angels
      • Oakland Athletics
      • Seattle Mariners
      • Texas Rangers
    • NL East
      • Atlanta Braves
      • Miami Marlins
      • New York Mets
      • Philadelphia Phillies
      • Washington Nationals
    • NL Central
      • Chicago Cubs
      • Cincinnati Reds
      • Milwaukee Brewers
      • Pittsburgh Pirates
      • St. Louis Cardinals
    • NL West
      • Arizona Diamondbacks
      • Colorado Rockies
      • Los Angeles Dodgers
      • San Diego Padres
      • San Francisco Giants
  • About
    • MLB Trade Rumors
    • Tim Dierkes
    • Writing team
    • Advertise
    • Archives
  • Contact
  • Tools
    • 2022-23 MLB Free Agent List
    • Top 50 Free Agents
    • Projected Arbitration Salaries For 2023
    • Transaction Tracker
    • Extension Tracker
    • Arbitration Tracker
    • Agency Database
  • NBA/NFL/NHL
    • Hoops Rumors
    • Pro Football Rumors
    • Pro Hockey Rumors
  • App
  • Chats
Go To Pro Hockey Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

Pirates Hire Rick Eckstein As Hitting Coach

By TC Zencka | November 3, 2018 at 12:09pm CDT

The Pittsburgh Pirates have filled their hitting coach vacancy with former Nationals coach Rick Eckstein, per Bill Brink of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (via tweet).

Eckstein’s career can be traced back to 2004 when he served in the Montreal Expos’ organization as a minor league hitting coach for two seasons. From there he spent the next three years as the hitting coach for the Nationals’ and Cardinals’ Triple-A affiliates.

David Eckstein’s older brother joins manager Clint Hurdle’s staff with four years of previous major league hitting coach experience with the Washington Nationals from 2009 to 2013. After being released mid-season from manager Davey Johnson’s staff, Eckstein spent the year after in the Angels organization where he served as a front office liasion, a role that merged the responsibilities of an assistant hitting coach with those of an advanced scout.

For both 2015 and 2016, Eckstein moved to the college ranks as an assistant hitting coach for the University of Kentucky before spending the last two seasons as the minor league hitting coordinator for the Minnesota Twins.

He’ll work to improve a Pirates’ offense that scored 692 runs in 2018 – 20th overall in the MLB. They were 25th in home runs and 16th in slugging percentage. They did display some decent contact skills, striking out at the fifth lowest rate in the majors (20.3%) while tying for 8th league-wide in batting average (.254).

At his disposal, Eckstein will have an offensive core that should be entering their prime. Starling Marte is the oldest of the group at thirty, and Gregory Polanco is somehow still just 27-years-old – but they also boast a trio of 26-year-old regulars – Josh Bell, Adam Frazier, and Colin Moran – that will need to excel for the Pirates to contend in a crowded NL Central.

The 45-year-old Eckstein takes over for Jeff Branson, whom the Pirates let go along with assistant hitting coach Jeff Livesey in early October. Both Branson and Livesey had served in their posts since 2014.

Share 0 Retweet 6 Send via email0

Pittsburgh Pirates Adam Frazier Clint Hurdle Colin Moran David Eckstein Gregory Polanco Josh Bell Starling Marte

Rangers Hire Chris Woodward As Manager
Main
Brewers Hire Andy Haines As Hitting Coach
View Comments (7)

Comments

  1. mlb1225

    4 years ago

    I’m hoping to see more power output from Moran, Dickerson, and especially Bell.

    Reply
    • Ozzie Torres

      4 years ago

      The improvement in Moran will be minimum. He’s a future 20 bombs per year. Dickerson and Bell have more expectations, of course. But Dickerson have better efficiency being a hard contact hitter, but not necessarily home runs. For other side, I don’t know what the hell is happening with Bell’s bat.

      Reply
      • mlb1225

        4 years ago

        I really hope they try to make Bell the 25+ HR guy he was in his rookie year.

        Reply
        • andrewgauldin

          4 years ago

          All they gotta do is decide. They make the decisions for Bells production

        • Slevin

          4 years ago

          Just flip that switch.

  2. theeterps

    4 years ago

    That’s a pretty good write-up for a guy I’ve never heard of. Hopefully he can work some magic, but I’m not holding my breath.

    Reply
  3. JJB

    4 years ago

    Grit is genetic, isn’t it?

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Please login to leave a reply.
Log in Register

ad: 300x250_1_MLB

    Top Stories

    Guardians, Andrés Giménez Finalizing Seven-Year, $106.5MM Extension

    Guardians Nearing Extension With Trevor Stephan

    Brewers Sign Luke Voit To One-Year Deal

    Guardians Discussing Extensions With Multiple Players

    Cristian Pache Will Not Make Athletics’ Roster; A’s Exploring Trade Scenarios

    Triston McKenzie Shut Down For At Least Two Weeks With Teres Major Strain

    Cubs, Nico Hoerner Agree To Three-Year Extension

    Yankees To Select Anthony Volpe’s Contract

    Cardinals To Select Jordan Walker

    Mets Option Brett Baty, Mark Vientos

    Luke Voit Opts Out Of Minor League Deal With The Brewers

    Mets Sign Dylan Bundy To Minor League Deal

    Reds Acquire Will Benson From Guardians

    Cardinals Sign Miles Mikolas To Two-Year Extension

    Keston Hiura Will Not Make Brewers’ Roster

    Rhys Hoskins Diagnosed With Torn ACL, Will Undergo Surgery

    Jed Lowrie Announces Retirement

    Jose Altuve To Miss About Two Months Due To Thumb Surgery

    Rockies Sign Jurickson Profar

    Braves Option Vaughn Grissom, Braden Shewmake

    Recent

    Guardians, Andrés Giménez Finalizing Seven-Year, $106.5MM Extension

    Guardians Nearing Extension With Trevor Stephan

    Giants’ Chairman: Team Intends To Eventually Exercise 2024 Option On President Farhan Zaidi

    Joe Mantiply To Open Season On Injured List

    Offseason In Review: Seattle Mariners

    Brewers Sign Luke Voit To One-Year Deal

    Rockies Sign Grayson Greiner To Minor League Deal

    Offseason In Review: New York Yankees

    Offseason Review Chat Transcript: Miami Marlins

    Rockies Trade T.J. Zeuch To Phillies

    MLBTR Newsletter - Hot stove highlights in your inbox, five days a week

    Latest Rumors & News

    Latest Rumors & News

    • Offseason Outlook Series
    Trade Rumors App for iOS and Android

    MLBTR Features

    MLBTR Features

    • Go Ad-Free
    • Projected Arbitration Salaries For 2023
    • 2022-23 MLB Free Agent List
    • 2023-24 MLB Free Agent List
    • MLB Player Chats
    • Transaction Tracker
    • Extension Tracker
    • Agency Database
    • MLBTR On Twitter
    • MLBTR On Facebook
    • Team Facebook Pages
    • How To Set Up Notifications For Breaking News
    • Hoops Rumors
    • Pro Football Rumors
    • Pro Hockey Rumors

    Rumors By Team

    • Angels Rumors
    • Astros Rumors
    • Athletics Rumors
    • Blue Jays Rumors
    • Braves Rumors
    • Brewers Rumors
    • Cardinals Rumors
    • Cubs Rumors
    • Diamondbacks Rumors
    • Dodgers Rumors
    • Giants Rumors
    • Guardians Rumors
    • Mariners Rumors
    • Marlins Rumors
    • Mets Rumors
    • Nationals Rumors
    • Orioles Rumors
    • Padres Rumors
    • Phillies Rumors
    • Pirates Rumors
    • Rangers Rumors
    • Rays Rumors
    • Red Sox Rumors
    • Reds Rumors
    • Rockies Rumors
    • Royals Rumors
    • Tigers Rumors
    • Twins Rumors
    • White Sox Rumors
    • Yankees Rumors

    ad: 160x600_MLB

    Navigation

    • Sitemap
    • Archives
    • Feeds by Team

    MLBTR INFO

    • Advertise
    • About
    • Commenting Policy
    • Privacy Policy

    Connect

    • Contact Us
    • Twitter
    • Facebook
    • RSS Feed

    MLB Trade Rumors is not affiliated with Major League Baseball, MLB or MLB.com

    hide arrowsFOX Sports Engage Network scroll to top
    Close

    Desktop Version | Switch To Mobile Version