The Pirates hired Rick Eckstein as their hitting coach Friday, filling the lone vacancy on the coaching staff.
Eckstein spent the past two seasons as the minor league hitting coordinator for the Minnesota Twins. He coached hitters for the Washington Nationals from 2009-13.
“Rick Eckstein brings experience, knowledge and a relentless drive to combine old-school thought and new-school concepts to help our major league team,” Pirates general manager Neal Huntington said in a statement. “His ability to impact each player’s approach and skill set will aid in our ability to create runs and maximize our performance as a team.”
Eckstein, the older brother of former major league shortstop David Eckstein, coached hitters at Class AA and in extended spring training in the Nationals/Montreal Expos organization in 2004-05. In 2006, he coached Washington’s Class AAA hitters, did the same thing for the St. Louis Cardinals in 2007 and returned to Washington in 2008. After the Nationals let him go midway through 2013, with the offense tied for 28th in runs scored and 27th in batting average, he served as a player information coach, assistant hitting coach and advance scout for the Los Angeles Angels in 2014.
“The various roles Rick has held have prepared him to implement an individualized mental, physical and fundamental program to benefit our Major League team and our organization,” Huntington said.
Eckstein replaces Jeff Branson, whom the Pirates fired, along with assistant hitting coach Jeff Livesey, after the season.
Bill Brink: bbrink@post-gazette.com and Twitter @BrinkPG
First Published: November 2, 2018, 8:46 p.m.
Updated: November 2, 2018, 9:09 p.m.
