Ray Searage leaned against a wall outside of the Pirates clubhouse earlier this week. After lifting up his hat, Searage wiped his brow and began to shake his head, the toll this year has taken on the Pirates pitching coach painfully evident.
“Certainly not how we drew it up,” Searage said, cracking a slight smile.
Certainly not. Even with a strong showing during a three-game sweep of the Cubs earlier this week, the Pirates had pitched to a 5.22 ERA as of Friday afternoon, almost an entire run worse than the previous high-water mark of the Clint Hurdle Era (4.23 in 2017).
They had also given up a franchise-record 237 home runs, which works out to roughly three for every two games played.
Meanwhile, because of injuries and poor performance, Searage has gone through pitchers like chewing tobacco, yanking one out and putting another one in; a total of 34 players have pitched at least one inning for the Pirates this season, three of them position players. So, yeah, it’s been hard, Searage said.
“Extremely,” Searage said. “Just look at all the main cogs that we lost. Then we had to fast-forward the learning process of other guys, which is a slow process. In the major leagues, man, it’s tough to learn because you’re going to get beat up sometimes. Sometimes you’re going to succeed. It’s been a roller coaster.”
Before we get to where things broke down for Searage and the men he oversees, the biggest question with the 64-year-old baseball lifer involves his future and whether he has one here.
It sure seems like the Pirates are going to keep their primary leaders — President Frank Coonelly, general manager Neal Huntington and manager Clint Hurdle — in place. So, if they’re going to do anything, it would make sense to target Searage, especially when you look at the Pirates’ 2019 performance (only the 1930 club’s 5.24 ERA is worse since the 1800s) and how they haven’t drafted or developed well enough at baseball’s most important position.
“No,” Searage responded when asked whether he’s thought about next year or the possibility that he may lose his job. “My feet are right here right now. For the last [three] games, I’ll do whatever I can do to help us get better and win ballgames. Whatever happens during the winter, it’s out of my control.”
Searage made waves earlier this season when he talked about how fans don’t understand what the Pirates are trying to do. “The game within the game,” he called it. Searage also took exception to the idea that the Pirates are pitching to contact.
It is true. Pirates pitchers are striking out 9.02 batters per nine innings, the best such mark in the history of the franchise. What the Pirates have done far too often this season is pitch poorly, and Searage has no problem acknowledging that.
“I’m not OK with the whole year,” Searage said. “We were pretty good in April [3.54 ERA, tied with the Astros for fifth in MLB], then all of a sudden, boom. We lose [Jameson Taillon]. We lose [Francisco] Cervelli. Hopefully through these experiences we will get better. This has been a tough grind for everybody.”
As for his outburst that was seemingly directed at fans, Searage offered a mea culpa. It’s not the fans Searage meant to target. It’s the “critics.”
“I said the fans. It’s not the fans,” Searage said. “It’s the critics who think we’re still pitching to contact. We’ve moved on from that. We’re pitching to get outs, whether that’s a punchout, a ground ball or a popup.
“When I first got here [starting in 2009], we had to [pitch to contact] because that’s the stuff our pitchers had; it dictated that. We also had an infield that could catch anything. But we’ve evolved since then because of the way the game has changed.”
This year has been made more difficult because a few former Pirates have enjoyed incredible years elsewhere — most notably Gerrit Cole, Charlie Morton and Tyler Glasnow.
Searage has watched it all happen and insisted he doesn’t have any regrets or think about anything the Pirates could have done differently. Instead, he’s proud to have had some sort of minor influence on their careers.
“I’m happy for them,” Searage said. “Because I had some kind of little input in their careers, that makes me feel good.
“But a pitcher’s development is a progression. It doesn’t happen overnight. The baseball fairy doesn’t come in the middle of the night, hit you over the head while you’re sleeping, and the next day you’re Cy Young.
“You have to mature, physically and mentally. Those are the things that come with time. One guy may have a learning curve that’s higher than the other guy. You just try and do the best you possibly can when they’re there.”
If you’re looking to assign blame for this season — and any sane person should — it’s probably not fair to lump it all on Searage given the group with which he’s had to work.
Among those 34 pitchers who’ve pitched at least one inning, 12 have been designated for assignment in 2019 either by the Pirates or someone else. The Pirates’ current bullpen features six relievers who were DFA’d by other clubs this season. Meanwhile, players are coming up to the majors ill-prepared for what awaits them, nibbling instead of attacking hitters.
Searage, of course, is one of the men at the top, so he’ll have to answer for the performance of those below him. But it’s not like Searage is coaching guys to miss upstairs and out over the plate with flat fastballs.
“We’ve tried to teach guys that what you got away with in Triple-A, you can’t get away with that up here,” Searage said. “They have to be able to execute pitches. Secondary pitches when they’re behind in the count, the mistakes are just hammered.
“But you never give up. You never feel sorry for yourself. You just try to use this as a learning experience, take the good out of it and see if maybe we can get better next time.”
Jason Mackey: jmackey@post-gazette.com and Twitter @JMackeyPG.
First Published: September 27, 2019, 10:18 p.m.