Jason Kendall wants to manage the Pirates.
He thinks he’d be pretty good at it, too.
Yes, seriously.
“There’s something that I owe to the city of Pittsburgh,” Kendall said by phone Monday afternoon from his Kansas City home. “I truly believe that. That’s why I would be interested in sitting down and talking about it.”
Kendall, 45, does not have managerial experience, but he does fit the mold of others who’ve been hired recently around baseball: He’s spent his entire life around the game — his father, Fred, played in the majors from 1969-1980 — and … well, he’s not dumb.
When Kendall played, including 1,252 games over nine seasons with the Pirates, he was known for his work ethic, sound fundamentals and ability to think the game better that most. That approach was detailed in Kendall’s 2014 book “Throwback: A Big-League Catcher Tells How the Game Is Really Played,” written with the Kansas City Star’s Lee Judge.
"I know I can manage," Kendall said. "I'm sure some people will say, 'Oh, he doesn't have managerial experience.' I basically managed when I played, especially later in my career.
"As a manager, you should only win or lose — and I’m going way high on this — 5-10 games; it’s all about your bullpen. But it’s the way you take the field. These are grown men. It’s the way you treat them.”
Kendall retired as a player in 2012. From then until 2018, he worked as a special assignment coach with the Kansas City Royals. That included a pair of trips to the World Series, including a five-game victory over the Mets in 2015 with Ned Yost as manager.
That experience has been eye-opening for Kendall. Never during his Pittsburgh days did Kendall think about what owner Kevin McClatchy or general manager Cam Bonifay did on a daily basis; Kendall simply worried about playing.
But during those six years in Kansas City — Kendall took this summer off to spend more time with his family — the first-round pick in 1992 was exposed to the other side of the game, including scouting and player development.
“I was very fortunate to be a part of the Royals when they went to two World Series because it taught me a lot about different things,” Kendall said.
One of those things could become important, although it’s really just an updated version of what he’s always done — analytics and the parsing of information when it comes to matchups, splits and tendencies.
With the Royals, Kendall would sit with catcher Salvador Perez to formulate and review scouting reports. Kendall did this when he played, too, often starting as early as noon for a 7:05 p.m. game, but it’s obviously a bit more modern now.
“My first big league game, someone popped a VHS tape into the VCR and said, ‘Here’s Kevin Brown,’ ” Kendall said of the Marlins’ starting pitcher that day. “Now, it’s right there for you. All you have to do is click a button.”
Whether Kendall could actually manage the Pirates raises an interesting question.
They’ve lacked fundamentals in a big way, and there’s a very good chance Kendall could help them improve there.
“You have to teach these kids to do certain things, because they are kids,” Kendall said. “I love that part of it — helping these kids mature into men. And knowing little things about the game.
“If you go back and look at that 2015 World Series, the Royals were not a selfish team. Everybody on the field did what they were capable of doing. Runner on second, nobody out, guys weren’t hooking balls into the left-field bleachers.
“It was, ‘That’s my job, got to get him over, I’m gonna let the next guy do it.’ Everybody did what they were capable of doing and didn’t try to do too much.”
If the Pirates hired Kendall, it could also address some of their culture issues from this past season. A general criticism from inside and outside the clubhouse has been that things were allowed to fester for entirely too long.
If he’s in charge, Kendall said there’s no way any of that will happen.
“You have to be accountable for what you do,” Kendall said. “The clubhouse stuff, you better be able to handle that. If you can’t handle that, you shouldn’t be managing.
“You treat people how you want to be treated. I’m going to tell you what you need to do. I’m going to tell you how to do it. I’m going to tell you what to look for and when to look for it.”
There’s certainly precedent for relatively young former players getting a chance to manage. Nine of the 30 clubs currently have managers Kendall’s age or younger, including Minnesota’s Rocco Baldelli, a first-year manager who helped the Twins win 101 games and the AL Central.
Mike Matheny, Walt Weiss, Brad Ausmus, Aaron Boone, Kevin Cash, Joey Cora, Gabe Kapler and several more have all received (at least somewhat surprising) shots in recent years.
Typically, those guys had some level of prior on-field experience, more than a special assignment coach or some sort of roving instructor, but the Pirates are also in a bit of a unique situation.
Their general manager, Neal Huntington, surprisingly survived this round, with the Pirates firing only Clint Hurdle on Sunday; would a new guy really want to come here knowing he had to win now, or there might be a regime change?
Kendall sure would. His excitement for the opportunity came across as genuine, especially when he tied it to his playing days. Kendall loved Pittsburgh, called the city his second home and made it seem like he has some unfinished business at PNC Park.
“I spent nine of my best years in baseball in Pittsburgh,” Kendall said. “I do know what it means for that city to have a winning baseball team. I wish I could have helped bring it. I wish I could have won there.
“That’s why I would love to sit down and see what the Pirates are thinking.”
Jason Mackey: jmackey@post-gazette.com and Twitter @JMackeyPG.
First Published: October 1, 2019, 4:07 p.m.
