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Former Pirate closer Joel Hanrahan is now the pitching coach for Class AA Altoona. He's shown here during a game in April.
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Joel Hanrahan explains his decision to leave the Pirates

Rob Lynn/Altoona Curve

Joel Hanrahan explains his decision to leave the Pirates

So much for Joel Hanrahan becoming a major league pitching coach with the Pirates, the same place where he blossomed into a two-time All-Star and back-of-the-bullpen force. Those plans were scuttled when the former closer announced on Twitter that he has left the organization to pursue other opportunities.

Hanrahan, 40, had been with the Pirates since they gave him his start in coaching back in 2017. It’s been an interesting and fruitful journey for Hanrahan, who’s universally liked and respected by his pitchers ... but it’s now an adventure that will obviously continue elsewhere.

“Just something I’ve been thinking about for a little bit,” Hanrahan told the Post-Gazette by phone shortly after he broke the news himself on Twitter. “There are obviously some things going on. I just felt like, with all the new movement [in the organization], it was time for me to see what else is out there.”

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The loss is a significant one for the Pirates’ revamped player development program considering Hanrahan was recently celebrated as the organization’s Danny Murtaugh coach of the year, given out to the top assistant in the entire minor league system.

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Blocked by Oscar Marin (pitching coach) and Justin Meccage (bullpen coach) at the major league level, it would stand to reason that Hanrahan left because the Pirates would not grant him a major league opportunity. But Hanrahan said that wasn’t the case.

“If there was a chance for a big-league opportunity, the Pirates would have granted that opportunity to talk to somebody else about it,” Hanrahan said. “It wasn’t that there wasn’t an opportunity in the big leagues with the Pirates. I went through the system, got some experience. I just felt like with where things are at right now, it’s a good time to look for some outside opportunities.”

Hanrahan does have something else lined up that he declined to disclose, although he didn’t when he first re-signed.

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After starting his coaching career in rookie ball with Bristol in 2017, Hanrahan basically moved up a rung each year. He was the pitching coach in Altoona for the Pirates’ alternate site in 2020 and became the Class AAA Indianapolis pitching coach this past season.

Pitchers have raved about how Hanrahan blends old-school principles with an understanding of analytics and a newer school approach. It was also hard for his pitchers to question Hanrahan’s resume, the right-hander producing a 2.59 ERA in 238 appearances with the Pirates and striking out 265 over 229 1/3 innings.

Hanrahan was an All-Star in 2011 and 2012 and experienced plenty of the game’s downturns, twice rehabbing from Tommy John surgery. He also pitched for the Nationals and Red Sox during his big-league career, which actually began with Hanrahan as a starter.

“Relationships are huge,” Hanrahan said. “Relationships with players and earning their trust are two things I pride myself on. I definitely think being a player helped with that, the fact that I had experience in just about every situation you could think of: being good, being bad, starting, relieving and getting hurt.”

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The whole coaching thing has definitely taken Hanrahan by surprise. When he first started, he jokingly remembers talking with former farm director Larry Broadway about trying the job and taking a year to see if he liked it or not. Hanrahan joked that ex-assistant general manager Kyle Stark probably thought Hanrahan would hate it.

Not so much. Hanrahan has fallen for coaching, for watching players like Max Kranick (one of Hanrahan’s first, at extended spring training back in 2017) get better and make their MLB debuts, enjoying all off the bumps along the way.

“I’ve learned a lot,” Hanrahan said. “I’ve learned a lot of things that I wish I would have known as a player. I think you hear that a lot from coaches now. It’s a fun mix of using playing knowledge and stuff that I pick up throughout the year, from other coaches and from other people in the organization.”

And now, Hanrahan will be learning from an organization that is not the Pirates for the first time since he made nine appearances for Boston in 2013.

“Thank you to the Pirates for giving me my first shot at coaching,” Hanrahan wrote on Twitter. “I wish all the players, coaches and organization the best. I’m looking forward to a new challenge and opportunity”

Jason Mackey: jmackey@post-gazette.com and Twitter @JMackeyPG.

First Published: December 15, 2021, 8:56 p.m.

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Former Pirate closer Joel Hanrahan is now the pitching coach for Class AA Altoona. He's shown here during a game in April.  (Rob Lynn/Altoona Curve)
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