I started getting really into the Pirates when I was around 7 years old. That was around 1997. I distinctly remember the names Jeff King, Al Martin, Kevin Young, Francisco Cordova, and yes, the man of the hour - Jay Bell.
Apparently Bell spent some time recently as a double-A hitting coach in Arizona's system. He's also coaching the New Zealand national team, which is ... interesting.
The next thing I should say here is that I don't think hitting coaches really do all that much. I wrote about Gregg Ritchie a lot this past season, and I arrived at the conclusion that any offensive struggles or successes cannot be attributed to the hitting coach on the team. The players are in the major leagues for a reason, they don't need to be taught any longer. They need another set of eyes to help them make corrections when needed, so the hitting coach does have some hand in the players' successes, but I really don't think it has a very significant impact.
Saying that, it's obvious that I wouldn't have really cared who the Pirates got to be their hitting coach for next year. The name Jay Bell is generating buzz just because people know who he is and remember him doing some good things for this team. Let me ask you this, if the Pirates signed another team's AA hitting coach to be their major league hitting coach, and you didn't know who he was, would you be excited about it? I don't see why you would. If Jay Bell had never played or the Pirates, would he even have been considered for the job? I doubt it. Did any other team ever consider giving Bell a hitting coach at the big league level? That's possible, he was a bench coach for the Diamondbacks between 2005-2006, but hasn't had any major league action since then. It's hard for me to believe that he was a name that was sought after by any other team.
Bell was a good defensive shortstop and he had one huge offensive year (38 home runs in 1999, his next highest home run total was 21). For his career he hit .265/.343/.416, which isn't great. Just because he wasn't a great hitter in his time in the majors doesn't mean that he can't be a good coach, but again, he just doesn't seem like a guy that was a hot name on the hitting coach market.
It's hard for me to be upset about a position that I don't feel has any real influence on the win-loss total of the team, but I'm just a bit surprised by all the positivity coming from this move. Although some positivity is a good thing, since all we've had since August is negative, negative, negative.
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