Over the past few weeks, Pirates Manager Clint Hurde has been vocal about his discussions with Jose Tabata to turn it around. After Tabata has continued to struggle in the lineup, he was officially sent to Triple-A Indianapolis last night, with the official word coming today.
“There came a point in time where we’ve got to find a way to help him reignite his game,” Hurdle said. “He was sitting in this chair saying last night ‘I get it, I know I’m accountable. I need to go find my way back.’
Hurdle said consistent play in Indy, could help Tabata find his way back.
“I think it’s consistent at bats, consistent reps, consistent games,” Hurdle said. “We’re in a competitive mode up here, he wasn’t playing to his expectations. He was trying to find a way to get some offensive traction, but that wasn’t happening. I think to get him out of this environment count provide him some good. It’s going to be a challenge now for him to find the freedom and go play.”
When watching Tabata over the past month or so, fans have labeled him lazy and say that he isn’t trying. Hurdle said that couldn’t be further from the truth.
“He’s not a lazy player,” Hurdle said. “I think there’s just some confusing going on right now. You see balls drop in front of him and he wants to catch them. He doesn’t make a good first move and he backs off. It’s all about first movement, whether it be in the box swinging the bat.”
“I think there is just too much going on upstairs as I shared with him that we had to send Pedro (Alvarez) out last year and we sent Alex (Presley) out earlier (this year). When there’s too much noise and too much clutter, it can confuse a player.”
Hurdle said Tabata was very professional when hearing the news.
“We’ve had enough conversations along the way that I would have been surprised if it was anything but professional,” Hurdle said. “He understands the greater good of the group out there right now and that he wasn’t bringing his lunch pail everyday. We’re in a very competitive frame of mind right now and a very competitive spirit. When he’s playing, the guys are pulling for him and he wasn’t finding a way to finish at bats or plays like he wanted to.”
With the demotion of Tabata, many thought the promotion of the long-awaited Starling Marte would happen. Instead, the team opted to go with Gorkys Hernandez. With a player like Marte, when he gets the call up, you want him to be here for good. For a guy like Hernandez, he can come up and plug a hole with Tabata down. The move was about Tabata, not anyone else.
Despite not promoting him, Hurdle said his work hasn’t gone unnoticed.
“We’re well aware of what Starling is doing down there,” Hurdle said. “He’s played centerfield, left field and we moved him to right last night so that he will have experience in all three areas. His development is heading the right direction.”
Hurdle said both his personal experiences in rushing a young player, as well as the Pirates doing the same, sometime patience is better.
“In sharing with Neal, we both tried to trade some experiences,” Hurdle said. “Young players, whether they have been aggressive with moving them here, or when I’ve been in other situations where you’ve been aggressive moving them, the challenges that come with that a year or two after compared to being patient with players. We have Andrew (McCutchen) and Neil (Walker) out here. We have Tabata and we have Presley; that maybe you’ve been more aggressive with. You have Alvarez and the challenges that can come.”
“Is there ever a perfect equation to get them here right on time when you know your 100 percent right? No there’s not. But there’s a gut feel that you want to give him time and you don’t want to have him go through some of the challenges that Pedro has had to go through, that Presley has had to go through, and in this case, what Jose is going through right now.”
As far as Hernandez is concerned, Hurdle has been impressed with what he’s seen since his last call up.
“He’s been in a good place, even offensively,” Hurdle said. “He’s had a real solid month of June offensively. He’s a wonderful defender to have on the club. We’ve got him on the bases a few times and he’s had some really clean breaks and reads, so he’ll help there.”
Hurdle said he’ll use Hernandez as a defensive replacement as he did earlier this year.
“He made two highlight plays while he was here,” Hurdle said. “He’s arguably still probably our best defender.
Photo Credits: Getty Images
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