Hague brings 'simple' approach, Pittsburgh past to new gig

Matt Hague knows just how much hitting information is out there today. Teams can track everything from exit velocities to swing paths. Players can go outside the organization to consult at different offseason facilities or work with outside coaches. Players also have their own experiences to fall back on, plus the experiences of their teammates and coaches.

It’s a lot to digest. It’s why Hague, the Pirates’ new hitting coach, believes all that information eventually tells a story to the player.

“That's what we're trying to do,” Hague said over Zoom Thursday. “We're trying to tell a story in a simple form in their simple hitting language, but they have to feel that the source of that story is very well thought out. It's a complex source, but you're filtering it simply into their hitter's language.”

Hague was announced as the Pirates’ hitting coach Thursday, filling arguably the biggest opening on the team’s staff this offseason. Hague spent last season as an assistant hitting coach for the Blue Jays after serving as a Minor League coach in their system the previous four years.

Improving the offense is a key focus for the Pirates this offseason, which starts at coaching. Last year, the Pirates finished 24th in runs scored (665) and 27th in OPS (.672), which led to the dismissal of Andy Haines after a three-year tenure as hitting coach. The team has pieces to work with, including 2024 All-Star Bryan Reynolds and Oneil Cruz, who had a 20-20 season, but the overall unit has to produce more to get over the hump.

Hague got to see a Pittsburgh team make the leap to playoff contention firsthand, playing parts of the 2012 and 2014 seasons with the Pirates. Remembering that excitement and seeing the front office’s desire for the team’s players to grow made this a desirable spot for Hague’s first go as a Major League hitting coach.

“My playing experience here with the Pirates, when it was popping and we were in the playoffs and seeing that environment come alive, it’s extremely enticing on my end,” Hague said. “Even understanding the starting points and what the Pirates have done before, as far as what they put into their players and what they put into the organization, it’s top-notch. All the foundation is there. It’s kind of a now-what situation, where I tend to really enjoy myself being in that. And I like Pittsburgh, man. Pittsburgh’s great.”

To take that next step, the Pirates are going to need to build on that foundation they’ve laid out the last few years and continue to develop some of their young hitters. Players like Henry Davis, Liover Peguero and Jack Suwinski may have had success recently in the Minors, but they struggled to hit Major League pitching in 2024. Manager Derek Shelton and general manager Ben Cherington talked often last year about how the gap between the Majors and Triple-A is as large as ever and how vital it is to close that gap and get better results out of their young hitters.

For Hague, the key to those improvements comes in identifying what worked for a player previously and integrating technology, resources and coaching to build on it.

“All these guys have strong signs of success,” Hague said. “It’s going to come down to the road maps, as well. Being able to integrate all of the technology, the resources, the situations and ultimately bring that to the players on what their brain attached to during those periods of success and what they went through during those times. The ultimate goal is to bring out those periods of success longer than they have.”

And, of course, there is the thing that every coach needs to earn: Trust from his players. Time will tell on that, but Hague made it a point to try to reach out to all his new players before they reached out to him (only former Blue Jay Isiah Kiner-Falefa beat him to the punch). With that trust, perhaps the Pirates can get the offensive jolt they need.

“It's gonna be never-ending, but continually having those touchpoints to where when this thing gets fired up, we're already on the same page and can get into the nitty-gritty and go down the road of what [the hitters’] roadmap looks like to growth,” Hague said. “Just touchpoints and continuing to pour into them and understand their perspective. Have some empathy, be vulnerable with them and understand where they've been, because all these players have gone through different situations. They've had different attack plans, and being able to put that together and understand where they are [is important].”