The Pittsburgh Pirates have some of the best managers and coaches in the world lined up to work with the team. The Pirates themselves are some of the best players in the world, but that doesnât mean they donât still have their work cut out for them. No matter how you line them up, however, the Pirates have a great group of coaches standing up this year. The list includes manager John Russell, bench coach Gary Varsho, hitting coach Don Long, pitching coach Joe Kerrigan, first base coach Perry Hill, third base coach Tony Beasley, bullpen coach Luis Dorante and bullpen catcher Heberto Andrade; head athletic trainer Brad Henderson, head conditioning coordinator Frank Velasquez, assistant athletic trainer Mike Sandoval, assistant conditioning coordinator Kiyoshi Momose, physical therapist & rehabilitation coordinator Erwin Valencia, visiting clubhouse manager Kevin Conrad, assistant equipment manager Scott Bonnett and video coordinator Kevin Roach.
What do all these aforementioned members do? They work together to make a really great team out of the 40-man roster that will be heading off to Spring Training soon. The roster includes pitchers Jimmy Barthmaier, T.J. beam, Sean Burnett, Matt Capps, Jesse Chavez, David Davidson, Zach Duke, Phil Dumatrait, Tom Gorzelanny, John Grabow, Craig Hansen, Jeff Karstens, Paul Maholm, Evan Meek, Ross Ohlendorf, Romulo Sanchez, Ian Snell, Jeff Sues, Ronald Uvideo, Donald Veal and Tyler Yates; catchers Robinzon Diaz, Ryan Doumit, Jason Jaramillo and Steven Lerud; infielders Pedro Alvarez, Brian Bixler, Luis Cuz, Adam LaRoche, Andy LaRoche, Freddy Sanchez, Ramon Vazquez, Neil Walker and Jack Wilson; and outfielders nate McLouth, Nyjer Morgan, Brandon Moss, Steve Pearce and Jose Tabata.
So where do you take a great group of coaches and trainers and managers with a 40-man roster? Well, if youâre the Pirates, you get everyone packed and ready to go and you head down to Bradenton, Florida. McKechnie Field will host the Pirates this year for Spring Training and the 2009 Grapefruit League season, which officially begins with a charity game on February 25 against the Phillies.
The games continue with a lineup that includes games against the Braves, Tigers, Reds, Netherlands, Twins, rays, Astros, Red Sox, the Twins again, Yankees, Rays again, the Twins a third time, Reds, Rays a third time, Blue Jays, back at the Phillies once more and rounding out with the Reds a final time in the month of March.
With this kind of line up and thorough Spring Training, it sounds as though the Pirates will have very few moments to stop and get sore or sit around and relax but then this is baseball season coming up and if the Pirates are as excited as they should be about getting back into the swing of things, then there wonât be a dull moment in the training, on the field, in the games or any other time that the Pirates are doing what they love to do best, which is playing baseball.
As the time winds down, local events are winding up for the Pirates as well.
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