Kevin Gorman: Tarrick Brock pushing Pirates to be aggressive, smart on bases, in outfield

Tarrick Brock doesn’t flinch when informed the definition of his job description — outfield and baserunning coordinator — involves two of the Pittsburgh Pirates’ biggest problems.

At times, the Pirates have looked like the “Bad News Bears” on the basepaths and the Keystone Cops in the outfield.

It’s not just been a comedy of errors, either. The Pirates’ screw-ups have been costly, from Gregory Polanco’s slide that required shoulder surgery in 2018 to the center-field collision that sidelined Starling Marte and Erik Gonzalez last April.

The one thing the Pirates had going for them was their Gold Glove winners in left and center field, but they dealt Corey Dickerson last summer and moved Marte last month.

Brock simply smiled.

“That’s the fun thing I get to do. It’s a new voice,” said Brock, 46, a second-round pick of the Detroit Tigers in 1991 who spent only a month or so in the majors as an outfielder but has coached with the Houston Astros (2014), San Diego Padres (2015-16) and Los Angeles Dodgers (2017-19).

“You get to come in and just re-establish greatness, the Gold Glove mentality defensively and to be the best baserunning organization in baseball. That’s the standard we will work towards every day.”

Brock knows he’s got his work cut out for him.

That’s what makes his hiring as new manager Derek Shelton’s first-base coach so important. The Pirates lack pop in the lineup, so they are emphasizing aggressive baserunning and better defense. Brock has a big hand in bringing both up to standard.

The Pirates had the most errors in baseball last season (121), and their outfielders accounted for 15 errors. No wonder one of the first drills Brock had the outfielders perform at Pirate City was a lost-in-the-sun fly ball scenario where one defender would call off the other and give him a nudge out of the way. It involved communication to avoid contact, a novel concept for this team and a new drill to the Pirates outfielders.

“This is a learning process. You’re always going to learn something new every year, whether you’re a coach or a player,” said center fielder Jarrod Dyson, who signed a free-agent deal after two seasons in Arizona. “That happens in the game. If a guy is camped underneath a ball and can’t see it but you can see it, you come over to make the play and get him out of the way.”

The Pirates are promising to push the envelope and be aggressive on the basepaths this season, so players will be hearing Brock’s voice as soon as they get on base. Dyson said it is a daily conversation he has had with Brock this spring, a sharing of information and ideas.

“(The philosophy is) definitely to be aggressive and put pressure on the defense, to be a distraction to the pitcher but not to the hitter in the box,” Brock said. “Run for the guy that’s behind you and the guy that’s behind him, as well. … There are going to be times where there’s a hard hit ball to right field, and we’re going to see what we can do.”

Brock’s impact was evident last Sunday against Detroit, as JT Riddle took advantage of an infield shift by going from first to third on a fielder’s choice and then scored on a sacrifice fly.

The Pirates have less pop in their lineup, so they are taking bigger leads in an attempt to take extra bases. But Brock emphasizes they can’t afford to be reckless when running.

“The biggest thing is establishing the identity of being an aggressive baserunning team but also a smart baserunning team,” Brock said. “Everything we do is going to be measured and calculated, with calculated risks and measured as far as our leads. We’re just going to run to our ability. What that will look like at the end of the spring is what it will look like. We don’t know yet. There is some ability there.”

Brock wants to take advantage of the speed in the Pirates’ lineup in a way they didn’t last season. The Pirates had 64 stolen bases (with Marte accounting for 25) but were caught stealing 29 times. The Pirates were 23rd in MLB in stolen base percentage (68.8%), and Brock’s Dodgers (85.1%) ranked second, stealing 57 while caught only 10 times.

The addition of Dyson, who has five seasons with 30 or more stolen bases, could set a strong tone for Kevin Newman, Adam Frazier, Bryan Reynolds and Polanco to showcase their speed. They combined for 27 stolen bases last season, three fewer than Dyson had for the Diamondbacks.

“We know he’s an elite runner — that’s obvious — and he’s been on some teams where baserunning has been extremely important, going back to the Kansas City, that were very successful in how aggressive they were,” manager Derek Shelton said of Dyson.

“The thing we hope comes off him is that, being aggressive, going from first to third, being able to score from first to home. His step’s above everybody else, just because of the fact that he’s faster than everybody else, which Tarrick tells me every day, but when you see guys that are that aggressive, other guys can feed off that.”

That’s in Brock’s job description, to push the Pirates to be aggressive but smart. What that will look like, we don’t know yet. It’s a calculated risk, but we’ll see what he can do.