PITTSBURGH — He’s a Pittsburgh native now leading his hometown team.
Pirates Manager Don Kelly took over last season after the team fired Derek Shelton.
Now, he’s gearing up for his first full-season in the role.
Don Kelly walked into last year as the Pirates’ bench coach with no idea his season would go the way it did.
His takeover seemed to breathe new energy into a struggling Pirates clubhouse.
Channel 11s’ Shelby Cassesse spoke with Kelly in a one-on-one interview. He told her he wants to set the tone from day one in Bradenton.
Cassesse: Obviously, the team responded to you very quickly. What is it about the way you approach the job that you think resonated with them and then also, earned you the full-time job?
Kelly: I think that how I try to approach things is understanding how hard the game is and understanding what they’re going through every single day and also understanding that there’s an expectation. We’re in the big leagues and we’re here to win games and produce and trying to toe that line of that expectation to go out and win games and play at a high level while also understanding what these guys are going through every single day through 162 plus hopefully this year that we’re getting to the playoffs and just the grind that the Major League Baseball season is while upholding that standard that we expect.
Cassesse: How much did your input during the offseason change when you’re talking about player acquisition and how did your opinion kind of shape what we’re seeing out there right now?
Kelly: Everyone was on the same page as far as the communication and how we were talking about things and really trying to shape the roster in a way that we would be competitive and add offense to a strong pitching staff and I think we were able to really accomplish those goals.
Kelly gave a speech on Monday, in which he said: “Pittsburgh just resonates grit, toughness, resilience, perseverance, loyalty and in my mind, that’s what we do every day. That’s what the Pittsburgh Pirates are are those things.”
Cassesse: When you thought about what you wanted to say, what went into that process and ultimately what was the biggest message that you wanted to pass along?
Kelly: Sitting there thinking, it’s the first time as a manager that you stand up in front of the group and you want it to be impactful and say the right things.
“I don’t think I bombed it and I hope that I’m living it out every day because talking about Pittsburgh and the grit and the passion and the loyalty, the perseverance that the city is all about are the same things that we need to be about every single day that we go out there. And I think that hopefully that resonates with the guys.
“I know that it’s a little cliched being a yinzer myself from Pittsburgh, but I’m passionate about it and looking forward to our team carrying that onto the field.”
Cassesse: What does success look like to you with this group now that you’re getting to know them a bit more?
Kelley: We talk about the playoffs, right? That’s the goal. The ultimate goal when you come to spring training is to win the World Series and I think when you break it down, success happens on a daily basis. And at the end of the season I know that we get all the projections and we talk about all the things that are fun to talk about and it sounds cliched but we have to handle things on a daily basis because we can talk about winning, we can talk about the playoffs, we can talk about all this stuff but we have to go out and do it.
Channel 11’s coverage from Pirates spring training is just beginning.
Tomorrow we’re sitting down exclusively with Cy Young winner Paul Skenes.
Download the FREE WPXI News app for breaking news alerts.
Follow Channel 11 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch WPXI NOW