Potanko: Kieran Mattison Brings Certain Element to New Role With Pirates (+)
The Pittsburgh Pirates have got themselves in a unique situation regarding the talent they have in their system. There isn’t a ton of power, but the Pirates have an abundance of athletic/speed threats on the basepaths and in the field.
Some names come to mind, like Termarr Johnson, Tsung-Che Cheng, Ji-Hwan Bae, and Braylon Bishop. Sure, the Pirates have some power coming through the system, but it seems like they have a build and a type regarding player acquisitions.
On Dec. 21, the Pirates released their list of minor league managers and coaches, and one name was missing from the list. That name was Kieran Mattison.
Mattison, in 2021, served as the Pirates’ Double-A manager in Altoona while also serving as the outfield and baserunning instructor.
Flash forward back to the present day, and it comes out that Mattison is still in the Pirates organization but would now operate as the full-time outfield and baserunning instructor.
Mattison’s role, as he described, would be creating a program both in the outfield and on the basepaths for guys in Triple-A all the way down to the Dominican Republic, where the Pittsburgh Pirates have summer league teams.
Swiping bags and turning a single into a double may seem easy to someone watching the television, but there is a sweet science involved in the whole process.
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“Being a good baserunner isn’t just having speed,” said Mattison. “You have to have good awareness and create good angles. You have to know what you’re doing out there and understand the situation. You also have to anticipate on every pitch.”
Anticipation is a big word here, and I don’t think anyone anticipated the Pirates Double-A team breaking a franchise record for most stolen bases in a season finishing with 160 on the year.
“It meant a lot to break the record, and it was really cool to do it in the last game of the season,” said Mattison. “When I’m the manager of a team, I always have an aggressive mindset. I believe in pressuring the defense, which has been amplified throughout the Pirates system. Throughout the system, we give guys the green light to steal. It’s our job as coaches to guide them and give them the right information.”
Mattison continued explaining how they would explain to the players why they had the green light or even the red light. The players go into each situation with a detailed explanation of why they are doing what they are doing and why it works. Even non-speedy guys like Aaron Shackleford and Blake Sabol had double-digit steals due to the high baserunning IQ the Pirates’ coaching staff and Mattison are implementing.
“I feel like if the players are running more in the minors and they have an understanding of how to steal a base, they can be more comfortable when they make it to the majors,” said Mattison. “They may not have a green light at first when they make it, but hopefully, they aren’t uncomfortable going when they get the steal sign.”
As I mentioned earlier, the Pirates seem to have an idea of what their ideal player has in their arsenal. Athleticism and speed are the two common factors in this equation. With Mattison’s and the Pirates’ aggressive mindset, could this play to their advantage?
“It’s a big advantage when you have guys with speed,” said Mattison. “There are two different types of speed. There are guys that are naturally fast, and then there are guys that play fast. What we are trying to do is get the guys to play fast. What that means is they are processing the information fast and making great reads off the bat. Another way of playing fast is taking efficient routes around the bases and attacking the inside corner of the bases.”
The Pittsburgh Pirates are attacking things from a physical and “cerebral” standpoint, as Mattison eloquently put it. Even their prototypical “power guys” showed off speed as well, like Matt Gorski with 23 homers and 19 stolen bases or Andres Alvarez with 20 homers and 21 stolen bags.
“Whatever these guys have, we want to maximize their ability and maximize their skills,” said Mattison. “At the end of the day, we are trying to score more than our opponents.”
Moving on to the outfield, Mattison mentioned teaching the fundamentals.
“One of the fundamentals is understanding what you have to do when the ball is hit to you and when the ball is not hit to you. Then you have to understand what base you have to throw to or where the cutoff is. Many guys have different body frames, so T-Brock [Tarrick Brock] and I try to help each guy be as efficient as possible no matter what frame or path they take.”
One of the different ways Mattison teaches outfield fundamentals is by taking a group of outfield guys and working on cut-offs and relays.
“I’ll have some of the outfielders on the infield so they can understand where to line up for the cut-off, which helps them slow the game down in real-time,” Mattison said. “We are also big on watching film, so we can get a high view and break things down, which helps with the decision-making when it’s game time.”
Mattison also emphasized using your brain more and knowing what the situation is. Just because you have a good arm doesn’t necessarily mean you need to try and throw a runner out each time. Smarts and game awareness are two big points.
Time will tell if the Pittsburgh Pirates will get better at the major league level, but it seems to me that the entire system is preaching the right things regarding two crucial parts of the game.
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