PITTSBURGH -- Manager Don Kelly’s office is hardly robust, but it has started to fill up over the last month. The room was semi-cleared out when he took over May 8, but photos of family, members of the coaching staff and his mentor, Jim Leyland, are now adorning the walls and desk.
There’s something else about Kelly’s office that’s quite noticeable: the blinds to the office’s window are now usually up, and the door is often open.
Monday marked exactly one month since Kelly managed his first game with the Pirates, taking over for Derek Shelton. In that time, the Bucs have played winning baseball, going 15-14 under Kelly after they beat the Marlins, 10-3, at PNC Park on Monday night in the series opener.
“It’s been a month?” Kelly jokingly asked pregame. “At times, it feels like it flies. Then at times, it feels like, you feel like learning those things takes time. But it’s gone by pretty quick.”
There’s always going to be some skepticism about how much change you could realistically expect when you go from a manager to their bench coach, especially midseason, but the club appears to be playing looser, more fundamentally sound and just overall better of late.
Kelly has consistently deflected praise and said the players deserve the credit, but Kelly deserves some kudos, too. He inherited a 12-26 team in perhaps its lowest spot in the Shelton era. Kelly’s been the beneficiary of some key players getting healthy, like Spencer Horwitz and Nick Gonzales, but it’s hard to argue with the results.
“He’s done it,” Andrew McCutchen said when asked what has stood out about Kelly this past month. “He’s been here, in the clubhouse, on the field for quite some time, so he has a general feel for the game. Makes some moves when he feels he needs to make them, and I think he has trust in the guys when he does it. Makes the right call when he makes them. Not putting guys in situations they shouldn’t be in.”
McCutchen then took a beat.
“We’ve been playing some good baseball as of late.”
McCutchen’s right, and examples of what he talked about were seen Monday. Putting players in good spots? Up 4-2 in the fifth with the tying run to the plate, Kelly opted to go to Chase Shugart after starter Mike Burrows began elevating his pitches. Shugart again came through in that spot, stranding his 15th inherited runner of the season.
Kelly talks about the importance of moving runners along on the bases. In the sixth, Ke’Bryan Hayes laid down a solid bunt, and after a pair of Marlins throwing errors, he ended up on third base and two runs had crossed home plate.
Maybe that’s Donnieball? Or maybe it’s what Kelly thinks his biggest strength is as a manager: communication. That could be giving instruction or conveying ideas, but it’s also listening. Early in his time in the new role, Kelly went into the clubhouse postgame to talk with a frustrated player sitting in a chair at their locker. Kelly stands 6-foot-4, but he wasn’t going to stand for this conversation. He took a knee to meet the player eye-to-eye, and they talked.
“He’s just great,” Bryan Reynolds said. “Everyone in here loves him. He’s fun to play for, so not much more you can ask.”
Perhaps Kelly needs to get a little better at doing that with umpires, getting rung up three times already. He’s about as friendly as anyone in baseball -- he managed to play nine years in large part because he was a glue guy -- but those ejections are a sign that he cares and will defend his players.
“You also want the guys to know that you are in it with them,” Kelly said.
The one trigger tends to be when Kelly thinks his team is being disrespected. He’s put himself in the line of fire when he’s felt it’s happened, but you know what they say about respect. You can’t ask for it.
“That's what we have to do every single day is go out there to earn it,” Kelly said. “It's not going to be given to you. You have to go out there and earn it and take it.”
So far, Kelly is earning that respect in the room.