Don Kelly Reveals Everything Pirates Fans Should Want to Hear From Manager

(IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect)

Being a skipper in Major League Baseball is no easy task, and Pittsburgh Pirates manager Don Kelly has found that out in some interesting ways over the past few months.

Kelly, who has done an excellent job during his time in Pittsburgh, took over for Derek Shelton as interim head coach in early May of last year. In the offseason, Kelly and the Pirates agreed to a deal to make him the full-time head coach.

Kelly, a Pennsylvania guy, has taken being the manager as an honor, something that he's trying to be grateful for every step of the way. However, that also comes with some challenges, which he acknowledged.

“Every day is different when you’re talking about what comes up on a daily basis,” Kelly said, per the Post-Gazette. “I don’t know if comfortable is the right word. We have a great staff, I love the players on the team and that’s a big part of moving forward and continuing to feel good about things, knowing everybody is putting in what they need to do to help us win tonight.”

The one thing I continue to love about the Pirates this year is that guys are being very accountable. For that to happen, it starts from the top. Instead of Kelly coming out and saying that things should have gone differently, more wins should have been had, or anything else, he's taking a lot of the blame on the chin.

Perhaps that changes over the next few months when things really get settled in, but he's said a lot of the right things early on, and there's something to acknowledge about that. In fact, even now, he believes that he's not perfect at all, and there are things he learned last year that he's only continuing to learn on days like today.

“When you’re talking about communicating with the players and staff, no, I can’t sit here and say I have been perfect,” Kelly said. “There are things you learn from as you go. I do feel like I have gotten better in some ways, but still a long way to go.”

I really like Kelly as the skipper of this team, as he's a young guy who understands what it takes to play in Pittsburgh and win at a very high level in Major League Baseball, as well as wanting to win. It's relatively early in his managerial career, but the early returns have been promising.