Pittsburgh Pirates: What Could Stubby Clapp Bring?

The Pittsburgh Pirates seem to be doing their due diligence on a lot of different managerial candidates.  The most recent one could make a difference.

Right now it seems as if Derek Shelton, the Twins bench coach, is the leading candidate for the Pittsburgh Pirates managerial opening.  However, over the weekend a new name entered the fray.  St. Louis Cardinals bench coach Stubby Clapp is reportedly interviewing for the Pittsburgh Pirates managerial opening sometime over the next few days.

Clapp is a very interesting candidate, and in my opinion, should be high up on the Pittsburgh Pirates list of potential managers.  First and foremost he is one of the most famous Canadian baseball players of all time, being a first baseman for the St. Louis Cardinals for 11 years.  After his time with the Cardinals as a player, he joined the Houston Astros organization as a minor league hitting coach.

Clapp slowly worked his way up the Astros organization, and after spending the year as their Single-A hitting coach, he was promoted to the team’s Double-A hitting coach.  After two seasons as a minor league hitting coach, the Astros gave him a chance to be the Single-A manager.  He coached for two seasons and was quickly identified as a potential big league bench coach because of his success.

He then was hired into the Toronto Blue Jays organization as a hitting coach for their High-A affiliate.  After spending three years in the Blue Jays system, Clapp finally returned to the St. Louis Cardinals organization becoming the manager of their Triple-A affiliate.  He took the Memphis Red Birds to the Pacific Coast League championship that season.  Clapp followed that up with another title in 2018 which then gave him a chance to be promoted as a bench coach for the big league organization.

So yes, he does not have a lot of big-league experience as a coach.  However, one thing Clapp obviously has had a lot of success at doing is developing minor-league prospects and having a lot of success doing it.  Every year the St. Louis Cardinals would call up prospects from their Triple-A team and see them make an immediate impact.  Clapp gets a lot of credit for this by the Cardinals organization.

Where are the Pittsburgh Pirates for right now?  They have a ton of young players on the roster that look like potential corner pieces.  Clapp seems like a logical candidate who may be able to tap into all these different young players’ potential, something Clint Hurdle obviously struggled to do over the last few years.

Furthermore, Clapp would be coming from two of the best ran organizations in baseball in the Houston Astros and St. Louis Cardinals.  Say what you want about the Cardinals, they are in it every year with usually a middle of the road payroll. There’s a reason that the Cardinals have had so much success out of the last few years and Clapp appears to have played a part in it.  It’s time for the Pirates to get some of that Cardinal magic.