Don Kelly's Pirates tenure might be off to rough start with recent coaching news

If you’re a Pittsburgh Pirates fan who wanted a clean break after what you sat through this season, the early signals aren’t exactly soothing. Don Kelly's official tenure begins with a mandate to change the vibe and the results after being given a full vote of confidence, yet the first big story around his staff is…continuity where most fans expected a hard reset. The optics aren’t great: the Pirates’ offense cratered in 2025, and the coach attached to that collapse appears poised to return. For a new manager trying to sell urgency, that’s a tough opening note.

Which brings us to the question hanging over PNC Park: why would the hitting coach hired by Derek Shelton — who oversaw an even worse offense - stay under Kelly, as their pitching coach departs? It’s not about scapegoats; it’s about signals. Keeping the same voice after a year labeled “historically bad” suggests the organization believes the message wasn’t the problem, or at least not the biggest one.

Maybe they see a development arc. Maybe they see unlucky batted-ball outcomes. But from the outside, fans see a lineup that spent whole months in quicksand.

Pirates depth chart shake-up puts jobs in danger for 2026, but not Matt Hague's

Matt Hague is the current hitting coach, brought in before 2025 after a stint as the Blue Jays’ assistant hitting coach in 2024. A former Pirates draft pick and player, Hague preaches high-contact, consistent at-bats - an approach that, in theory, matches a roster built on athleticism more than pure thump. The translation…didn’t take. At one point in April, the club collectively slid under the Mendoza line. By June, the Pirates were averaging just 3.25 runs per game, down sharply from 4.1 runs per game in 2024 under Andy Haines, the coach Hague was hired to replace. When analysts start tossing around phrases like “historically bad,” you don’t need a proprietary model to see the problem.

It’s fair to acknowledge context. The lineup skewed young in spots, role definition wobbled, and Pittsburgh’s power-on-contact never really arrived, magnifying every empty at-bat. But approach is supposed to be the safety net during lean stretches: zone control, two-strike fight, situational execution. Those are the pillars of a high-contact philosophy. Too often in 2025, the Pirates did not resemble that identity. That disconnect, between stated identity and in-game reality, is what makes the idea of “running it back” so hard to sell.

And yet, the reporting points to status quo at the top of the cage. As MLB.com beat writer Alex Stumpf put it:

“Since there’s been speculation on the matter: I’ve been told the full expectation is that Matt Hague will be continuing in his current role as Pirates hitting coach. We’ve already seen some changes on the Pirates’ coaching staff, but Hague should be back for a second season.”

That’s the recent coaching news that frames Kelly’s first impression: even as other chairs get shuffled, the hitting voice stays.

If that’s the plan, then the mandate has to be crystal: visible, measurable adjustments from day one. That means fewer “auto-strike” takes early in counts, more damage in plus counts, and real teeth to the situational game — bunting judiciously, yes, but mostly hunting the zones where Pirates hitters can lift and drive. It might also mean augmenting the department, an added assistant with a different lens.

Kelly can’t afford for this to feel like business as usual. If Hague stays, the message has to change, the routines have to evolve, and the results have to show up fast. Otherwise, the first chapter of the Don Kelly era risks reading like a rerun.