Mark Kotsay Plants the Seed for Tim Hudson to Join A's During Spring Training
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Ahead of Sunday's series finale against the Toronto Blue Jays, Oakland A's manager Mark Kotsay told reporters that he was talking to former A's, Atlanta Braves, and San Francisco Giants pitcher Tim Hudson about potentially coming out during spring training next year as a mentor to some of the young pitchers while the beloved right-hander visted for Alumni Sunday.
After Joey Estes' last start (6.1 innings, one hit, zero runs) against the Seattle Mariners, Kotsay compared Estes to Hudson in his approach. "The aggressiveness with his fastball and attacking hitters. Huddy was that style of pitcher." Kotsay also said you don't want to go to such a big comparisson so quickly with Estes being just 22, "but that was in my mind tonight watching him pitch."
We asked Estes if he was familiar with Hudson's game both in coming up in the Atlanta system, or now with the A's, and he said that he's heard the name, but he's going to have to do a little more research into what worked for him.
Kotsay seems to want to make sure that Estes and others will have an opportunity to ask Hudson questions in Mesa, Arizona next spring.
"It's funny, I just talked about Estes and Hudson and now here [Hudson] is today. I had a chance to talk to him in my office. I told him I'd be really welcoming [to] the idea of him coming out and being a part of spring training in a capacity next year if there's an opportunity for him to do that. He's not coaching college baseball anymore, and this is the first year he's kind of retired."
We'll have to wait and see if Huddy has the time to make it out to Arizona next spring, but adding a pitcher of his caliber to the staff for even a few days could make a huge impact on some guys as they continue to develop.
Jason has been covering the A’s at various sites for over a decade, and was the original host of the Locked on A’s podcast. He also covers the Stanford Cardinal as they attempt to rebuild numerous programs to prominence.
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