photo credit: The Mass Media
How 14 years forging relationships in MLB should help Cora in the first year as Red Sox Manager
When the Red Sox hired Alex Cora as their new manager at the end of October, there were many stand out characteristics that the new manager had including his great communication style. But it was his relationships with the players that he was able to form with them that set him apart from the other candidates for the job.
Cora who spent 14 years in MLB including 4 with the Red Sox, was able to relate and form relationships with rookies including in 2007 with then-rookie Dustin Pedroia, as well as use his experience to relate to the veteran player like Manny Ramirez. Cora said this at his introductory press conference, about how he views inter-personal relationships with his players, "But you’ve got to care about each other. That’s the most important thing. They’re human beings, man, and you’ve got to talk to them. You’ve got to see how they feel.”
An example for how Cora was able to use his observing skills as well as his communication skills to help ease a players mind was when former Red Sox outfielder Ryan Kalish who had made his MLB debut with the Red Sox in 2010 and played in parts of two seasons, with the team, before injuries derailed what was such a promising career, went to Winter Ball in Puerto Rico in 2015,and that is where he met current Red Sox manager, Alex Cora. Cora who was managing the Criollos de Caguas, a winter ball team based in his hometown in eastern Puerto Rico, had the rehabbing Kalish on his team after he had missed the entire 2015 season after dealing with injuries.
Kalish struggled mightily while in Puerto Rico, in 20 games, Kalish went 10-for-69 (.145) with one extra-base hit and 15 strikeouts. But Cora didn’t banish Kalish to the end of the bench and forget about him. Instead, Cora was able to recognize what Kalish was going through and empathize with him, making out time to sit and listen to the many struggles that Kalish was going through both at the plate and in the outfield. Cora even put Kalish in touch with a sports psychologist who, Cora himself used during his career.
Kalish had this to say about his experience with Cora and how it helped give him hope. “Alex had a really good idea of what I had been through to get to that point, and he was always so positive with me,” Kalish said. “We didn’t make the playoffs, and I didn’t hit very well. It’s not like I did anything special for him other than giving him 100 percent effort. But every day was just another positive day for him, even if I had a bad day.
“When a manager has all the dynamics of being your friend and being your business associate, which he very much is, and then also having the ability to let you know when you’re not doing things correctly, that’s really unique. You don’t come across that all the time. And Alex has that.”
The relationships that Cora forged throughout his career from while he was a player and mentoring Dustin Pedroia to his one year as bench coach for the Astros a year ago where he was able to form a "brother-like" relationship with Alex Bregman, as well as using his friendship with veteran Carlos Beltran should be a blueprint for how he now has to handle the veteran Pedroia as well as try and bring out the potential within the young players of the team.
This experience with the veteran, Beltran should serve once again as a blueprint for managing Pedroia, Cora's ex-teammate and good friend who coming off serious knee surgery will need to be handled with greater care at age 34. The Red Sox are also counting on Cora to draw out whatever leadership qualities exist within star Mookie Betts, shortstop Xander Bogaerts, and outfielders JBJ and Andrew Benintendi.
So if albeit brief experience in a Puerto Rican Winter League, with a struggling player or his ability to maintain and use relationships with both veteran and young players alike, shows the kind of managerial style that Cora has, then he should have a very successful first year as Red Sox manager.
Quotes used in this article were taken from: http://www.espn.com/blog/boston/red-sox/post/_/id/53880/alex-cora-believes-managers-and-players-can-be-bffs-but-will-that-work-in-boston
Comments