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MOOSIC — It’s a Friday afternoon during a recent homestand.
Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders utility man Cito Culver is standing at his locker answering questions from the media. The 24-year-old’s asked how he would describe hitting coach P.J. Pilittere, but before he can answer, Mark Payton, who’s sitting at his locker right next to Culver, jumps in.
“The greatest of all-time,” the outfielder interjects.
This is how most RailRiders answer when asked about Pilittere.
Pilittere’s ability to learn and understand his players and then adapt his techniques to each athlete is in large part what has made him such an appealing and effective hitting coach.
“With him, it’s always a good conversation,” Culver said. “You tell him how you’re feeling. He throws some stuff at you. You take what you need, you don’t take what you don’t need and he’s not offended by anything you say to him. He doesn’t take offense to you questioning him, like ‘Why do you think?’ Or, ‘Why do I need to do this?’ It’s always an open conversation, so it makes it a lot easier.”
The RailRiders had just one scheduled off day during the month of June and for Pilittere, the challenge is keeping everyone engaged.
Whenever he can, he makes sure to lighten the mood, and that includes batting practice. Each group finishes their round of batting practice with a game of situational baseball.
The bases are loaded with no outs and each player competes within the group to see how many runs they can drive in.
“The season is long and you can do the same thing every day. Cage work, batting practice, game. Cage work, batting practice, game,” Pilittere said. “Any time we’re in a BP environment, I want it to be fun. I want them to be professional and working on what they’re working on, but at the same time, bring out some competition because that will get the juices going. That’ll ramp the energy up to play the game.”
If you look at players up and down the RailRiders lineup, a handful of them have seen Pilittere make a direct impact on their play at the plate. Even someone like Clint Frazier, who was traded to the Yankees late last season and is working with Pilittere for the first time, has seen a difference on his swing.
“I didn’t really stand on my legs a lot last year and I think that the two hamstring pulls in my right leg were to blame for me using my lower half as much as I could, so he’s really helped me build a firm foundation from the ground up,” Frazier said.
First baseman Tyler Austin, who was recently promoted back to the big leagues, credits Pilittere for helping him get back on track last season when he was in Double-A.
The 25-year-old first baseman had his season cut short on Sept. 1, 2015 when he was designated for assignment by the Yankees. After no one claimed him, Austin was sent back to the Thunder where he would start the 2016 season.
Pilittere even played a role in Austin’s promotion to the bigs this season. Austin was in a mini-slump with the RailRiders, and two weeks ago, Pilittere put Austin through the net drill to help shorten his swing and from there he took off.
“I had a leg kick at the beginning of the season and him and I discussed it and I got rid of it,” Austin said of the 2016 exchange. “I feel like that took my career to the next level — getting rid of that and getting back into my approach, (which is) hitting the ball to right-center field. That’s the main thing I felt like he’s helped me with over the years.”
Considering Pilittere is just 35 years old, he was in his players’ shoes not too long ago, making him relatable to his players.
Pilittere’s eight-year minor league career ended in 2009, when he played 22 games with Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. After coaching at his alma mater, Cal State Fullerton, he rejoined the Yankees in 2011 as a hitting coach and has made stops at the Rookie-Level Gulf Coast League Yankees in 2012, Single-A Charleston in 2013, High-A Tampa in 2014 and Trenton in 2015 and 2016.
He joined the RailRiders this season, Pilittere has been on a career path several to a handful of his current players.
At first the former catcher saw himself as a future manager, but former Yankees field coordinator Pat Roessler, who’s currently the New York Mets’ assistant hitting coach, asked Pilittere to give hitting coach a shot ahead of the 2013 season.
When Pilittere took on the role with Charleston, he was working with Culver, RailRiders outfielder Jake Cave and Yankees first baseman Greg Bird.
Fast forward four years later and Pilittere has put his future as a manager on hold to help some of the Yankees’ brightest prospects, like Aaron Judge, Bird and Austin, reach the big leagues.
“To be a successful coach you have to be unselfish, and I am. The players come first,” Pilittere said. “Things for me in my career, that’s in the back burner. Getting these guys where they need to be to help them achieve their dreams and their goals of getting to the big leagues, I mean, that’s the ultimate fulfillment for me … all these guys that have gotten there that I’ve had at least a day with, it’s really special and that’s the ultimate fulfillment of the job. This is my fifth year as a hitting coach and the more I do it, the more I want to keep doing it because it’s really enjoyable.”
But after spending two of the last three years with Pilittere, RailRiders manager Al Pedrique can’t help but see the 35-year-old Pilittere as a manager one day.
“He knows the game and all the areas real well, and being an ex-catcher always ends up being good managers,” Pedrique said. “He’s very smart, he has a good idea about pitching, pitch selection, even mechanics. I’m impressed with his knowledge of baseball. Definitely, some day I hopes he can get his chance because he can be a good one.”