CINCINNATI — For a few minutes Sunday morning, Clint Hurdle sounded like Mike Tomlin.

“I think back in the day, Andrew [McCutchen] was pushed back to play an outfield more conducive to maybe a free safety mentality versus a cornerback,” Hurdle said.

McCutchen, Gregory Polanco and Starling Marte are playing slightly closer to the infield this season. 

“There was so much collateral damage done in front of us last year,” Hurdle said. “Balls that fell in, extra bases that were taken by guys trying to balls, that it was glaringly apparent that we could make an adjustment on our end, especially with the athleticism we have with our outfielders and to change the dynamic of what’s going on as far as run prevention goes.”

Hurdle said McCutchen was more comfortable coming in on balls in front of him than going back on balls over his head, which factored into where he played. But moving McCutchen in will help prevent runners from taking an extra base on bloop hits, or the bloop hits from falling in the first place, especially because McCutchen does not have a great arm. (Thus far this year, though, he has thrown to the correct base each time a ball was hit to him with men on base). 

“Most defensive outfielders, mind you, when I played, that generation, Paul Blair comes to mind immediately, it was a cornerback mentality,” Hurdle said. “You played in, you smothered them. You see a guy in Baltimore do it today as good as anybody did it back in the day, [Adam] Jones, their center fielder. You’re on top of things and you just go get balls.”

The Pirates showed the outfielders video of Jones, and Hurdle said McCutchen did his own research on depth this winter. 

First Published: April 10, 2016, 3:47 p.m.