Josh Harrison Ready To Take Over Second Base Fulltime For Pirates
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- Fresh off a trip to Disney World with his family, Josh Harrison is now at Spring Training, and once again, he has a new home.
Last year, it was third base for Harrison, but this year, with the departure of Neil Walker, Harrison is taking over at second base full time.
"I'm excited. I've always felt second was a position that I would probably find myself at when the opportunity presented itself," says Harrison. "And, here we are this year, and I'm excited to play second base. I like playing the other positions, but second is where I'm ready to make my home and help this team win every day."
KDKA's Rich Walsh: "Is that where you feel most comfortable?"
Harrison: "Yeah, I was drafted at second base, and it's one of those things where I've been blessed enough to be in the big leagues for a while and play a few positions before [taking over at second base]. Sometimes, you've just got to wait your turn. I'm glad my turn is now."
Harrison gets his turn because the Pirates traded Neil Walker to the New York Mets in the off-season.
"Every year in baseball, it's hard to have the same exact team from the year before. Guys are certainly going to be missed because you form relationships with guys," Harrison says. "Outside of baseball, these guys are good friends, but we wish them well. Baseball doesn't care about that, there's a job to be done, and who we got coming in, we feel comfortable with those guys, and they're going to blend right in."
Walsh: "How much do you pay attention to what happens in the off-season?"
Harrison: "I don't really pay attention to it. Obviously, moves are going to be made, but I don't really feed into all of it. It's the off-season. What matters is what happens when the season starts."
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Harrison says the good thing about moving to second base is he doesn't need any time developing chemistry with shortstop Jordy Mercer.
"We know each other really well. We played together AA, AAA, big leagues, and I've played third next to him, I've played second next to him. We're very comfortable communication-wise and we both know what we can do," Harrison said.
The other bit of news Harrison shared is that he has no intentions of starting the season at third if Jung-Ho Kang isn't ready to go.
"We haven't even discussed that, but I'm not focused on that primarily. I'm focused on playing second base every day and helping this team win," he said.
Harrison says his main focus is winning the division because he's tired of playing in the Wild Card game.