Orlando Hudson Discloses What Makes Arizona's Culture Unique

Orlando Hudson was the manager for the Arizona Diamondbacks Spring Breakout Prospects team Friday evening in which they won 5-2 over the Kansas City Royals Spring Breakout Prospect team.

Hudson's no stranger to the Diamondbacks and his voice can often be heard multiple fields away in Spring Training at the Salt River Fields complex thanks to his boisterous energy. He effuses baseball and teaches the young ballplayers that play for Arizona.

Spring Training is his time to shine. Although he still works with players throughout the season, he's especially busy training all catalogs of position players whether it's outfield, infield, or hitting.

As a former Diamondbacks player over three seasons from 2006-2008, quickly becoming a fan favorite, he is well-versed in all things Diamondbacks, including the system, culture, and front office.

Not long after his last MLB stint ended at the end of the 2012 season, Hudson was offered a chance to help mentor young players in Arizona's Spring Training in 2016. That soon parlayed into him becoming a "Player Development Assistant."

He's most prominent during Spring Training with this job and can be seen and heard leading infield drills, exhorting players with his boundless energy. Hudson also might be the most clever and humorous person to work in the D-backs front office and coaching staff.

That's something that fans will prominently remember about him from his playing days and the off-chance of getting to meet him during Spring Training.

It's not a surprise that Hudson is a mentor and guide to the infield prospects considering that he was a standout defender at second base, winning four Gold Gloves in his career, including two with Arizona.

Speaking after the game to reporters, Hudson talked on how Spring Training is going and how he learns from the players just as much as the players learn from him.

"Oh man, love it. Love it. Even I'm learning. I get to be on both sides of so much knowledge. Even I'm learning, just because I played for a few days in the big leagues, doesn't mean I know everything. I'm still learning from guys on this side and that side. It's great to be with these great minds and having fun with it. And coming here every day, man, it's a joy. You can't beat that."

LuJames Groover played third base in Friday's game, and Hudson made sure to point out how he thinks that Groover can ball out on the field. Groover could be the long-term heir to the third base throne for Arizona.

"Oof, he can play a little bit, can't he? I love him... So, Groover comes up, big bat, big hit. He's very confident. Watching him come from big league camp over here, watching him in big league camp, [giving] him a chance to be around Suarez and take ground balls with him every day with that type of work ethic.

"I think you can look in his eyes, and he's saying to himself, 'I definitely can play here.' That's a great deal of confidence from him. Definitely good to see, to have been over there for big league camp. And now over here, he's got the same mindset, and this kid is on a roll," Hudson said.

Groover heard that Hudson had been talking high praise about him and shared his own viewpoint on how the experience has been developing under the guidance of Hudson.

"It's great, he talks a lot of trash to you and keeps you on your toes. That's what makes it fun. You go out there, he's always the loudest guy on the field. You know when he's talking from a mile away and this is a great experience.

"He loves being out here with us, even though he's not playing anymore, but he's coaching us, and he's very good at his job. He brings fun to it, he enjoys it. And when your coaches are into it, it honestly makes it even better as a player. You just go out there, you're smiling, you're happy, you just enjoying the time out."

Hudson shared about the work ethic from the players and coaching staff, and said that the onus of improving is being taken by both sides to make the club as talented as possible. This kind of work ethic will only help shape future winning ball clubs.

"We've got a good modeling system, and not just the players. We have good coaching. We're coaching baseball. We're teaching these guys how to play baseball. They're eager to learn. They're always asking questions. The work ethic from these guys with extra work to whatever, we don't have to ask them to do anything. Both sides of my infield is tough from top to bottom. The good thing about it is they've got room to grow."

Speaking beyond Groover's excellent work ethic, Hudson emphasized the kind of culture that the D-backs and the players are continuing to establish when asked if the D-backs culture is truly different than other teams in a good way.

One could've imagined it wasn't much different, but Hudson made sure to point out that "No, it's not your imagination," that the culture is truly unique.

Hudson continued to explain the differences by saying, "That's what we do. That's Diamondback baseball. That's top to bottom. That's from the big leagues on down to the DSL and Dominican Republic. We demand baseball attitudes, aptitude, the way we approach the game, the way we play the game.

"We're going to play the game hard. We're going to be dedicated. We're going to play the game the right way. And we're going to play baseball and what people are used to seeing in baseball."

One final tidbit from Hudson was centered on giving major praise to a star young prospect for the Diamondbacks. That player is Demetrio Crisantes. Crisantes has excelled over the last year and there are high goals and expectations for him this year - Hudson is helping him reach those levels.

"He slows the game down. He has fun with that. I love his smile. He's smiling out there, man. He had fun in the dugout. I love the kid. And to make it so bad, the kid understands what he's doing right and understands what he's doing wrong, how to correct himself.

"That's the big part. When you have a young kid like that, before a coach knows how to correct him, whether on defense or at the plate, that's a huge plus," Hudson shared.

For the rest of Spring Training, Hudson will be plying his craft by preparing the next generation and next core group of the Arizona Diamondbacks that will lead the team to success. They'll become fan favorites thanks to a lot of the work they did with Hudson and will do in the future.