PITTSBURGH — The Pittsburgh Pirates’ 2015 season only began recently.

Brendon Huttmann’s baseball season never ended.

Actually, it never does.

“There’s no off-season, really,” the Cranberry Township resident and Pirates strength and conditioning coach said. “We take two or three weeks after a baseball season ends to review that year and prepare for next season.

“After that, we hit the road to see the players, wherever they may be, and make sure they’re up on what we want them to do.”

Huttmann works with the Pirates’ training staff in that regard. He is in his fourth season as the Bucs’ strength coach after serving four years in that same capacity with the Los Angeles Dodgers.

He’s also worked as a strength coach in minor league organizations for the Cleveland Indians, Colorado Rockies and Kansas City Royals.

“It’s radically different working with players at the minor league level,” Huttmann said. “There, it’s the developmental stages and a lot of those guys are just getting their first taste of just how long the season is.

“We teach them things, show them exercises and techniques that will help their bodies hold up. Then, at the major league level, it’s about sustaining what they’ve learned.

“Our primary focus is to get players to stay healthy and have as long a career as possible,” he said.

The strength training isn’t universal. Variables include the safe of a player, his position and what his tools are.

A base stealer goes through a conditioning program unlike that of a power pitcher — or even a pinch-hitter.

“Everything we do is individually based and changes as the season goes on,” Huttmann said. “Everything we do in spring training, for example, is preventative, to make sure guys are preparing their bodies to endure the rigors of a long season.”

While Huttmann has bounced around different organizations during his professional career, he believes he’s found a home in Pittsburgh — and Cranberry.

“The Pirates as an organization are very supportive and committed to what we do,” Huttmann said. “They see the importance and purpose of it.

“My wife and I have three small children (ages 5, 3 and 1). When we were relocating to Pittsburgh and were looking around for a place to live, Cranberry was recommended to us by a number of people we talked to.

“Our oldest is also involved in soccer in the community and it’s nice being so close to work. We’re in a great community to raise a family and plan on staying there,” Huttmann added.

Much of the stretching and exercise routines he puts the players through can be tedious, he admits. Huttmann gets to the ballpark at noon each day for a 7:05 p.m. night game.

“The players start rolling in around 1 p.m. and we work with them until 4 ... not all at once, but in groups, working with an individual’s batting cage time or bullpen session,” Huttmann said.

“It’s my job as a teacher to sell the value of what we put the players through. It’s to help and benefit them and their careers over the long run. If I don’t genuinely convey that, I’m not doing my job.”

Huttmann was a collegiate baseball player himself once, at a community college in Kansas. He wound up earning a degree in exercise science and kinesiology at the University of Kansas.

While there, he volunteered his services to the Kansas baseball team as a strength coach.

“I was never a natural athlete,” he said. “I had to work hard, exercise, do everything I could to gain a competitive advantage. I knew I wasn’t going to be a professional baseball player, but when I saw how I maximized my abilities as a player through workouts, it piqued my interest in the field.”

Now Huttmann works at it non-stop. Off-season, spring training, pre-game — even during the game in the dugout.

“With pinch-hitters, it’s all about readiness,” he said. “The really good ones are constantly working their bodies. Two or three innings before they might get called upon, I’ll go back into the (batting) cage area and work with them.

“Our bench guys are great that way. They’ve got a great feel for the game.”

Just like Huttmann does for his career.

“I’m around all of these guys all the time,” Huttmann said, pointing to various Pirate players. “You have to instill that trust with them. It’s critical.

“If they believe in you, they’ll do what you ask them to do.”