Here you thought the Pirates wouldn't add an outfielder over the offseason.
OK, so Steven Brault might not qualify as someone to replace, say, Corey Dickerson, but trying Brault in the outfield is something the Pirates intend to do.
A pitcher/outfielder at Regis University, Brault will apparently do more than occasionally pinch-hit or pinch-run, manager Clint Hurdle said after Friday's 6-5, walk-off victory over the Reds at PNC Park.
"[General manager] Neal [Huntington] and I have been talking about ways to leverage Brault moving forward," Hurdle said. "We’re not going to do it this year. But how we do we find ways and what do we experiment with in spring training to see if that concept can work for us as well? Absolutely we’ve talked about it."
The Reds have actually done something similar with Michael Lorenzen, who was nearly the story of Friday's game before Kevin Newman's walk-off homer. That’s the “concept” Hurdle referenced.
Lorenzen started the game in center field and pitched two scoreless innings. He was in line for the win before Newman's heroics. Instead of going into the Reds' dugout for the top of the seventh inning, Lorenzen warmed up in the bullpen.
Given the fact that Brault is a starting pitcher and no longer a reliever, the logistics of how this would work will be a little different, and Brault said they haven't gotten into any of the nitty gritty of the move.
However, it's absolutely something he wants to do.
"I would love to," Brault said. "There used to be two-way players way back in the day, then people decided that it wouldn’t work in Major League Baseball. I think what you’re seeing is that it can. If you can have somebody who can add value on both sides of the ball, obviously that’s nice. I would love to be that guy for this team.
"It’ll be interesting to see how they decide to go about it and how it all works out. It’s something we talked about in our exit meeting a little bit, try to get more at-bats next year. I’m excited. I will definitely be doing a lot of hitting work in the offseason."
After a sacrifice bunt, Brault got one more at-bat in this game, and it turned out to be another neat moment.
It came in the bottom of the fifth inning, after Hurdle had told Brault that he was done for the night at 96 pitches. Brault was fine with that, but he begged for one more at-bat.
Brault said the deal was if nobody got on, he would hit. But when Erik Gonzalez singled, Hurdle went back on his word.
"I looked at [Hurdle], and he went, ‘Yeah, go hit.’ That was cool," Brault said. "I’m glad he’s got some faith in me. At this point we’ve kind of built a repoire that we can depend on each other. I knew I wasn’t going to go another inning, but I believe that I could help the team with that at-bat. It worked out."
Yeah, it did. Brault actually singled to raise his season average to .341 (14-for-41). The left-hander is also 13 for his past 28 (.464).
Not only did Brault reach base, but he advanced to second on an errant throw by Reds third baseman Eugenio Suarez. Brault would later score on Newman's three-run home run.
"At the end of the day, he’s out there fighting, scratching and clawing," Hurdle said. "It’s one of the things you appreciate about him. How many pitches would stay plugged in for the at-bat, even if you can hit a little bit?"
Another thing that was telling about this entire idea was Hurdle saying something about what the Pirates plan to do next year.
Earlier this week, Hurdle got himself into a little bit of trouble by seemingly divulging part of the club's plans for 2020. This only seemed to further that narrative.
As for Brault’s start, there was good and bad. He allowed four runs, which wasn’t great, although the Pirates had some issues in the field. Brault also walked four, two at the start of innings. Two of the four walks scored.
“We just didn’t help him when we could have supported him a little bit better,” Hurdle said. “He didn’t help himself with the leadoff walks.”
Brault will finish the year with a 5.16 ERA. That’s obviously higher than he would like it to be, although he had endured three consecutive rough starts before Friday.
After having allowed a total of 22 earned runs over 13 starts from May 29-Sept. 1, Brault had given up 19 earned runs over his past three.
“Overall, I felt good,” Brault said. “I just wanted to go out there and give everything I had. Instead of trying to focus on being perfect, I wanted to focus on being me.
“Even though the stat line wasn’t exactly perfect, I think that what it shows is that moving to the offseason I know that I’m going to work on not trying to be somebody else but trying to be the best version of me that I can be. I’m excited to see what we can do as a team next year and how I can improve as well.”
Jason Mackey: jmackey@post-gazette.com and Twitter @JMackeyPG.
First Published: September 28, 2019, 4:26 a.m.
