BRADENTON, Fla. — Talk about an interesting layover.
Over the weekend, Pirates pitcher Steven Brault appeared as a special guest vocalist with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra at Heinz Hall for its PNC Pops concert “Blockbuster Broadway!”
It was a short stop for Brault from his hometown of San Diego before tackling the second leg of his trip and reporting to Pirate City for spring training.
The experience for Brault was “really, really cool” and “super fun,” as he shared the stage with vocalists such as Jessica Hendy, Kerry O’Malley and Kelli Rabke, singing songs from Les Misérables, Gypsy, Chicago, 42nd Street, Hamilton and other hit Broadway shows.
Brault, who majored in music performance with a vocal performance emphasis at Regis University, admitted to being a little nervous at first, but he got over that quickly.
“I get nervous while I’m waiting, when I’m on the wing and I’m about to get introduced and go sing,” Brault said. “But once you get on stage, it’s like, ‘All right, I’m on stage.’ It’s kind of like pitching where a lot of times you get nervous with the buildup to it, but you get on the mound, and you’re just like, ‘OK, now you’re here.’ So you just do it.”
Brault said he could sense some initial skepticism about a baseball player singing Broadway tunes, but he thinks that went away rather quickly.
“I think they were all pleasantly surprised,” Brault said. “We all got along really well. We had a great time those few days.”
Late last season, Brault was approached about the possibility of doing this and jumped at the chance. He said the timing worked out perfectly, too, where he was able to work out during the day and sing at night.
How well everything came together on stage is also something that he will remember.
“It’s truly the best of the best as far as professional musicians, professional sound and audio engineers; these people have done everything,” said Brault, whose album, “A Pitch to Broadway,” will be released on April 3. “The quality of the music itself is so good that all you can do is ruin it. I think I managed to not ruin it.”
Brault said he has a near-final copy of the album and does listen to it some. He’s also proud of how it sounds, not yet sick of hearing his own voice.
“It hasn’t even come out yet,” Brault said. “I hope I don’t hate it.”
Baseball-wise, it’ll be an interesting spring for Brault, who will likely compete for the final spot in the Pirates’ rotation, banking on continuing what he did for large chunks of last season.
However, unlike previous springs, Brault said he hasn’t focused on much of that. He’s simply trying to pitch well and whatever happens, happens.
“I’m coming in with a super open mind,” Brault said. “I’m really excited because all of these coaches, we’ve already started to feel a little bit of a change in the attitude. It seems like everybody is really looking forward to starting and getting everything going. It’s nice. We’ll see how it all plays out. I’m just going to make sure I show what I can do and see what happens.”
Before the 2019 season ended, former manager Clint Hurdle and ex-general manager Neal Huntington talked about wanting Brault to be a two-way player, perhaps playing him in the outfield (where he played in college) and allowing him to hit, something he does well.
That may still happen, though Brault said no serious discussions about being a two-way guy have materialized to this point.
“We’ve talked about the fact that I can hit,” Brault said. “It’s something they’re interested in. But it’s not as concrete as it was with Clint and Neal. Now we have 26 people on the roster anyway. It’ll be a different situation. We’ll see what happens.”
Jason Mackey: jmackey@post-gazette.com and Twitter @JMackeyPG.
First Published: February 10, 2020, 9:04 p.m.
