DENVER — Will Craig knows that his infamous play chasing Cubs shortstop Javier Baez back to the batter’s box will follow him throughout his career. But the Pirates’ 2016 first-round draft pick hopes that his blunder does not define it.
Speaking with the Post-Gazette by phone on Tuesday morning, Craig said getting a fresh start after that May 27 mishap did play a role in his decision to sign with the Kiwoom Heroes of the Korea Baseball Organization.
“I feel like that play kind of defined me,” Craig said. “I didn’t want that to be the case. That’s another thing that went into my decision to go over there. I need to almost start over in a way.”
The deal, according to Jeeho Yoo of Yonhap News, will pay Craig a guaranteed $371,000 for the remainder of the season, and it hardly comes as any sort of surprise. General manager Ben Cherington last week said Craig was pursuing other opportunities in Asia.
Craig said he was approached by the Heroes at the end of June, with the promise of a guaranteed contract and regular playing time for the rest of the season. Knowing he would be a free agent at the end of 2021 anyway, Craig jumped at the chance.
“I’ve been with the Pirates for six years basically now,” Craig said. “This was going to be a way for me to experience something different.”
With their last wave of transactions, the Pirates showed that they didn’t view Craig as much more than a minor league depth-filler, certainly not someone who can come up to the big leagues and play first base every day.
He saw 18 games earlier this season and slashed just .217/.277/.300, with two doubles, a home run and three RBIs. A Wake Forest product, Craig will unfortunately be best remembered for the Baez play, when he could’ve simply touched first base but endured a mental lapse.
“There are times where it hits me, and I’m like, ‘Did that really happen?’” Craig said. “It will hang over my head for the rest of my career. But I want to give myself an opportunity to break away from it for a little bit.”
Craig laughed and said he does expect his new teammates to bring it up. “They have the internet over there,” he joked. And Craig plans to handle it the same way he did on a Zoom call the day after: directly.
“Don’t run away from it,” Craig said. “Kind of attack it head on and let them know, ‘I am a really good first baseman. Here’s my Gold Glove. I can show it to you if you want. You can touch it. It’s real.’
“I feel like most players always have a play or some type of event that happens in their career. Mine just happens to be a little bit bigger than others. If I was in Year 15 of my career, I feel like that play wouldn’t be nearly as crazy. But because I only had a month [of service time], it made it seem that much worse.”
More than that blunder, though, the 26-year-old Craig received a couple opportunities and never did much with them. He leaves slashing .203/.261/.281 in 20 games while striking out 22 times in 65 MLB plate appearances.
The writing was very much on the wall for this a couple weeks ago when the Pirates, twice needing a first baseman, recalled Wilmer Difo from Class AAA Indianapolis, then acquired John Nogowski, who was designated for assignment by the St. Louis Cardinals.
Nogowski has proven to be a nice fit, while they’ll want to give reps to Colin Moran whenever he gets healthy.
“Once that kind of came down, it was kind of in discussion anyway, but it made it just that much easier to be like, ‘Let’s go ahead and do this,’” Craig said of getting passed over for recent opportunities.
Craig was hitting .287 in 33 Class AAA games this season, with eight doubles, eight home runs and 23 RBIs, producing a .916 OPS. Two years ago, Craig was one of Indianapolis’ best hitters, slugging 23 homers and collecting 78 RBIs.
After a quiet spring training in 2020, the Pirates never invited Craig to summer camp when the season resumed. He also endured a sleepy spring in 2021, negating any opportunity to make the big club.
Now, Craig will have a fresh start overseas and a chance to potentially work his way back to Major League Baseball with another club.
“I didn’t want to leave,” Craig said. “I wanted to stay. I wanted to be able to finish the season with Indianapolis, hopefully with a chance to come back up and right my wrong from the play a little bit. But it wasn’t in the cards.
“There’s not much I can do about that. Cherington and [manager Derek] Shelton, I guess, saw another way they wanted to go, which is their decision. It’s not my call.”
Craig also said he doesn’t leave the organization with any hard feelings. It was simply a tough draw. Drafted as a third baseman, he moved to first and was blocked by Josh Bell. The Pirates tried him in the outfield, but he was blocked there by Gregory Polanco.
Craig also didn’t hit enough when he was up to force the Pirates to keep him in the lineup.
“They did a lot of things for me,” Craig said of the Pirates. “Obviously taking me in the first round. I feel like there were a lot of things that could have went differently. But for the most part, I wouldn’t say it wasn’t a fair chance. ... A lot of stuff just didn’t fall my way.”
If nothing else, Craig will now have a chance to play every day and show major league teams what he can do — independent of the Baez play.
“I’ll still be a free agent in October or whenever,” Craig said. “This kind of helps me get my feet wet with something a little bit different.”
Jason Mackey: jmackey@post-gazette.com and Twitter @JMackeyPG.
First Published: July 13, 2021, 2:34 p.m.
