BRADENTON, Fla. — Their appearances may have been short, a total of just 4⅔ innings, but it didn’t take Roansy Contreras or Luis Ortiz long to showcase their considerable talents while pitching for their native Dominican Republic in the World Baseball Classic.
The hope, of course, is the experience has a much more lasting effect, the two young Pirates pitchers using the bankable knowledge as a way to grow.
For while it’s possible Ortiz, with just four MLB starts under his belt, could start at Triple-A, there’s little doubt they’re important future pieces of Pittsburgh’s starting rotation.
“It felt really good to have [Ortiz] on my side with the Dominican team,” Contreras said Saturday at LECOM Park, with major league coach Stephen Morales translating. “Hopefully we’ll do the same thing with the Pirates this year."
Contreras started Tuesday’s mercy-rule victory against Team Israel. Twenty-eight of his 41 pitches landed for strikes, and Contreras also showed off his reworked changeup. In 2⅔ innings, Contreras allowed one single, no walks and struck out four.
Ortiz pitched the fifth and sixth innings, allowing no hits or walks and fanning three. Both enjoyed an uptick in velocity. Ortiz (23 pitches, 16 strikes) also pounded the zone.
“It felt really good,” Ortiz said. “It was a product of my hard work through the years, to put myself on the map. I think that’s what happened.”
Both Dominican pitchers have emphasized their changeups this spring. In Ortiz’s case, he received some outside help when Rich Hill watched a recent bullpen and talked to the 24-year-old about finishing the pitch more consistently.
Hill said he told Ortiz to worry less about making each one the best changeup he’s ever thrown and instead emphasized the need for a repeatable process, something that will enable him to consistently land a third pitch for strikes.
When the two saw each other Friday morning in the Pirates clubhouse, Ortiz excitedly approached Hill to tell him the progress he felt and how it seemed like something finally clicked for him.
“I think when we try to make things really, really good, we get out of our mechanics or mentality and inconsistency creeps in,” Hill explained. “That was really it. He said it was good at the WBC.”
If that wasn’t enough of a lesson, Contreras said the most memorable part of his experience was saddling up to reigning National League Cy Young Award winner Sandy Alcantara and asking for advice. Alcantara, a strikeout-accumulating workhorse, talked to Contreras about his routine.
The atmosphere Contreras and Ortiz experienced was also special. And loud. Ortiz said the pinch-me moment for him was taking the field at loanDepot Park in Miami wearing a Dominican Republic jersey and hearing fans cheer like crazy for his home country.
Ortiz said he wanted to dedicate his performance at the tournament to his brother, Jason, who passed away in the Dominican two years ago.
“I was actually calm,” Ortiz said. “It helped that Roansy went out there before me. I had a pretty good idea how to pitch against Israel. I saw Roansy go after those hitters, and that’s what I did.”
The emotion and pitching in front of a huge crowd were also things that struck Contreras. He’s obviously never pitched in such an environment before, but it also didn’t exactly rattle the 23-year-old.
If anything, it only made Contreras crave it more.
“Huge emotion, just knowing that you’re in front of your people from the Dominican Republic,” Contreras said. “You’re representing your country. Your family is there. That’s a really good emotion. That’s what I felt. I felt like I owed that to my family and to the Dominican to go out there and do my best.”
Now back with the Pirates, Contreras and Ortiz have plenty of work to do and will likely each get a start next week.
Contreras will open the season with the big club, though it looks like Ortiz — barring something crazy — could be squeezed out of a spot. Even if he opens with Triple-A Indianapolis, the Pirates will be calling Ortiz up to Pittsburgh in relatively short order.
When that happens, the hope will be that it’s for good. That Ortiz can consistently locate his fiery fastball and slider, plus the changeup Hill has been helping him perfect.
Neither second-guesses pitching in the event, though anti-WBC takes have become popular in the wake of Edwin Diaz’s season-ending knee injury. Contreras flashed an ear-to-ear smile when asked whether he would do it again. Of course he would.
“It’s always a good thing to represent your country,” Contreras said. “The WBC happens every four years, and you feel proud to wear your country’s uniform at all times.”
Jason Mackey: jmackey@post-gazette.com and Twitter @JMackeyPG.
First Published: March 18, 2023, 4:57 p.m.