Tyler Callihan was ready to pitch in a pinch, as Pirates utility man wants to play every position
Tyler Callihan told his Pittsburgh Pirates teammates during batting practice that one of his goals is to have a long major league career and, hopefully, play every position on the field at some point.
When Pirates manager Don Kelly asked if he was ready to pitch the ninth inning of Tuesday’s 12-3 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers, the utility fielder didn’t hesitate to head to the batting cage for some warm-up throws before his first time on a major league mound.
“So I knocked that one out early,” Callihan said, with a smile, after allowing one hit and one walk in a scoreless inning. “It’s interesting. Obviously, I’d rather be on the flip side of the score at the end of the night, but that was fun.”
Callihan was committed to South Carolina as a two-way player when he was drafted in the third round by the Cincinnati Reds out of Providence School of Jacksonville in 2019. The 5-foot-11, 205-pound right-hander has played first base, second base, third base and both corner outfield positions over seven minor league seasons and considers himself an emergency catcher, given that he played the position in high school.
“It’s something I’ve done a lot in my life, just play all over the place,” said Callihan, who was acquired from the Reds on March 4 in exchange for reliever Kyle Nicolas. “All game, every game I’m itching to contribute in whatever way, whether that’s being involved or uplifting teammates. Whatever it is, I always want to contribute whatever I can, whatever they ask of me.”
The Dodgers scoring 10 runs in the seventh inning took a toll on the Pirates’ bullpen, as relievers Wilber Dotel, Brandan Bidois and Dennis Santana combined for 96 pitches over the seventh and eighth innings.
Callihan threw fastballs on all 15 pitches, even though Baseball Savant counted them as curveballs and sliders because the average velocity was 70.9. Only six went for strikes. First, he got Andy Pages, who hit a two-run home run in the seventh, to ground out to third on the second pitch.
But after Miguel Rojas drew a five-pitch walk on balls that ranged from 64.7-69.5 mph, Callihan realized he needed to change his game plan. He soon increased his velocity to the mid-70s. Callihan wanted to get ahead in the count so he could throw some real heat.
“I started off just trying to lob it, but realized I couldn’t throw strikes like that so I had to put more on it,” Callihan said. “If I could’ve got an 0-2, they would’ve seen it.”
Instead, Callihan fell behind 3-0 in the count to Dodgers star Mookie Betts before getting two called strikes and ultimately a 362-foot fly out to center field for the second out.
“I’m not going to hit him,” Callihan said. “That was my thought process: I’m not going to hit him, but I want to throw it over the plate.”
That Callihan was able to pitch was the latest in a series of monumental moments. Just 13 months earlier, in his fourth game with the Reds after making his MLB debut, Callihan suffered a serious injury when he crashed glove-first into the padded wall in the left field corner trying to catch a Matt Olson foul ball against the Atlanta Braves at Truist Park.
Callihan broke both bones in his left forearm. It required three surgeries, including one to repair cartilage and ligament damage in his wrist, and left a long scar that looks like a zipper on both sides of his forearm.
After being recalled from Triple-A Indianapolis on May 28, Callihan’s fourth game for the Pirates came, of all places, at Atlanta’s Truist Park. Callihan got emotional in returning to the scene of his severe injury to tape a segment with Hannah Mears of SportsNet Pittsburgh before the game, but put those thoughts out of his mind when he was playing.
“I think walking into the stadium is when I first felt it because all of the gruesome stuff happened underneath the stadium, the parts I remember like getting carted to the other side, to the training room,” Callihan said. “Once I got back onto the field, I didn’t think twice about it. It was nice, to get it out of the way early.”
Callihan hit a double in the fourth inning and drew a walk in the seventh of the 6-3 loss on June 6. More important to Callihan is that his first game back at Truist Park coincided with the first birthday of his son, Crew, a happy coincidence that kept his mind off memories of the injury.
“Everything I think about nowadays is about my family, especially when I get outside the field,” Callihan said. “I don’t think twice about it. I just try to be as present as I can. It was full circle. I think I needed it, too, just to get back there and play and get a hit and put that part of life past me.”
