With their bullpen having the third best ERA in baseball, the Pirates relievers all have their own special identity. For Jason Grilli, it’s the fact that he is “wired” and wears his emotions on his sleeve. Jared Hughes channels his inner Mr. Hyde when he’s on the mound to balance out his Dr. Jekyll personality off of the field. For Joel Hanrahan. His passion and dominance shows whenever it is “Hammertime” in a save situation. But there is one reliever that seems to get overlooked at times. He also just so happens to be the only left-handed pitcher that the Pirates have in the bullpen
At the beginning of the season, Pirates’ manager Clint Hurdle said that Tony Watson was the quite one of the group and that at times, he had to remind Watson to smile in spring training. Watson said that’s just the way he was raised.
“That’s just my personality,” Watson said with a smile. “I’m from a small town in Iowa so I’m just a quite, low-key guy. I’m here to work and have fun to get better everyday.”
The Sioux City native has been given the ball in critical situations this season. Normally for left-handers out of the bullpen, they turn into specialists, such as Javier Lopez during his stint in Pittsburgh. Hurdle however, feels comfortable using the southpaw in any situation.
“There have been a number of times that we have sent him out there against a right-hander,” Hurdle said. “His batting average against right-handers is .100 points lower than it is against left-handers. We’ve used him left-on-left later on, because I believe there are some guys he matches up better with in that role. He’s been able to do some things that aren’t cookie cutter left-on-left.”
And what Hurdle says rings true. Watson has allowed a .244 average against left-handers this year and just a .132 average against right-handed hitters. What is it that makes Watson better against righties?
“There’s nothing different with my mentality or mechanics against righties or lefties, maybe the lefties are just better hitters,” Watson said chuckling. “For whatever reason, the righties are hitting the splits a little opposite right now, but throughout the year, hopefully that will even itself out to where it ought to be.”
Regardless of who he faces, Watson is happy to have earned the trust of Hurdle and looks to do his job no matter the situation.
“That’s what I consider myself first is a pitcher,” Watson said. “I just come in, no matter what the situation is and it’s good to know the manager trusts your ability to go in there and give the team a lift.”
Watson’s 4-0 record this year, along with his 3.33 ERA and 1.07 WHIP have been key to the Pirates success this year. With the winning, it allows the team to enjoy their job a lot more.
“It’s been a blast so far,” Watson said. “The whole clubhouse, the guys in here, we have all meshed really well together. The team chemistry is great. Everyone gets along and jokes around with each other. But most of all, when we are on the field, we are having fun and everybody is just pulling for each other and wants to win.”
Watson said as a collective group, the team only really has one goal.
“That’s all that really matters here is the winning,” Watson said. “That’s what we want to bring to the city of Pittsburgh is a winning baseball team. It is long overdue and we are hoping this is the year.”
During his rookie campaign last season, Watson was able to witness the Pirates holding a first place lead in the division only to see it fall apart in the second half. He did say however, that the team is learning from what happened last year and knows what they have to do to sustain the success this season.
“I think everybody that was here last year kind of went through it,” Watson said. “We just have to learn from last year and stay on it. We can’t ever settle for where we are at and have to keep moving forward. As cliche as it sounds, we have to treat each game as its own game and own opportunity.”
While Watson said don’t expect him to change his personality, he wanted to be clear that he is having the time of his life in Pittsburgh.
“Maybe I’ll start showing a little more emotion so everyone can see how much I enjoy this game, but I can’t promise,” Watson said with a grin. “That’s just where I came from and what I grew up on, and what I’ll probably continue to do.”
Photo Credits: Getty Images
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