BRADENTON, Fla. – Ben Gamel was getting dressed so he could head out the door.
He was getting ready to head to Jacksonville to meet his wife, Lauren, and their soon-to-be-born daughter, Delilah.
“Lauren wasn’t going in [to the hospital] until 5:30, 6 tonight,” Gamel said, throwing on a hoodie. “I didn’t want to lose a day where she was going to be sitting there. I get an extra day with the baby, so I played today and bounce after the game.”
Before he bounced, Gamel got one last swing, and his last swing before becoming a dad was a good one:
DK: “Ben wanted me to give his wife Lauren a shoutout. He’s going to be leaving after this at-bat. They’re going to have their first child.”
— Pittsburgh Pirates (@Pirates) March 22, 2022
*two seconds later*
Gamel hits a home run 🥺 pic.twitter.com/OkNTnCmSu1
“Always feels good to hit homers but it’s a little more special today, for sure,” he said with a smile.
“If you’re gonna have a baby, might as well hit a homer and swing the bat well,” Derek Shelton joked.
That homer came in a losing effort, as the Orioles would end up starting and finishing strong in a 10-9 decision at LECOM Park Tuesday.
Gamel will need to rely on dad strength whenever he does get back to keep up his torrid start to this spring. Tuesday’s homer was his second of the spring, not counting a pair he had in live batting practices in the days before games started.
“I’m just trying to find a place that I can get to that’s very repeatable,” Gamel said earlier this week. “I'm in a good spot right now and just trying to bottle it up.”
A year ago, Gamel was one of the few bright spots in a down season offensively for the Pirates. After being claimed off waivers early in the campaign, he posted a .352 on-base percentage and .750 OPS with his new club, giving the Pirates someone they could reliably put alongside Bryan Reynolds in the outfield.
That third outfield spot is up to question next season. The Pirates have a couple players with some major-league experience competing for a job, including Anthony Alford, Jared Oliva and Greg Allen, but most of the new additions to the 40 man roster this winter were prospects, including outfielders Travis Swaggerty, Canaan Smith-Njigba and Jack Suwinski.
“Lot of young kids,” Gamel told me earlier this week. “Lot of talent in this room. I’m looking forward to working with them too so I can pick up from them.”
On this Pirates team, there are four members who have at least five years of service time. Three of them signed as free agents this winter: Roberto Pérez, José Quintana and Heath Hembree.
Gamel is the lone holdover who has that much experience in the big leagues.
“I’m used to being in their role, playing with veteran players,” Gamel said.
The change in supporting cast isn’t going to change how Gamel prepares or acts, regardless of if it could potentially impact his playing time down the stretch or future with the club.
And Shelton says it’s no coincidence those four vets the Pirates have were the types of players they wanted to bring into the organization.
“Ben Gamel kind of epitomizes how we want guys to play,” Shelton said. “He plays all-out, all the time, He runs balls hard out, does really good things defensively (by) backing up. It's a good example. That's not to say that our young players don't do that, because our young outfielders have done a really nice job of that. But I think it just sets the example of what we're trying to do.”
MORE FROM THE GAME
• José Quintana's spring debut did not go well, allowing six runs over his two innings, needing 50 pitches to do so. He walked a pair, allowed a homer on a hanging curve and finished with six hits on his ledger.
" felt I was getting quick in my mechanics, especially out of the stretch," Quintana said. "... When you see the results, it's time to wake up and see what happened."
• JT Brubaker, on the other hand, looked sharp in his two innings, consistently hitting 95 mph on his fastball and getting close to regular season movement on his slider.
After tailing off at the end of last year, Brubaker focused this offseason on being prepared to play 162, which included him ramping up a bit later so he could theoretically stay fresher deeper into the season. Even with that, he looked sharp.
"I think that type of experience helped me to be able to throw two live [batting practices] and throw two innings [today]," Brubaker said. "It's definitely a different transition to get outside on dirt mound from throwing your lives inside on a turf mound.
If you like to count of days on a schedule, there's a more than decent chance that the opening day starter pitched today, either Brubaker or Quintana.
• David Bednar was the only other major-league pitcher who went Wednesday, working around a pair of hits to strike out two and throw a scoreless fifth. Chase De Jong, Hunter Stratton and Matt Eckleman each were tagged for at least one run, with Eckleman getting the loss.
• Ke'Bryan Hayes had a pair of hits, as did Gamel. Diego Castillo picked up another hit and a walk, giving him four hits already this spring.
• Lingering news item to address: Hoy Park is in camp and should get in a game in the next two or three days. He was delayed in South Korea after testing positive for COVID-19.
He's close to 200 lbs. now, making a point to pack on some weight this offseason after losing 15 pounds over the final two months of last season.
• Plenty of news to cover Tuesday, including the Pirates making their first two batches of spring cuts and avoiding arbitration with Chris Stratton, but not Bryan Reynolds.
