Kovacevic: Won't always be rosy, but this franchise finally has real hope

Remember when Roansy Contreras was all the rage with followers of this particular franchise?

And I do mean all. As in, there was hardly any other.

Amid a miasma of miserable pitching in Pittsburgh at the outset of this decade, fans would fill social media forums, even more than they did for Oneil Cruz, with declarations of #RoansyDay regardless of where the young man was set to start that day, whether Greensboro or Altoona or Indianapolis. They'd marvel at his stats, from his microscopic ERA to his magical triple-digit fastball. They'd pine for every promotion along his path, counting the figurative days until his arrival on the North Shore.

Well, welcome to the Pirates' suddenly wonderful new world, where, in the span of this single Wednesday at PNC Park:

• Bryan Reynolds formally put pen to paper on his eight-year, $106.75 million extension, by far the richest contract in the team's 142-year history, and, at the ensuing press conference, he thanked "the fans, the whole city of Pittsburgh. I love it here. I’ve been saying it for years," then added, "I’m really excited about what we’re building, what the team can be and what we’re already doing and just what the future holds.”

• Bob Nutting, who, along with Ben Cherington, flanked Reynolds at the press conference dais, had this answer when asked if, now that the Pirates have wrapped up both Reynolds and Ke'Bryan Hayes through 2030, he might be done with such extensions for the foreseeable future: "We’re not. To a great degree, we’re just getting started. I think we've see that with the start of the season. We’ve played a handful of games, and we've played very well. We have a lot of season in front of us. ... I think, today, we should focus on what we did today, which is a huge step for the franchise with Bryan. I'm confident we'll have future steps as we go forward."

• The home team's second at-bat of the evening was presented to the boisterous-all-night crowd of 12,152 by PA announcer Guy Junker this way: 'And now ... batting second ... No. 10 ... your left fielder tonight and for years to come ... Bryan Reynolds!' to a thunderous ovation. And in the fifth inning, because of course, Reynolds shot an RBI single through a hole at shortstop to give his side the lead for good, visibly moving wife Blair to tears in a family suite.

• Drew Maggi, the 34-year-old with 13 years of riding buses ... just go read it all.

• Pirates 8, Dodgers 1. Eighth win in nine games. Overall record at 17-8, second-best in the bigs. Still a game up on the Brewers for the Central lead.

Oh, and #RoansyDay was ... just another day.

No, really, that's how it feels these days when he pitches. And it sure isn't because of how he's pitching.

Contreras carved up Los Angeles' quarter-billion-dollar lineup to the tune of five-no-hitting innings, a sixth inning in which he was nicked for a couple singles, and five total Ks, the latter fueled by a curveball the Dodgers couldn't touch:

Imagine the confidence to put that pitch in that spot.

"I really liked the curve," the kid would tell me afterward with a slight smile. "I throw it when I want. Any count. That feels good. If I command my fastball, I can throw the curve when I want."

He completed the thought not with a word but with a raised-eyebrow look my way that might as well have been a chef's kiss.

I loved it, almost as much as his five-start season line: 3-1 record, 3.58 ERA, 24 strikeouts, 12 walks, .248 opponents' batting average, 1.34 WHIP and at least 5 2/3 innings in four of those five starts. In fact, remove the uncharacteristically ugly four-seam command he showed in his second start -- 3 1/3 innings, seven runs, nine hits April 10 against the Astros -- and there might've been a bit of a #RoansyDay revival already at hand.

Does everyone realize he's still only 23?

To my perspective, there's no one on the roster who's grown more over the past calendar year. He's matured from a flamethrowing freak show into a smart, structured and poised-to-the-max starting pitcher.

I brought this up with Derek Shelton afterward, asking if anyone else has matured this much over that period:

"Yeah, I think so," the manager replied before also including Mitch Keller. "I think him and Mitch are probably the two guys who've grown up the most. And I give Ro a ton of credit."

He then cited Oscar Marin's flight to the Dominican Republic over the winter to visit Contreras, saying, "Oscar came back and was, like, 'This is a different kid, man.' "

It's a different circumstance, too, maybe more than anything having to do directly with him or his progress. The rotation's seen Keller step up to be the staff ace, Johan Oviedo looks like he's all done with seasoning, and Rich Hill and Vince Velasquez offer veteran support-plus, and Contreras has pretty much just blended in. And man, I'm not armed with enough adjectives for everything else we've seen this month from this group, but suffice it to say that, just as Cruz surpassed Contreras on the public excitement scale, this broader rise to relevance has surpassed ... any individual involved. Even Cutch, for crying out loud.

And I haven't even mentioned the future, with another No. 1 overall pick coming in this summer's MLB Draft, several authentic prospects pending as close as Class AAA Indianapolis and Class AA Altoona, and ... wait, was that Henry Davis with yet another crusher for the Curve on this same night?

Yep:

I'll shut up now, I promise.

Other than to share an observation Jack Suwinski offered my way after this game when I informed him of Davis' fifth home run, his third in the past four days alone. I went to Suwinski because he and Reynolds track -- and talk about -- the minors like they're farm directors or something.

"You can see pieces of this whole thing coming together. All levels," Suwinski told me. "It's cool. It's fun. And just wait."

Meaning, I'm sure, for Cruz to come back. For Davis, Endy Rodriguez and Quinn Priester to arrive. For ...

No, really, that's all.

JOE SARGENT / GETTY

Drew Maggi acknowledges the crowd's standing ovation before his first major-league at-bat Wednesday night at PNC Park.

• I won't have much to add about Maggi's magical scene that won't get covered on 'Good Morning America' -- no, really, he'll be a guest on the Thursday show -- but here's my big one: Let's not omit, as almost everyone seems to be doing, that he was among the Pirates' very best performers in spring training this year, slashing .344/.417/.688 with three home runs and nine RBIs in 32 Grapefruit League at-bats. 

It's a disservice to his dedication to make it sound like he's some baseball disaster who was handed a gift. He earned this.

• That said, chalk one up for Cherington and organizational awareness. He'll make no move all summer that'll have a bigger impact on the Pirates' minor-league culture than this one.

• Anyone have any love for Cherington yet?

This is his baby in every way. All of it. And as critical as I was of his approach through much of 2021 and 2022, particularly the endless fishing for waiver-wire refugees and/or refuse, I'm hitting the hardest U-turn conceivable on that. His moves over this offseason have fired on almost all cylinders.

• Anyone have any love for Shelton yet?

If not, grab a tissue for this ...

... then let me add that this good man was still wiping tears as he entered the press conference room a couple minutes later.

• Anyone have any love for Nutting yet?

(Crickets.)

• Where does beating the Dodgers by a touchdown count on the they-never-beat-anybody-worth-a-damn scale?

Asking for a cynical friend.

• Closing out this column with a healthy dose of Rodolfo Castro, who boldly forecast for my previous column off the streak-busting loss Tuesday that all these Pirates need to do to shake off stingers like that one ... is to win the next one.

So, he goes 2 for 4 with three RBIs, part of a tremendous day for the bottom of the order -- Castro, Ji Hwan Bae and Jason Delay combined to go 8 for 11 with six RBIs and four steals -- including this two-run insurance rap in the eighth:

That's how to handle 97-mph heat away. The 2022 Castro tries to pull it and rolls out to second. This one unsheathes a sword.

As I approached him afterward, what I got was, "I told you. Now we win the last one, too."

• Thanks for reading my baseball coverage. I look forward to many more years of this.

THE ESSENTIALS

• Boxscore
• Live file
• Standings
• Statistics
• Schedule
• Scoreboard

THE HIGHLIGHTS

THE INJURIES

• 15-day injured list: RHP Wil Crowe (shoulder), RHP Chase De Jong (lumbar spine), Rob Zastryzny (elbow)

• 60-day injured list: 1B Ji-Man Choi (Achilles), RHP JT Brubaker (elbow), SS Oneil Cruz (ankle), LHP Jarlin Garcia (elbow), RHP Max Kranick

THE LINEUPS

Shelton's card:

1. Ke'Bryan Hayes, 3B
2. Bryan Reynolds, LF
3. Andrew McCutchen, DH
4. Carlos Santana, 1B
5. Jack Suwinski, CF
6. Connor Joe, RF
7. Rodolfo Castro, SS
8. Ji Hwan Bae, CF
9. Jason Delay, C

And for Dave Roberts' Dodgers:

1. Mookie Betts, RF
2. Freddie Freeman, 1B
3. Jason Heyward, CF
4. James Outman, LF
5. Miguel Vargas, 2B
6. Michael Busch, 3B
7. Chris Taylor, SS
8. David Peralta, DH
9. Austin Wynns, C

THE SCHEDULE

Series finale with the Dodgers is a Downtown business person's special with the 12:35 p.m. first pitch. It's also Keller's turn.

THE MULTIMEDIA

THE CONTENT

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