Pittsburgh Pirates' Steven Brault mastering AAA through simplication

Pittsburgh Pirates southpaw Steven Brault is finding success in simplifying the complex art of pitching.

Indianapolis is known for many things. Prior to this season, squid was not one of them.

Steven Brault, a left-handed pitcher in the Pittsburgh Pirates organization, was one-fifth of a highly touted Indianapolis Indians rotation last season.

Unlike his friends and teammates, however, “Squid” was not part of Clint Hurdle‘s Opening Day roster.

It has proven to be a blessing in disguise for the 25-year-old.

“I think it was right for me to come down to Triple-A,” said Brault, who is called the nickname by Pirates pitching coach Ray Searage and Indians pitching coach Stan Kyles. “I don’t think at the beginning of the year I would have been as successful as I could be.”

Ranked Pittsburgh’s eighth-best prospect according to MLB.com, Brault has dominated International League hitters this season. The Regis University product leads all of Triple-A with a 2.18 ERA and has not had a start of more than two earned runs allowed since April.

Brault is another year older, but more importantly, he is another year wiser. That is in large part due to Kyles.

“At the beginning of last year, I didn’t really understand,” he said. “I never had a coach that was more, I wouldn’t say hands-off, but more into the idea of letting pitchers find themselves.

“In a bullpen [session], he will let you do your thing and then afterwards he will talk to you and say, ‘Hey, this is what we’re looking at.’ A lot of it is mental and little that he talks about is actually physical.”

With Kyles’ influence, the 6’0″ southpaw credits simplification and not over-thinking his mechanics as sources of success.

“We have worked on a lot of stuff but most has been taking away, simplifying instead of trying to add, add, add,” Brault said. “It’s been really enlightening and really helpful. I’ve gotten better as the season’s gone on.”

Brault points to the separation between “being a thinker and being an athlete” as an essential aspect of simplifying his delivery. To elaborate, he focuses on the mental side of pitching before starting his delivery while allowing his athleticism to take the reins in executing pitches.

“A big part of it is just getting back to being athletic in my delivery and letting my delivery kind of do itself,” Brault explained. “In doing that, I can just be more myself and then my command comes back a bit [and] the life of the pitches are a little bit better.”

For Brault, an area of noted improvement is stranding runners. Last season, 72.2 percent were left on base in 16 games with Indianapolis while just 66.7 percent were evaded during eight appearances as a Pirate. So far, 2017 has brought over 85 percent of runners stopped on the base paths.

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“I used to, when a runner would get on, focus on them a lot and get too intense and get out of my game,” said the Indians’ leader in wins (5). “The thing that has really helped me is to focus on the runners less and keep focused on the hitter.”

Seasoned with experience from last year’s major league cameo, Brault continues to prove he has the tools to thrive in Pittsburgh. Even though he mixes in a slider, curveball and changeup, hitters know he is a fastball pitcher, yet fail to plate runs.

“I throw a lot of fastballs. I’m a big fan of my fastball, both sides of the plate,” said Brault. “I think that is one of the reasons why the Pirates liked me at the beginning because, even though I was with the Orioles, it’s always been my favorite thing.”

Despite a developed pitch repertoire and lively fastball, not to mention a 5-3 record, 2.18 ERA and 8.35 K/9, Brault has built no complacency.

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“That’s all I want: to get better as the season goes and continue to get better. I feel like that’s happening, so whenever the call does come I just want to be completely 100 percent ready.”

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