New Pirate Carmen Mlodzinski: Old school. Old soul. No to Twitter. Yes to Rock N' Roll.

New Pittsburgh Pirates draft choice Carmen Mlodzinski is just your typical 21-year-old.

No Twitter. No Instagram. Listens to Led Zeppelin, Alice in Chains, Nirvana, Soundgarden and Stone Temple Pilots. Doesn’t play video games. Prefers baseball, golf and playing guitar.

Like I said, a typical 21-year-old.

If he was 21 back in the mid-1990s, I mean.

Like … the guy writing this column for instance.

*Sigh*

Mlodzinski’s personality is “old soul.” And his attitude is “old school.”

Got pain? Plow through it.

Struggling with where you are on the depth chart? Work harder.

If you watch clips of the former South Carolina right-hander, he stalks the mound like Gerrit Cole, fist-pumps like Jason Grilli and glares like A.J. Burnett.

The moment #Gamecocks RHP Carmen Mlodzinski officially got drafted pic.twitter.com/BUxmKXYbVa

— GamecockCentral.com (@GamecockCentral) June 11, 2020

“I think he’s got a little something in him that you see when he gets that strikeout to maybe end the inning in a big spot,” South Carolina pitching coach Skyler Meade told TribLIVE’s Kevin Gorman.

Consider those comparisons, the working-class beard and hair flow under the cap, a music playlist that might be heard on WDVE, and an emotive passion to win.

Not much for Pittsburgh to like about this kid, I guess.

Well, that and the 40:4 strikeout to walk ratio and 1.83 ERA Mlodzinski posted in the Cape Cod League last summer.

Or his 96-mph fastball.

The Pirates thought enough of his potential to make the right-hander the second selection in the competitive balance round (31st overall) of Wednesday’s Major League Baseball draft.

That’s not a bad landing spot for a pitcher who was primarily a shortstop until his senior year of high school. It’s also a long way from 2019 when he only squeezed out 10 innings before being shut down because of a broken foot.

It was an injury so frustrating for Mlodzinski, he felt it damaged his relationship with the game itself and some of those around it.

“I was trying to push myself as much as possible,” Mlodzinski told ESPN during a draft night interview.

On his iPhone 5, by the way.

“I probably burned some relationships and lost love for the game I had my whole life,” Mlodzinski continued. “I made it too much of a business on myself. It opened my eyes up. You can still do other things besides being a baseball player all the time.”

Mlodzinski said the biggest thing he may have learned while pitching with the Gamecocks was how to better handle his ultra-competitive personality. Something he says extended to racing his siblings to see who could do the dishes after dinner the fastest.

The Hilton Head native said that before his sophomore season he grinded so hard in hopes of becoming South Carolina’s top starter, that he may have broken down his body.

And his appreciation for the opportunity he had been given to play college baseball.

“I just upticked everything I was doing and wasn’t giving myself enough of a break from the game mentally and physically,” Mlodzinski admitted. “That led into a foot problem and not the greatest relationship with guys that I had before. I was so self-centered on bettering myself and what I was trying to do that I burned some relationships that I had.”

Then the foot injury.

“I thought I could pitch through it. Power through it. But I obviously couldn’t.”

The line between competitiveness and petulance is one that Cole had trouble walking in Pittsburgh. Amateur scouting director Joe DelliCarri saw that here. But he thinks it’s something Mlodzinski can hone.

“He is fierce. With fierce comes intensity,” DelliCarri said. “He’s learned to harness some of that. We don’t want to take a lot of that away from him.”

Football coaches often employ the cliche, “I’d rather have to say ‘whoa’ than ‘sick ’em.’” It sounds like Mlodzinski falls into that category.

“He almost used to hyper-obsess,” Meade said. “He was so focused on his craft that I don’t think he appreciated what he had. He has a great personality. He’s a great person.

“The injury really was a turning point for him in realizing how special he was to his teammates and the enjoyment of the game. Yes, we can be a grinder and work our butt off, but we can also have a lot of fun doing it.”

After figuring out how to channel his passion, Mlodzinski went from a period of being “Dazed and Confused” in college to his “Celebration Day” of being drafted by a Major League club.

*Sigh*

Look, it’s a Led Zeppelin reference, OK?! On the “Led Zeppelin III” alb….

Never mind. Just download it on your iPhone 11, kids.

Mlodzinski and I will be over here listening on our super-awesome portable CD players.

Just gotta make sure we don’t hit any potholes. These things skip a lot.