Pirates lefty Sam Howard has developed into a reliever at the ready out of bullpen

As Sam Howard watches the Pittsburgh Pirates starting pitchers to see if they are allowing runners on base or closing on their pitch counts, he starts stretching and throwing weighted balls to get ready.

Howard isn’t just waiting for the bullpen phone to ring. He’s secretly hoping the Pirates are calling for their lone lefty reliever.

“As soon as he tells me it’s me and get hot, I’m more than ready to go,” Howard said. “I play that game in my head to where I tell myself it’s going to be me.”

Thanks to a wipeout slider and improved fastball command, Howard has become one of the best weapons out of the Pirates’ bullpen. He’s 2-1 with a 1.80 ERA and 0.90 WHIP this season, throwing strikes on 62% of his pitches for 12.6 strikeouts per nine innings. He hasn’t allowed a run since April 8, a stretch of seven scoreless innings and nine games where he’s given up only two hits and two walks while striking out nine.

More important, Howard has embraced the mentality of becoming a reliever always at the ready. He wants to pitch every day, and he’s not shy about announcing his intentions to the coaching staff.

Howard credits a conversation in Colorado with former Rockies teammate Scott Oberg, who went 6-1 with a 2.45 ERA in 56 innings over 49 games in 2019. Howard asked Oberg what steps he took to become so good and so consistent out of the bullpen.

“He said, ‘You just have to get to where you want the ball every day,’ ” Howard said. “It’s something that has to come, and you really have to feel that way. That’s how I feel. I want the ball every day. The bigger the situation, I think if you can slow it down, it’s a little easier to concentrate. I tend to like the big situations.”

Howard says this with confidence now, but at the time it didn’t make much sense. He was new to the bullpen, pitching in the altitude at Coors Field where the ball flies and said he was “kind of pitching a little fearful and scared.” It reflected in his 2019 numbers: Howard had a 6.63 ERA, giving up five home runs and 10 walks against 23 strikeouts. The Pirates claimed Howard off waivers in October 2019.

Howard’s hesitance was evident to Pirates manager Derek Shelton, who said Howard was being “picky or nit-picky” in Grapefruit League games in 2020 spring training. They had what Shelton called “a very direct conversation about challenging people,” and the Pirates sent Howard to their alternate training site in Altoona instead of inviting him to summer training camp at PNC Park last July.

While in Altoona, Howard watched video and studied his mechanics, finding a comfort zone that allowed him to throw better. More important, Howard issued a challenge to himself to heed Oberg’s words: slow it down, pitch by pitch, and want the ball.

“We just challenged him to continue to go after people,” Shelton said. “He felt comfortable when he came back. He was like, ‘All right, that’s good. But I want the ball,’ which is cool that he felt comfortable to say that.”

Working with Pirates pitching coach Oscar Marin and bullpen coach Justin Meccage helped Howard identify how to use his pitches, and Howard became a dependable arm who allowed 10 runs while striking out 27 of the 90 batters he faced in 21 innings. The Pirates noticed his success and cut ties with all of their other lefty relievers, keeping only Howard.

“That just made me want the ball and gave me the confidence I’ve never had,” Howard said. “Then, this year, it’s the same thing. I want the ball all the time in any situation, but until I felt that, I had no clue what he was talking about, how I was going to get to that point. But now, I can honestly say I know what he means and I won’t forget.”

Howard got two big situations this week. On Sunday at Minnesota, he replaced Clay Holmes with one out in the sixth and the Pirates leading, 2-0. He got Plum’s Alex Kirilloff to ground out to second then struck out Jorge Polanco, who had singled and walked in his first two at-bats, to end the inning. On Tuesday against Kansas City, Howard came in with a 2-0 lead in the eighth and struck out pinch hitter Ryan McBroom and got Whit Merrifield to line out to left. After giving up a single to Carlos Santana, Howard got Salvador Perez to line out to center.

While opponents are batting .056 against Howard’s slider — with a 31.4-inch drop, a 51.2% whiff and 41.2% putaway rate according to Statcast — the difference is Howard is finding better location on his four-seam fastball. That has to do with finding a better balance between throwing his slider (down from 62.3% to 57.5%) and fastball (up from 37.4% to 42.5%), which he’s found to improve his command, and pitching up in the strike zone.

“The slider is the wipe-out pitch, but when you command the fastball and you’re able to execute the fastball to different quadrants in the zone, then the ability to execute the slider just enhances,” Shelton said. “It’s really a place where he’s taken a step in the right direction this year.”

If it’s a step toward a regular relief role, Howard isn’t worrying about it. He’s more focused on being a reliever ready to pitch every day.

“I’m just ready whenever I’m called upon, whenever I see the starter getting close to the pitch count or runners getting on or walks,” Howard said. “I just know to get myself moving, get myself ready. I think the phone’s going to ring before too long.”