Eickhoff returns to majors with Pirates

Veteran right-hander has added a new pitch to his arsenal

“To be around those [young Pirates prospects], it gives you a little more energy, a little more liveliness.”

— Jerad Eickhoff

It didn’t take long for Jerad Eickhoff to scan the fields at Pirate City back in early February and realize something was different. A 31-year-old with four-plus years of MLB service time, Eickhoff was toiling alongside teenagers, wide-eyed hopefuls not legally able to buy a case of beer.

The experience was unique for Eickhoff, who was in minor league camp as a non-roster invitee, the right-handed reliever trying to use this opportunity to resuscitate his career. And even though he might have felt a little out of place, Eickhoff said he was inspired by being around players a decade or so younger.

“I really enjoyed it,” Eickhoff said. “I think a lot of guys gravitated toward me. I was able to talk to ’em. They’d ask me questions. … To be around those guys, it gives you a little more energy, a little more liveliness.”

Whether it was the minor leaguers rubbing off on him or some changes he has made since going 11-14 with a 3.65 ERA, 167 strikeouts and 42 walks in 197⅓ innings for the Phillies in 2016, Eickhoff finds himself in an interesting spot.

He’s back in the big leagues with the Pirates after a solid stint with Class AAA Indianapolis, going 4-3 with a 4.84 ERA in 13 outings (six starts), walking 15 and striking out 47 in 48⅓ innings.

Given the way the Pirates want to use their pitchers, it’s easy to see Eickhoff — who was born in Indiana, went to college in Illinois (Olney Central College) and grew up the son of a construction worker — becoming a jack-of-all-trades in Pittsburgh.

“I had a really good stretch with them,” Eickhoff said of the Phillies, for whom he appeared in 80 games (76 starts) from 2015-19, going 21-30 with a 4.15 ERA and 1.28 WHIP in 440 innings. “In a lot of ways, I feel like I’m in that same mindset and was doing the same things with my body as I am now.”

In this way, Eickhoff is just like the kids he was getting to know in February, where he’s trying to grow his repertoire and show a major league team he’s able to get outs.

The most recent — and arguably most impactful — marking point in Eickhoff’s career came in 2020, when he was with the Padres and longtime pitching coach Larry Rothschild pulled him aside one day after a bullpen.

All throughout Eickhoff’s career, he has been able to spin the ball. There’s something about the wrist flick or elbow snap required to throw sliders or curveballs that agreed with how Eickhoff’s hand wanted to move. The pronation involved in throwing a changeup? Not so much.

Whenever Eickhoff would throw changeups, the results weren’t good. So Rothschild did what he has done for so many in that situation over the years and recommended Eickhoff try a splitter.

Eickhoff describes his splitter as “a wide-gripped fastball” where he basically jams the ball as much as he can between his index and middle fingers while still maintaining control.

The past two years, meanwhile, have been spent perfecting his throwing motion, to not only ensure the pitch looks like a fastball coming out of his hand but also to generate movement and keep it out of the middle of the plate.

“It’s been about a two-year process of getting my hand, body and forearm used to that pitch,” Eickhoff said, “then finding the trust in knowing it’s going to move and what it’s gonna do. The way I hold it, it just kind of kills the spin and has some good drop to it. It’s really unlike anything I’ve had in a changeup-esque pitch.”

Eickhoff didn’t pitch in the major leagues and threw the pitch — incorrectly labeled a changeup — just 7.3% of the time in 2021. However, he found success in the minor leagues, going 9-2 with a 4.86 ERA in 16 starts covering 79⅔ innings with Class AAA Syracuse (Mets), striking out 79 and walking just 20.

After Eickhoff became a free agent this offseason, the Pirates signed him to a minor league deal in November, hoping he can continue his trajectory with a new fourth pitch.

“We know he throws strikes,” manager Derek Shelton said this spring. “He came right after people. I thought he threw some really effective splits.”

The Pirates will now see if Eickhoff can bring to Pittsburgh what he showed in spring training, an impressive stretch of outings that started in the strangest of places for someone north of 30 — in minor league camp.

“I was able to come down here in early February and — not being on the roster — was able to work on some things they thought that I could do better,” he said.