Free and easy: Pirates right-hander Andre Jackson's flow resembles how he throws

Andre Jackson wore his hair in a high and tight fade for most of his life before letting it grow out the past five years. Now, the Pittsburgh Pirates reliever has a flow that resembles the way he throws.

Free and easy.

“I’m sure a lot of people think about it that way,” Jackson said. “I don’t even think about it at this point, until I watch myself. When I rewatch the outings sometimes, I kind of look a little bit ridiculous when I let the hair go. But it’s me, man. I love it. You have to have some sort of personality. It’s free and easy and curly, if that makes any sense.”

Where Jackson’s first pitch for the Pirates was like his hair — wild — his persona has been perfect for their bullpen. The 6-foot-3, 210-pound right-hander hasn’t allowed a baserunner through five innings, striking out seven of the 15 batters he has faced in his first two appearances.

Jackson is scheduled to make his first career start at 6:05 p.m. Sunday in the second game of a doubleheader against the Cincinnati Reds at PNC Park, as the Pirates will celebrate the legacy of the Negro Leagues by wearing the Homestead Grays uniforms. The nightcap will make up Saturday’s game that was postponed because weather.

After being acquired for cash from the Los Angeles Dodgers on June 25, Jackson was recalled from Triple-A Indianapolis on Aug. 4 and made his Pirates debut a day later. The 27-year-old made a positive impression on Pirates manager Derek Shelton by tossing three perfect innings in a 3-2, 10-inning loss at the Milwaukee Brewers.

“He came right at people,” Shelton said. “His fastball played. It looks like there’s some deception to the arm, and the changeup’s a good pitch. And I think the biggest thing that was the most impressive is nine up, nine down. He went right after guys, and that was the thing that kind of stood out was how much in attack mode he was.”

Jackson has a way with the swing and miss, recording 23 strikeouts against three walks this season. But he had a 6.62 ERA and 1.142 WHIP in 17 2/3 innings over seven games with the Dodgers this season.

Much of the damage was done in one game. His ERA doubled, from 4.26 to 8.64, when he gave up five runs on six hits, including four home runs, in two innings in an 8-2 loss to the Chicago Cubs on April 14. Although Jackson had at least three strikeouts in four of his outings, he gave up three runs or more in three outings before being designated for assignment June 20.

Jackson shined in a high-leverage situation with four strikeouts in the seventh and eighth innings in Tuesday’s 8-6 loss to the Atlanta Braves, to run his string of scoreless innings with the Pirates to five.

Where Jackson calls his changeup a “natural pitch,” he tries to hide the offspeed stuff by mixing it with a slider and a high-spin, four-seam fastball that sits at 95 mph. Jackson has worked on simplifying his mechanics and delivery, with the focus on throwing the ball free and easy. He worked in the weight room to increase his strength and stamina and put his body in position to be ready to throw with velocity.

“It’s a culmination of understanding the pattern my body wants to move in and working before I throw to get it moving right, so when I pick up a baseball, it’s free and easy and athletic so I don’t think about the delivery out there,” Jackson said. “Just trying to let it rip and hit a spot. I think I throw the ball better when I let it fly out of the hand and hit the catcher in the chest.”

Jackson loves to let it go free and easy, just like his flow.

“That’s a good analogy, like the pitching stuff,” Jackson said. “If you take care of it in the weight room and your delivery stuff, you can just go out there and pitch.”