Pirates counting on healthier, happier version of Wil Crowe to be 'right in the middle' of bullpen

Wil Crowe wanted to get back to being the pitcher he was at the start of last season instead of the one who finished it on the injured list. His offseason motivation came as much from a Halloween photo as it did stepping on the scale.

By early October, the Pittsburgh Pirates reliever weighed 265 pounds, 25 heavier than he was at the start. Crowe believes the weight gain contributed to poor mechanics and an arm injury that caused him to be shut down.

“You get home, you get on the scale after the season and you see that number and it’s shocking,” Crowe said. “You know that it’s there, but you know you’re not in a good place.”

If that was the shock to his system, a picture of a round-faced Crowe in a Mickey Mouse costume holding his son Koa, then 1 and wearing a Goofy costume, was all he needed to spend an hour daily on the elliptical machine.

“That one crushes me, just the difference in my face,” Crowe said. “It brings it all full circle. For me to be in a better position body-wise is great for baseball but it’s better for him, because I need to be healthy. I want to live as long as I can and be as active as I can to do the Dad things for him. Seeing that photo kicked me into high gear, knowing that I needed to be better but also for my family, too. Baseball, it’s a blessing that we get to play this game. It’s one of the greatest things ever but my family is first. For me to provide for them, I’ve got to be my best here so it all works together.”

When Crowe reported to spring training last month, the 6-foot-2 right-hander proudly announced that he weighed 239.6 pounds, down to the decimal. Not only did he look leaner, he couldn’t wipe the smile off his face in the clubhouse at Pirate City. Crowe wasn’t breathing heavy anymore. The stress on his ankles, knees and back had dissipated. He felt more athletic and efficient on the mound, like a ballplayer again.

The Pirates are counting on the healthier, happier version of Crowe this season.

“He invested in himself,” Pirates pitching coach Oscar Marin said. “That’s what you want to see from your guys. He knew exactly what happened throughout the year. To be able to do that, invest in himself and get him to the point where he was really, really good, that’s what he looked like.”

After leading the Pirates with 25 starts in 2021, Crowe moved to the bullpen last spring and started strong by holding opponents to a .152/.235/.174 slash line without a run while giving up seven hits and four walks against 16 strikeouts in his first six appearances. He earned his first major league save, fanning four in three innings in a 6-2 win over the Chicago Cubs on April 13.

Crowe led Pirates relievers in appearances (60) and innings pitched (76) and ranked second behind All-Star David Bednar in strikeouts (68), but the heavy workload took its toll when he was moved from multi-inning and setup roles to serving as the closer when Bednar missed more than a month with a low back injury. Where Crowe had a 3.31 ERA, 50 strikeouts and 24 walks over 51 2/3 innings over his first 38 appearances, his ERA ballooned to 6.66 in his final 24 1/3 innings as he gave up almost as many walks (14) as he had strikeouts (18).

Crowe believes the weight gain disrupted his mechanics, mimicking how he leaned forward and his arm slot would drop and affect his delivery. It caused stress to his forearm that forced Crowe to be placed on the injured list. A visit to the St. Louis Cardinals team doctor, however, offered Crowe hope that it wasn’t serious.

“Basically, he said, ‘You’re going to wake up in two weeks and you’re not going to feel a thing,’ ” said Crowe, who underwent Tommy John surgery at the University of South Carolina. “At the time, it was like a shock. You’d move your arm and the forearm — it’s at the top part of the muscle — would tense up and be uncomfortable. I’ve dealt with the TJ. It was a different feeling than I’d had when I blew my arm out in college. It was like a muscle twitch almost. He said, ‘You’re going to wake up in two to three weeks and you’re going to be perfectly fine.’ We had five or six days left in the season when he told me that. I went home, had our son’s birthday party and got to our house and I woke up on a Tuesday… and did a couple movements and it was fine.”

That’s when Crowe started his workout regimen, determined to drop weight and rediscover his athleticism on the mound. He found that it not only improved the quality of his pitching but quality of life. He’s sleeping better, his lower body is stronger and has more endurance. Crowe believes it’s translating to the mound.

“I’m more consistent with my release points, which is nice,” Crowe said. “If you can tunnel more, you can get more guys to swing and miss. I’m able to do things in my lower half that I wasn’t able to, able to run a lot more, do the things that you’ve got to do to keep your body ready and keep going. I feel better.”

Crowe added a sweeper to his five-pitch repertoire, which relies primarily on a slider-changeup-sinker mix with a four-seam fastball and a curveball for a sprinkle effect.

In seven appearances this spring, Crowe has a 4.05 ERA with eight strikeouts and two walks. Pirates manager Derek Shelton expects Crowe to return to the multi-inning role where he thrived rather than the back end of the bullpen.

“Last year he kind of got pushed to the back because of some injuries we had,” Shelton said. “We’re going to have a lot of competition with guys we brought in and guys who were on our club last year. He’s right in the middle of it.”