Last to make Pirates roster, reliever Rob Zastryzny's 1st Opening Day worth the wait

CINCINNATI — Rob Zastryzny wanted to absorb the atmosphere of his first Opening Day but was trying to keep his emotions in check after days of uncertainty if he even would make the Pittsburgh Pirates.

A non-roster invitee to spring training, the 31-year-old left-hander’s status was the ultimate cliffhanger. Zastryzny was invited to travel with the team from Bradenton, Fla., but had to wait until after Wednesday’s workout to find out he was being added to the 40-man roster.

Zastryzny heeded the advice of his teammates to not do the major league math and try to figure out the numbers or to scan the MLB transactions page in anticipation of a possible fit as a waiver claim. He trusted that his offseason preparation and strong spring would make the difference.

“Finding out officially was definitely a highlight of my career,” said Zastryzny, who pitched for the Cubs in 2016, when they won the World Series. “I know the World Series and all that stuff, but I don’t think it was expected for me to make this roster (by anyone) other than myself.”

After Zastryzny walked from the visiting dugout to the bullpen Thursday afternoon before first pitch, he turned around to see the crowd at Great American Ball Park and spent an inning just soaking up the scene as the Pirates-Reds opener drew a regular-season record crowd of 44,063.

“Honestly, finding out the way I did gave me good perspective,” Zastryzny said. “It was the fact that an option was to not be on this team made me grateful for the whole opportunity. So, when I walked around, I took in the whole thing. I felt gratitude towards the whole situation.”

Then his underdog story got even better.

The Pirates had Zastryzny and righty reliever Dauri Moreta warm up in the fifth inning when starter Mitch Keller encountered trouble. Moreta got the call to finish the fifth, but Zastryzny saw three lefties in the Reds batting order coming up and realized he had better be ready.

Zastryzny replaced Moreta with two outs and lefty TJ Friedl on deck. Zastryzny fed Friedl four curveballs, getting him to go down swinging at a 2-2 pitch low an away to end the inning. In the seventh, Zastryzny got lefty Jake Fraley to fly out to center, righty Tyler Stephenson to ground out to short and lefty Jason Vosler to pop up to catcher Austin Hedges.

His effort earned him a victory after the Pirates scored the go-ahead run in the eighth inning.

Zastryzny threw curveballs on seven of his 15 pitches, getting two called strikes and two whiffs, impressing Pirates manager Derek Shelton with the way he handled the situation in a tied game.

“It was encouraging,” Shelton said. “He got the left-handers out. He came in and executed breaking balls right from the get go. But definitely encouraging. It makes you smile when a guy is 31 years old, it’s his first Opening Day, and he goes out and performs like that.”

A 2013 second-round pick who has bounced around the majors — from the Chicago Cubs to Los Angeles Dodgers to Baltimore Orioles to Miami Marlins to New York Mets to Los Angeles Angels, with a quick stop with the Long Island Ducks of the independent Atlantic League — Zastryzny changed his outlook when he was warned he might not make it back to normal before undergoing elbow surgery in 2020.

“That was the day I sat down and said, ‘Is this achievable for me? Am I always going to be an up-and-down fringe guy? Will I be able to establish myself?’ ” Zastryzny said. “I realized that if I have that mindset, I’ll never be the guy I want to be. From that day on, I treated every day like I was an everyday big leaguer and acted accordingly and trained accordingly. I still have a lot to prove, and there’s a lot to do. This is a first step, a step I feel very special about.”

Instead, Zastryzny believes it’s a new and improved version of himself. After sitting at 89-91 mph pre-operation, his four-seam fastball averaged 93 mph against the Reds.

Before Zastryzny signed with the Pirates, the Edmonton, Alberta, native shared his intention of pitching for Canada in the World Baseball Classic. He started in a 10-3 loss to Mexico on March 16 in Phoenix, allowing three runs on three hits and two walks with two strikeouts in two innings but proved to the Pirates he could pitch multiple innings.

With lefty Jarlin Garcia starting the season on the 60-day injured list, the Pirates wanted a complement to Rule 5 Draft pick Jose Hernandez, who had never pitched in the majors.

When the Pirates informed Zastryzny he made the team, he called his wife, Natalie, who had flown from their home in Phoenix to Cincinnati. She started bawling on the phone, and Zastryzny said he got emotional when he saw her later at the hotel.

“I actually prefer it this way so I don’t have to process this,” said Zastryzny, who was looking forward to Friday’s off day to do so. “I trained a lot this offseason to make sure this moment could be a reality. I said to my wife last night, ‘This wasn’t expected. It’s very hard to make the team out of spring training.’ But that was mindset coming in, so it feels good to accomplish that goal. But I have plenty of others I need to do still.”