Pittsburgh Pirates: A Day in the Life of a Minor Leaguer With John O’Reilly

In today’s edition of ‘A Day in the Life of a Minor Leaguer’ I spoke with an amazing battle tested individual, Pittsburgh Pirates pitching prospect John O’Reilly

The past three weeks have been so damn gratifying and amazing for me. Talking to these Pittsburgh Pirates prospects and hearing their stories has been eye opening and made a life long fan that much more passionate for the game of baseball.

The series has reached legal drinking age, folks! Yes, you guessed it; we are on number 21. In today’s ‘A Day in the Life of a Minor Leaguer,’ I sat down with Rutgers alum John O’Reilly. We touched on several things that day, and I wouldn’t take back one second of it.

Several factors make a man. The same can be said for his qualities and what makes him, him. I wanted to know who O’Reilly was deep down inside both on and off the field.

“I’m a competitor. Whether on or off the field, I try and win at whatever I do. My family was always pretty competitive, growing up. I have an older brother and an older sister. We would be horsing around in the house, always competing. It’s the way we were raised, and I think that would best describe me on and off the field.”

One of the best lines I can remember from a baseball movie came from The Sandlot. In the film, Babe Ruth said: “Heroes get remembered, but legends never die.” That got me wondering what kind of legacy do these young guys want to leave behind when the time comes. So I gave it a shot and asked O’Reilly.

“I’d like to say the guy that was a great teammate and things like that, but obviously everyone should feel that way. Besides that, I would want people to remember me as a fun guy in the bullpen, and they knew when I would come out in a pressure situation, I would do anything I could to get out of it unscathed.” He said to put it short; he wanted the people to remember him as “reliable.”

O’Reilly had mentioned before that he grew up in a competitive household, and his siblings would always push themselves to become the best. I wanted to know who exactly pushed him to be at his best and make him want to play baseball.

“My older brother Mike. He’s four years older than me, and I was always trying to catch up to him in everything that we did. He was really good at baseball, and I wanted to beat him out.” So in this instance, I can finally say John O’Reilly wanted to be like Mike. (Pause for laughter.)

Other than his brother or even his immediate family, I wanted to know if any coaches in his life that positively impacted him on and off the field during his journey to and through the Pittsburgh Pirates organization.

“Yeah, I’d say there are a couple in particular for me. My high school coach played a big role in my life. His name was Tim Byron. He was really good to me on and off the field. He always took care of me. In college, there were a couple for me. I had two different pitching coaches, and both of those guys reach out to me every week to check in and see how me and my family are doing.”

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Growing up in New Jersey, O’Reilly grew up not too far from Yankee Stadium. So, I thought he would have grown up a fan of the New York Yankees. I was terribly wrong, he was a New York Mets fan. In that vein, I wanted to know who his favorite player was growing up.

“I loved Endy Chavez growing up because he was that role guy for the Mets. He would go out there and be a spark plug for them. For me, before I was a pitcher, that’s who I wanted to be. I wanted to be that guy who sparked the team every time I was in the lineup. Plus, Endy Chavez was the man back in the day as well, so there’s that.

It’s story time now boys and girls, so act accordingly and grab some popcorn for this. I wanted to know what were John’s favorite baseball memories during his time on this earth.

“I would think my first start at Rutgers was probably the biggest and best memory I have. My Grandma at the time was pretty sick, and it was the last time she was able to see me pitch. Of course, it was also the first time I pitched at Rutgers. I had my whole family out there, which is the main reason I went there (Rutgers.) All of that worked out pretty cool, and that’s probably the coolest game for me.”

Having my own Grandmother battling a cancer right now, I can imagine how sad but yet how cool it was to have his Grandmother see him pitch in one of the most significant moments in his life in terms of baseball.

With John going to Rutgers, which is the state school of New Jersey, I wanted to know what it was like staying so close to home. I also wanted to know what the college experience was like for him.

“I loved it honestly. I had a lot of really good friends that I’m going to have for the rest of my life because of Rutgers. Baseball wise we had our ups and our downs. We came into the Big Ten, and we weren’t exactly ready for it yet. We battled though we were a bunch of Jersey guys that gave it all we had, but sometimes the cards weren’t exactly in our favor. I loved it though it was fun.”

O’Reilly is one of those guys I absolutely love to read about and root for at the end of the day. He went undrafted, he’s super humble, and his game will blow you away. Crazy to think that he was going to be a firefighter at first if he hadn’t of gotten this chance with the Pittsburgh Pirates. I wanted to know if that put a big ole chip on the 6-foot-5 shoulder of his being undrafted.

“Yeah, absolutely, I think going undrafted is the reason why I’ve had the success I’ve had in the past years. People don’t look at you in the same light that they will with someone with X amount of money in their bank account. It lets me go right passed them if they have their guard down.”

He mentioned money in the bank account, and I think that is a widely misunderstood aspect to baseball. Most of the people think these minor league guys have an unlimited spending limit, and they have a Bugatti in the driveway. That may be true with a first-round pick with a significant signing bonus, but most of these guys struggle to pay the bills. I wanted to hear John’s take on that touchy subject.

“I think that is something that is improving, especially during this pandemic. You’re seeing that teams are caring for their players with sending them money and offering other help. In terms of during the season, when things are normal, it’s definitely really tough. If you don’t have a family that is able to help you financially or a big signing bonus playing in the minor leagues for two years would be impossible.”

We discussed more about this topic, and he told me a brief story about a time he drove one of his teammates to the Western Union. He said he called his dad, saying it was one of the biggest humbling experiences ever. You have a kid that has nothing, but he’s sending it home anyways.

Sorry for the depressing story, but I think this needs to be told more often. The Mike Trout’s and Bryce Harper’s of the world are nice to see but when you have an undrafted kid or even an international player that comes from nothing and sends home all but 20-30 bucks to make it through the week it all the sudden doesn’t fit ESPN material, and it’s a shame, but I digress.

We switched it up to one of John’s pitching coaches in pro ball. Someone who is no stranger to Rum Bunter, former Pittsburgh Pirates minor league pitching coach Eric Minshall. I had talked to Minshall previously before talking to John, and he mentioned that he was with him during extended. I wanted to know from O’Reilly’s perspective what that was like and what kind of pitching coach Minshall was for him.

“Extended was a weird experience for me. Looking back on it now, I’m happy I went through it because it was another thing I could say I experienced and got past because being in extended is not really a good thing. I had a rough couple of weeks to start because I thought I shouldn’t be there and making excuses.”

O’Reilly continued, “What I think coach Minshall did was consistently pump me up. I would come out, and he would just say that’s how you’re going to get out of here and that kind of stuff. It seemed subtle at the time, but that positive reinforcement was essentially what I needed.”

In 2019 O’Reilly went through three different levels in the minors for the Pittsburgh Pirates, and, to be frank, dominated each time out of the pen that year. I wanted to know who or what he could attest to that.

“It was my first full season in the bullpen. In college, I had started as well in high school. When I got to Bristol in 2018, it was kind of a rude awakening to get used to the bullpen. In the offseason, I thought about who I wanted to be as a pitcher, and I realized my best shot to get to the big leagues was the bullpen. I accepted my role and tried to learn a bit about it.”

O’Reilly continued, “I think having a bunch of guys that have been doing it a couple of years as teammates really helped me a ton. There were guys who would help you prepare for your next outing or get over a bad one. It’s something you wouldn’t be used to as a starter. I think it was my bullpen teammates who got me through it.”

We all know baseball is a very superstitious sport. Routines are made that players stick to. When a starting pitcher gets moved to the pen, you can see some guys falter, and others thrive. One thing that is a constant, though, is their routine has to change, so I wanted to know what John had to change when he got the switch.

“I think I became a more intent pitcher. As a starter was more methodical, I thought about things more and tried to visualize what I wanted to do. Compared to the bullpen where I’m coming in, and my job is to get three or maybe six outs. It’s a lot easier for me to go to another place and fire it out to get in and get the outs.”

O’Reilly got the opportunity to pitch in a big league spring training game recently against the Yankees of all teams. Growing up as a Mets fan, I wanted to know what that felt like for him to be in that moment.

“Honestly, it was probably the most exciting moments for me. I was fortunate enough to go to four other big league spring training games, and I didn’t get in. That game happened to be on the YES network, so all my buddies and the local bar in town had it on. Sure enough, I got to go in and three pitches and got out of it. It was really cool because my phone was blowing up and people I hadn’t heard from in a long time were reaching out to me and saying congrats. It was a surreal moment, for sure. I was more calm than I thought I would’ve been out there. Even now, I get more nervous thinking about it than when I was in it.”

As a bullpen guy, he may be asked to come into a game with the bases loaded with a one run lead and two outs. I wanted to know where his head would be at in that situation and what pitch would he throw if he needed an out.

“I’d throw my sinker I love that pitch. I always threw a two-seamer as a starter, and once I started throwing harder this past year, and I started relying on that sinker throughout the year. I trust that pitch in any type of situation.”

During this extended offseason we see players trying new things and seeing what fits. I’d say it’s like throwing at a wall and seeing what sticks. So, I asked O’Reilly if there was anything new he was looking to add to his utility belt to throw if there is a minor league season this year.

“I’ve been working on a breaking ball. Last year I didn’t get a ton of strikeouts because I would attack with my sinker and my cutter. I’ve been working on a breaking ball that’s curveball-esque. I’ve made a lot of progress with that, and the coaching staff with the Pirates have helped me along the way. They invited me to instructs during the fall and worked an extra three weeks with them. I can’t wait to use it this year.”

Here comes the best part of every interview, and that is the food question. New Jersey is famous for some good food, so I wanted to know where I should go and get some good food. “It’s called Petrillo’s Delli, and it’s as good as it gets.”

Overall John O’Reilly was a fantastic interview and an even better person. I can’t wait to see him dominate out of the bullpen again and prove once more why he should’ve been drafted as he continues to climb the ladder in the Pittsburgh Pirates organization.