Ryan Borucki's new glove a purr-fect fit, much like lefty's relief role for Pirates

BRADENTON, Fla. — Ryan Borucki couldn’t stop smiling while getting ready for Photo Day, showing off his prized new glove to teammates inside the Pirate City clubhouse.

The Pittsburgh Pirates left-handed reliever had a creative idea for a Rawlings REV1X custom glove, so he asked Rawlings representative Stevie Cohen if the digital design was possible. When Borucki saw an artist’s rendition, he was blown away.

“He sent me a sketch,” Borucki said. “I was like, ‘Man, that’s perfect.’ ”

More like purr-fect.

The glove features the face of Dobby, his cat. An Elf Sphynx — a rare, hybrid breed that is hairless and has signature curled ears — Dobby resembles the elf character in Harry Potter for which he’s named. Like Dobby, Borucki’s “catch glove,” which is reserved for long toss, quickly has become one of his prized possessions.

“I love my cat to death,” Borucki, 29, said. “It brought a little tear to my eye because I’m going to have it forever. Obviously, pets don’t last forever. When you look down, it’s a little piece of home. … Of all the gloves I’ve ever had in my life, this is by far my favorite — and I don’t know if it’ll ever be overtaken. They did such a great job with it.”

The same could be said of how Borucki handled his role in the Pirates’ bullpen last season. The 6-foot-4, 210-pounder went 4-0 with a 2.45 ERA and 0.74 WHIP, 33 strikeouts against four walks in 40 1/3 innings. It was the best season of a six-year career that began as a starter and evolved into a lefty relief specialist before becoming a Swiss Army knife for the Pirates, with whom he signed a minor-league contract after being designated for assignment by the Chicago Cubs on May 7.

Borucki pitched in almost every imaginable situation last season. He threw multiple innings in 15 of his 38 appearances. Twice he made scoreless starts as an opener, starting at the Los Angeles Angels on July 22 and at the Minnesota Twins on Aug. 20. He also worked middle and high-leverage relief, earning nine holds and finishing off a 5-1 win over Washington on Sept. 12.

With two-time All-Star David Bednar locked in as the closer and the addition of seven-time All-Star Aroldis Chapman expected as the left-handed complement to righty Colin Holderman in the setup role, Borucki knows he can be used anywhere at any time. So he’s adopted a mantra: always be ready.

“Wherever they need me, I’ll go pitch,” Borucki said. “Usually it’s matchup-based, but I can come in in the first, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh. Whatever they throw at me, I’ll be ready to pitch.”

Borucki gave the Pirates, especially bullpen coach Justin Meccage, credit for being transparent with him about his use. He was particularly strong against left-handed hitters, who slashed .149/.230/.254 against him last season. Borucki held all batters he faced below the Mendoza line with his slider (.194), sweeper (.088) and changeup (.158). He spent the offseason focusing on fine-tuning the changeup, which he only threw 11.2% of his pitches last season after allowing a .727 slugging percentage in 2022, split between the Toronto Blue Jays and Seattle Mariners.

“The changeup was always my equalizer,” Borucki said. “The two years before I got here, I kind of lost that. I really got hit with righties pretty hard. Last year, I really focused on having my cutter, but the changeup by the end of the season was a really big pitch for me to neutralize those righties. Especially with the three-batter rule, you’re going to have righty pinch hitters and those righties in the lefty pocket — left-right-lefts — that you have to get those guys out. It’s such an important part of the game. You can’t be a one-sided pitcher, especially now.”

Pirates manager Derek Shelton believes Borucki brought a veteran presence to a young relief corps last season, showing a willingness to embrace a variety of roles without complaint.

“He really flourished in it and was a big part of our bullpen,” Shelton said, “and is gonna be a big part of our bullpen this year.”