Pirates Prospect Easton Carmichael Is Chasing 20/20 in 2027

Good morning, and welcome from Arizona. This is Offbeat here on North Shore Nine, presented by FanDuel. My name is Alex Stumpf, and this is a daily look at your Pittsburgh Pirates. And today, we are joined by Easton Carmichael, here, one of the Pirates' top prospects. How are you doing?

I'm doing well. Thanks for having me. It's exciting. It's always good to be out in Arizona.

What's this experience been like for you? Have you been to any Arizona Fall League before?

No, I hadn't. My dad has. I actually have a cool hat from back in the 90s. He came out here. I don't even know why he's out here, to be honest with you, but came to a couple games and actually got a hat.

So I got an old vintage hat that I've been wearing around, which is pretty cool, but no, first time.

That's awesome. What's been your takeaway with the experience getting beaten a whole bunch of other new people, a lot of other talented people across all 30 systems?

Yeah, no, it's been really cool. I've had the pleasure of knowing some of these guys from college, playing against them in college.

Knowing of them. And then reconnecting with just some old friends. Obviously, tonight, Kyle Robinson's thrown against us, and he spent a short tenure with the Pirates.

He was actually my roommate in Altoona for a little bit, so a good buddy of mine, and yeah, so it's been a lot of fun reconnecting with old people, but also meeting a lot of new patients.

Whenever you look at this year you just had, what are you most proud of? What do you think you're going to be taking away from it whenever you look back?

Yeah, honestly, it was a good year. Super blessed to have it. Only looking forward. Honestly, the biggest thing I'm proud of is playing the full season.

Didn't miss any time. Was healthy the full year. Still feel really healthy now, and I take a lot of pride in that. There's a saying that you can't make the club in the tub, and that's a fact.

the best availability. You're going to play the game a long time.

Did that sting at all last year? You know how missing some time because of that, or did that make that a motivation of, like, I want to be here for all five, six months?

I guess, seven now with no time in the desert. Yeah, the short season, it's always just getting your feet under you.

I think going into it, I knew I wasn't going to play every day. It was going to be every other day, and then there towards the end of the year, just part of it.

taking some months off, and then the draft coming along, just part of it. I didn't flinch on it, and honestly, I think it was the best bet for me.

Just to, again, be around those guys in Greensboro, get thrown in the fire, per se, so it was a good experience.

I want to go back to last year. You get drafted. Pirates have been, have had maybe a little bit more of a conservative approach with some other guys like Murf Gray.

He just stayed in the complex league. They push you to not only play organized by, but send you to Greensboro.

I know we're talking, what, a 12, 14-game sample or anything right there, but, like, results weren't there because there really wasn't a sample size.

Did that stick with you at all? Like, was it like a, just completely wash it, or is that fuel, or?

Yeah, I'm going to be honest. I completely washed it, to be just quite honest with you.

again, like I said, you take two months off. we finished the collegiate season first week of June, and then I didn't get to organize baseball again or see true live pitching until basically the first week of August.

And so, that's a two-month break, and for anybody, that's hard to do and then go perform.

So, honestly, I watched it. It was truly, I used it as an experience to understand the flow and the schedule of professional baseball, and, ultimately, I wasn't too worried about the performance side of things.

I just wanted to get my feet under me, and I did that.

This might be a stupid question, but, like, how easy is it for you to learn to wash something?

Is that something you had to learn over time? Is it something that came natural, or?

Yeah, you have to learn it over time. ultimately, a lot of guys will carry things with them, and I, thankfully, have been blessed to have a lot of mentors around me to teach me that one pitch at a time mindset,

but also understand that baseball is just something I do. It's not who I am, and I think that's helped me quite a bit, and, ultimately, that's just, I think, given me the power to get over long stretches of not doing so hot,

but also get over a long stretch where I'm doing really good, because when you're going really good, then it's, again, you've still got a long season, and when you're going really bad, you've still got a long season, so you just have to stay one pitch at a time.

I know a lot of pitchers will say that, especially, they want that in their catcher in general.

Like, if you get screwed over on a bad strike three call, it's like, I don't want him to be thinking about that whenever he's calling fastballs for me down the next inning.

Yeah. Yeah, no, for sure. Skip Johnson said it, he's my coach at Oklahoma, and the one pitch at a time mindset, he harps on it, and ultimately, like, growing up and going through collegiate baseball,

and, like, when I first heard it, I'm like, oh, okay, like, yeah, sure.

But when you truly live it's, you do realize how impactful it can be.

It's like, I'm going to say this, and it's going to get funny.

It's like, females will always think about the one bad thing versus the 100 good things you did.

Where in baseball, you can't do that.

You've got to flip the switch.

You've got to look at the 100 good things you did, not the one bad thing.

Now, yeah, that one bad thing might have been a home run or whatever, but if you focus on the one bad thing the whole season, then, you're going to lose where your footing's at, and you can't do that.

You have to truly say one pitch at a time because, again, like me and my hitting coach back home, all these things, you really only have to get about 20 A swings off in a season.

If you get 20 A swings off in a season, you're going to probably like where you're at.

Well, 20 A swings, 20 home runs, that's a good season.

And you hit 20 home runs this year.

Right.

Good transition to talk about the swing.

Whenever you see that type of short stroke, I think for a lot of people in today's game, that means you're selling out for pull side power, and there's going to be some swing and miss, and that's really not your offensive profile.

One thing that stood out to me was you're able to go gap to gap and the really good contact rates here.

Out of those two, which are you more proud of?

Honestly, both.

Probably for me, I think contact rate is what you focus on in a byproduct is that gap to gap.

Yeah.

For me, yeah, I want to drive the gaps.

Home runs, great.

They come awesome.

But I'm one I hate striking out.

I cannot stand striking out.

On the flip side, yeah.

Do I need to walk a little more?

Yeah, sure.

Okay, we can get nitpicky.

But on the flip side, I also see it as if I put a ball in the play, I got a chance at a base hit.

I got a chance at moving a guy, whatever have you.

So that's what I ultimately focus on basketball and middle of the field wrestling approach and go from there because ultimately I know I'm strong enough that those balls will lose the yard.

Like just watching your swings, going back a couple years, the actual swing seems very similar.

Like eyeballing, it looks like maybe you're a little more upright, than you were a couple years ago in college.

Is that fair to say?

Yeah.

ultimately, I don't know if I've necessarily thought about it.

I know the biggest change or the biggest thing that I always pay attention to is maybe like bat angle or hand height.

But for the most part, yeah, I think the setup from freshman year of college, even the senior year of high school, I think the foundation of it is very similar.

Whenever you are looking at bat height, bat angle right there, I guess, first of all, what tools are you using to find that out?

Have they been the same tools?

And how did you come to realize that's what I need to monitor to make sure I'm getting those A swings off?

Yeah, ultimately video.

I think video is the biggest tool I use.

I'm a very simple guy.

I like focus on timing.

But video is where I see all that.

If I'm on time, if I'm getting those A swings off, if I'm short to baseball, if I'm long.

So I always go back to video.

And it's also one of those, like, it does, it just goes back to timing.

Am I starting on time?

Am I getting down on time?

And am I striding to hit, not striding to see?

That sounds like a coach's kid dancer, though.

That's a fact.

How much did that influence, your baseball journey?

Yeah, a ton.

He's still a coach for me.

While he is dad, he's still a coach.

I still call him after every game, before every game, driving to the field, whatever.

Yeah, I wouldn't trade it for anything.

Not only is he a coach of baseball, he's a coach on life.

I'll go to him for anything.

Same with my mom.

She's actually a certified life coach, funny enough.

Oh, wow.

yeah.

I just go to them for a lot of things, and they have good insight one way or another.

Whether I agree or disagree with them, they know quite a bit, and I'm super thankful for that.

Sometimes you need to hear something you don't want to hear, I guess.

That's a fact.

Yeah.

Who was the one who said catcher?

Were you the ones who wanted to put on the tools of ignorance, or did they push you a little bit?

No, it was my dad.

He was a catcher, and ultimately, I think I got thrown back there from, also, I don't know when I started.

I probably started somewhere in 9, 10.

That's super early on, because that's what dad did.

I wore his number for a long time through high school.

College is when I paved my own path.

But ultimately, number 11 still holds a super nice place in my heart.

Was it always going to be Oklahoma whenever you were?

Yeah, it honestly was.

I had some other opportunities at some other schools within the SEC and Big 12, but the second Oklahoma came running, that's ultimately where I wanted to go.

I have early photos of me standing on the baseball diamond with my dad in alumni games, or wearing football jerseys, throwing the football in the parking lot at Gaylor Family Memorial Stadium.

So, it just, Norman was always home for me.

And were you toward it at all out of high school?

Like, was that a possibility for you?

Something you considered?

Yeah, it was.

It truly was.

I committed early on in my sophomore year, and when I committed to college, it ultimately ended up like, all right, now let's see if I can get drafted.

And it truly did become a heavy possibility.

And honestly, it's one that I could have probably done if I wanted to.

Honestly, now, thankfully, I didn't.

And I didn't settle.

I ended up making a little more money, but I also, I learned a lot in college.

And I wouldn't trade that for anything, truly, just because it's knowing how much I changed and how much I developed as a man in college.

I'm a big proponent, big believer on it.

I give some of our high school guys some crap because I'm like, oh, you're just a high school kid.

But no, it's true.

I truly believe in college and what it does for you as a person.

And again, yeah, I would trade for anything.

What are you more proud of this year?

The sub-two pop times or the 14 swipe bags?

See, probably the swipe bag, just because it's like, that's a part of my game, and it's going to always continue to be a part of the game.

I wish I would have got 20.

I hit a lull there, middle to end of the season.

Honestly, I think it was just I got tired, so I just honestly focused on longevity and health.

But no, we're going for 20 next year.

2020?

2020, let's do it.

I would love that.

That'd be great.

Yeah.

Talked about it on the field real fast here, but also congratulations on it's going to be a busy off-season for you, too.

Yeah, it will be, yeah.

I get out of here next Friday.

November's going to be a long but hectic month between getting wedding bands figured out, getting the rest of the wedding stuff planned.

But my brother's getting married December.

I'm getting married January.

It's going to be a fun off-season.

It's going to be a quick, long off-season.

It'll be that happy medium.

It's going to feel super fast, but day-to-day might feel long because we've got so much stuff going on.

But no, it's going to be super exciting.

I can't wait.

Awesome.

And one more before I let you go here.

What are Pirates fans getting in you?

Really what you see is what you're going to get.

I feel like I'm the same guy every day.

Somebody that you're excited to watch.

Ultimately, I want people to drive hours to come watch me play.

Watch us play.

I think that's the culture that we're building within the Pirates organization that it's exciting guys, exciting players.

No matter if it's the people sitting front row behind the home plate or in the nosebleeds, I want your dollar to matter and to be value.

And you get your money's worth to watch us play.

And ultimately, I think I stand for that.

I think a lot of us in the organization stand for that.

And hopefully, the fans believe it, too.

That's awesome.

Hey, I really appreciate you taking some time here.

And thank you for watching Offbeat here on North Shore Nine presented by FanDuel.

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We will talk again tomorrow.

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