Brandan Bidois was waiting for the call that would allow him to make his major league debut, so he got his hopes up every time the bullpen phone rang at PNC Park.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery time, your heart just kind of drops and sinks out of your stomach,\u201d Bidois said. \u201cThat first one is never easy. Your heart\u2019s racing. Everything\u2019s going a million miles an hour.\u201d<\/p>\n
The 24-year-old right-handed reliever became the first Australian to play for the Pittsburgh Pirates \u2014 and 40th in MLB history \u2014 when he entered the game in the eighth inning Wednesday against the Colorado Rockies.<\/p>\n
Bidois allowed one run on two hits, including a solo home run, in the 14-pitch inning that capped an incredible journey. After switching from infielder to pitcher-only, Bidois signed as an undrafted international free agent out of Brisbane for a reported $10,000 bonus in September 2019.<\/p>\n
He followed in the footsteps of his 33-year-old brother, Nicholas, a former second baseman who played rookie ball for the Toronto Blue Jays in 2009. When he enters a game, Brandan draws an \u201cN\u201d in the dirt on the mound in honor of his biggest baseball supporter.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been dreaming of this day since I was 3,\u201d Bidois said before Wednesday\u2019s game. \u201cIt was something I\u2019ve wanted as long as I can remember. Me and my brother talked about it for years and years. I\u2019m not up on the mound alone. He\u2019s my hero on the baseball side of things. He provided the pathway and the mentorship. I\u2019m blessed.\u201d<\/p>\n
Brandan Bidois made his mark last season when he won the Pirates\u2019 Kent Tekulve reliever of the year award after going 8-0 with a 0.74 ERA \u2014 lowest in all of the minor leagues \u2014 an 0.80 WHIP and eight saves in 40 appearances across four levels.<\/p>\n
Sidetracked by Tommy John surgery in 2023, Bidois started last season at Low-A Bradenton and completed it at Triple-A Indianapolis. He faced 64 consecutive batters without allowing a hit over a stretch from July 29 to Sept. 9. The Pirates added him to their 40-man roster in November, and Bidois made a bid for the Opening Day roster with three scoreless appearances in spring training.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe punched out a lot of guys. The fastball is electric; offspeed is good. When he\u2019s in the zone, he\u2019s tough to hit,\u201d Pirates manager Don Kelly said. \u201cAnytime you see the stuff and the way he was able to move up the ladder, for me, to get to see him in spring for the first time live, it was impressive stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n
Yet Bidois endured some low points at Indianapolis, posting a 7.20 ERA and 1.67 WHP with 23 strikeouts, nine walks and three home runs allowed in 15 innings over 15 appearances.<\/p>\n
During his struggles, Bidois turned to veteran reliever Chris Devenski for support. Devenski advised him to be willing to make adjustments, continue to challenge himself and use an attack mentality.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe has no fear and goes right after guys,\u201d Devenski said. \u201cI\u2019m very excited for him. I think he\u2019s in a good place.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bidois considers the adversity he endured a privilege, which made receiving and sharing word of his promotion even more memorable. The call from Indianapolis manager Eric Paterson informing him that he was headed to the majors was met with \u201cinstant tears, emotions gone through the roof,\u201d Bidois said. That early afternoon call prompted Brandan to call home to his mother, Sharon, at 3 a.m., Brisbane time.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo, she wasn\u2019t awake. I had to wake her up,\u201d Bidois said, with a laugh. \u201cShe woke the whole house up screaming; everyone was going crazy. It\u2019s cool. Super exciting time.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sharon flew across the world to see Brandan\u2019s debut, spending time with him on the field before the game for their first time together in two years. Bidois said he was \u201csuper grateful\u201d for the opportunity to realize his big league dreams, carrying the hopes of his country with him.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not just representing myself. I\u2019m representing my people, my coaches, my family and everyone that has come before me and going to be after me,\u201d Bidois said. \u201cWe have a small group that plays baseball, and I know it\u2019s growing exponentially every single year, and I just want to continue to help provide a pathway and ways to grow the game over there.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Pirates were trailing, 6-4, when Bidois replaced lefty Evan Sisk in the eighth inning against the Rockies. Bidois couldn\u2019t help but glance at the 38,747-seat stadium, the biggest park he\u2019s pitched in.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was hard not to look up every now and again and just see where I am,\u201d Bidois said, \u201cbut I went out with the job, and I feel like I did it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kelly noted that it was a \u201ctough lane\u201d for Bidois to face Colorado\u2019s Nos. 2-4 hitters. Mickey Moniak hit his second pitch, a slider, for a leadoff double to right field and advanced on a sacrifice bunt by Tyler Freeman before Pirates catcher Henry Davis picked off Moniak at third.<\/p>\n
Bidois threw two of the top three pitch velocities of the game against TJ Rumfield, hitting 97.9 mph and then 98.6 with his four-seam fastball. But Rumfield sent his seventh pitch 415 feet to right field for a solo home run. Bidois got Troy Johnston to fly out to left to finish the frame.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought he threw the ball well,\u201d Kelly said. \u201cHe\u2019s got really good stuff, and I think that we saw what he\u2019s capable of doing: throwing in the upper 90s and that slider is really legit.\u201d<\/p>\n
While Bidois admitted that he was tense, he felt good about his debut and promised to go back out and get different results in his next outing.<\/p>\n
\u201cEspecially, first Australian to play for the Pirates, what he\u2019s gone through, the season that he had last year was really, really impressive,\u201d Kelly said. \u201cYou got to see why tonight, with the elite stuff that he\u2019s got. Excited to see him get some more opportunities.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Brandan Bidois was waiting for the call that would allow him to make his major league debut, so…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":670399,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[558],"tags":[64,63,591,85],"class_list":["post-670398","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-mlb","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/670398","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=670398"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/670398\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/670399"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=670398"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=670398"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=670398"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}