Jack Brannigan entered the 2025 season as a top-10 prospect for the Pittsburgh Pirates. That was before the shortstop\/third baseman suffered a shoulder injury that required season-ending surgery. Still, the Pirates protected the 2022 third-round draft pick out of Notre Dame from the Rule 5 Draft by placing him on the 40-man roster.<\/p>\n
As luck would have it, Brannigan took a bad hop that broke his nose in his first Grapefruit League game, requiring another surgery that would cause him to miss all of spring training. The 6-foot, 201-pound right-handed hitter was batting .235\/.333\/.522 with seven doubles, a triple, eight home runs, 18 RBIs and 20 runs scored in 31 games at Double-A Altoona when the Pirates promoted him Thursday.<\/p>\n
The call-up was necessitated by first baseman Spencer Horwitz suffering a left hamstring strain Wednesday night against the Seattle Mariners, with a short turnaround before Thursday\u2019s early afternoon start. A day after playing alongside Konnor Griffin, who began a rehabilitation assignment with the Curve, the 25-year-old Brannigan was thrilled to have a chance to make his major-league debut.<\/p>\n
What does it mean to be here in this clubhouse?<\/p>\n
It\u2019s pretty special. When I got the call yesterday, it was obviously a whirlwind of emotion. To be here right now and see everybody getting ready for the game is pretty surreal. Just excited to be here, for sure.<\/p>\n
How did you find out?<\/p>\n
I was actually playing video games with some of my friends. I saw I got a call from Andy Fox, our manager, and muted myself and answered. I was like, \u2018Hey.\u2019 He said, \u2018Are you at home?\u2019 I was like, \u2018Yeah, I\u2019m at the apartment. What\u2019s up?\u2019 He said, \u2018You\u2019ve got to start packing. You\u2019re going to Pittsburgh.\u2019 I was like, \u2018Are you messing with me? What\u2019s going on?\u2019 So I had to unmute. My friends were like, \u2018Do you want to play one more before bed.\u2019 I was like, \u2018Guys, I can\u2019t play one more. I\u2019ve got to pack up. I\u2019m going to the big leagues.\u2019 It was pretty cool.<\/p>\n
What was their reaction?<\/p>\n
I think they didn\u2019t believe me at first, then they could tell I was getting a little choked up. They were like, \u2018Dude, you\u2019ve got to get off. You\u2019ve got to call your parents.\u2019 I think they were more excited in the moment than I was. I was trying to process it.<\/p>\n
Did you call your parents directly after?<\/p>\n
I couldn\u2019t decide if I should call my mom or my dad first, so I was like, \u2018You know what? I\u2019m going to hit the whole family with a group FaceTime.\u2019 I got almost everybody on there and told them, so it was pretty cool.<\/p>\n
What\u2019s going through your mind after getting that call?<\/p>\n
At first, it was more shock. You always dream of getting the call. When it actually happens, you\u2019re almost, like, not ready for it. I just didn\u2019t expect it to happen like that. Now, it\u2019s just excitement. I look back on last year \u2014 when I had shoulder surgery, then nose surgery in the spring. It\u2019s just been like one thing after another. To come full circle like this is pretty special.<\/p>\n
Could you have imagined this after missing all of spring training with the broken nose?<\/p>\n
Not at all. I think every single day when I walked in there, I just wanted to keep my head down and try to hide my double black eyes and puffy face. Now to be here is just crazy.<\/p>\n
How did you deal with the injuries and try to stay positive?<\/p>\n
It\u2019s definitely tough. I think you try to take it one day at a time, honestly. It gets better each day after you get hurt and going through the rehab process. I just try to take it one day at a time and enjoy the guys you\u2019re around. There\u2019s been a good group of guys all throughout the organization that I\u2019ve spent a ton of time with through rehab and all the levels.<\/p>\n
How much has your game evolved this season?<\/p>\n
You get better every single day. There\u2019s a new challenge every time you step into the box, every time you step onto the field. You\u2019re just trying to constantly evolve and take little pieces and add it to your game. The 12:35 game definitely helps. Once I get out there, I\u2019ll definitely take a look at the skyline from the dugout. From there, hopefully, getting into the game. It\u2019s the same game I\u2019ve been playing since I was 3 or 4 years old. Just a little bit bigger stadium. Just try to enjoy it.<\/p>\n
What was it like to play with Konnor Griffin at Double-A Altoona?<\/p>\n
Super special, obviously. An unbelievable talent. It\u2019s funny. He comes in the clubhouse yesterday, and he\u2019s still the youngest guy there, which is pretty ridiculous. It\u2019s been great being around him. He\u2019s always a lot of fun. He brings a great energy to the field. It\u2019s just a blast watching him play. He\u2019s such a special talent.<\/p>\n
Did Konnor buy the Curve a food spread?<\/p>\n
Um, I think that\u2019s coming later on. I think I might have missed that. Maybe he\u2019ll give me something on the side. It\u2019s a good reason to miss it.<\/p>\n
Will your family be here for your MLB debut?<\/p>\n
My parents (John and Colleen) were flying into Pittsburgh from Chicago this afternoon. They were supposed to come to Altoona, so they moved their flights up and bought an extra ticket for my brothers (Shane, Mark and Luke). And my older brother Shane\u2019s fianc\u00e9 (Lauren) will be here, too. I think before I even hung up the phone, they were already looking up flights on Southwest and trying to figure it out.<\/p>\n
What is the meaning of the bracelet you wear #LiveLikeRoche?<\/p>\n
A good friend of mine passed away in the summer of 2020, Jack Roche. He actually got in a car accident. He was two years older than me \u2014 he was my brother\u2019s age \u2014 and he was actually our baseball manager. He was just an unbelievable guy, one of my really good friends. We called him Coach Roche. He was like the manager but he was the coach of everybody. I actually broke it two years ago, on Mother\u2019s Day. I was putting on tape and I pulled it up a little bit and it ended up ripping. My brother has a really good relationship with their family. As soon as they found out, they sent me 10 more, so I\u2019ve got a bunch. I\u2019ll wear it every single day. I know he\u2019s watching but today especially.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jack Brannigan entered the 2025 season as a top-10 prospect for the Pittsburgh Pirates. That was before the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":727462,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[363,99],"class_list":["post-727461","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-mlb","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/727461","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=727461"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/727461\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/727462"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=727461"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=727461"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=727461"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}