Vogelsong happy to be back with Bucs
BRADENTON, Fla. — Ryan Vogelsong had just finished working out one day in December when his cell phone rang.
The veteran right-hander pitcher’s agent was calling to say the Pittsburgh Pirates were interested in signing him as a free agent. Vogelsong could barely contain a smile when he walked through the door of his home in Suwanee, Ga., and saw his wife Nicole.
“I told her that a team had called that was interested in signing me and she knew immediately from the look on my face who that team was,” Vogelsong recalled recently at the Pirates’ spring training camp. “I think we both knew it just felt right.”
Vogelsong signed a one-year, $2-million contract with the opportunity to earn up to $3 million more in performance bonuses to return to the Pirates, the team he pitched for from 2001-06 with mostly frustrating results.
In that five-year span — he missed 2002 while recovering from Tommy John reconstructive elbow surgery — he went 10-19 with 6.00 ERA in 103 games, including 33 starts.
Ten years later, he is 38 and comes back older and wiser to an organization that has changed dramatically.
Vogelsong was acquired in a July, 2001 trade as part of what seemed like a perpetual rebuilding process by the Pirates. He pitched during a string of 20 consecutive losing seasons by the franchise from 1993-2012 that set the major North American professional team sports record for futility.
Now the Pirates are coming off three straight postseason appearances and are no longer an afterthought on the Pittsburgh sports scene after the Steelers and Penguins.
“It’s been fun to come back to Pittsburgh the last few years and see all the excitement surrounding the Pirates,” Vogelsong said. “It’s a great place to play now. PNC Park is a great facility and gets really loud there because the fans are really into it. It’s going to be fun to be a part of that.”
Part of the allure to playing for the Pirates again is also because Nicole Vogelsong is a native of the area, having grown up in Hampton Township. And, a small part of Vogelsong wanting to come back is to wanting to atone for how poorly he performed in his first stint with the Pirates.
Vogelsong had just turned 24 when the Pirates acquired him and outfielder Armando Rios from the San Francisco Giants for right-hander Jason Schmidt and outfielder John Vander Wal. Vogelsong tore an elbow ligament in his second start with the Pirates and things never got any better.
“It was a frustrating time,” Vogelsong said. “I wouldn’t say that wanting to make up for what happened was the overriding reason why I signed with the Pirates, but I’m a totally different pitcher now. I’ve been through a lot in my career. I’ve experienced my share of failure and I’ve experience my share of success. I think it is kind cool to get a second chance, though.”
Vogelsong did not pitch in the major leagues for a four-year period from 2007-10, hitting bottom when he was sent to the minor leagues while playing in Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan. However, he turned his career around and spent the past five seasons back in the major leagues with the Giants, being selected to the 2011 All-Star Game and being part of World Series winners in 2012 and 2014.
“You’re always learning in this game and, in some ways, I guess it took me longer to learn than some others,” Vogelsong said. “You reach the point where you get tired of losing and I came to the realization that my stuff was good enough to get major league hitters out. I just needed to believe in myself.”
Vogelsong, though, slipped to a 9-11 with a 4.67 ERA last season and lost his spot in the Giants’ rotation as he made 22 starts and 11 relief appearances.
The Pirates have become an organization noted for fixing pitchers and Vogelsong is one of their latest projects. Pitching coach Ray Searage believes Vogelsong can benefit from throwing more inside pitches.
Vogelsong is still in outstanding shape. Other than some flecks of gray in his hair and beard, he looks much the same as he did when he was a youngster in his first stint with the Pirates.
“We believe he’s still got the skills to perform at a very functional level,” manager Clint Hurdle said. “He’s got an edge and a hunger to his game that’s real. That’s something we like to use for his good and for the collective good of the club.”
The Pirates are looking to slot Vogelsong in as their fourth starter behind Gerrit Cole and left-handers Francisco Liriano and Jon Niese and in front of lefty Jeff Locke. While the expectations may not be great, Vogelsong fully expects to have a good season.
“I’m not coming back here just to ride out my career and say goodbye,” he said. “I still plan on pitching a lot longer. This isn’t some kind of farewell thing.
“They’ve turned this organization around. The attitude here is unbelievable. These guys care about each other and want to win for each other. I could feel it the last few years when I played against them and even just watching their games on TV.”
Vogelsong then paused.
“I was part of a lot of losing with the Pirates,” he said. “Now, I want to be a part of the winning.”