BRADENTON (93.7 The FAN) - 2019 was a year of ups and downs for Pirates prospect Will Craig. On one hand, he hit a career-high 23 home runs, but on the other, he had to spend September at home rather than coming up to the Pirates.
I spoke with Will at Spring Training about not getting called up when the rosters expanded and how that felt for him.
"The first week or so was really hard," Craig said. "Obviously I was a little frustrated with everything, but I understood where they stood with everything cause what they told me wasn't a lit."
Craig even went so far as to say that getting snubbed last year was a good thing because it made him work on things he might not have if he did called up.
"I really went into the offseason trying to come in this year with a clean slate to show them 'Hey, I really do care. This is where I'm at.' And obviously we have got the new people in the front office, so hopefully they can get a clean slate with me and not have to read the reports from last year that I'm not that same guy. I'm a new guy. It was definitely a huge motivation going into that first couple weeks of the offseason."
So what specifically did Craig work on this offseason to take his game to that next level?
"My fist two and a half, three months of the offseason was just getting into shape, losing weight and all that stuff."
Click the audio link below to hear more from Craig on the positions he worked on this offseason, the work he put in at the plate and his early impressions of new manager Derek Shelton.