'One to remember': Billy Cook makes crazy catch, 2-run double for Pirates in MLB debut

When Billy Cook wasn’t making phone calls to share his big news during his drive from Toledo to Pittsburgh, he listened to music in hopes that it would calm his nerves in the hours before his major league debut.

“As I got closer, I could feel it in my stomach (then) 30 miles away, it starts getting a little tighter,” Cook said. “But once that first pitch happens, you’re just playing baseball again. It was a lot of fun.”

Cook got his call-up after hitting a grand slam Saturday night for Triple-A Indianapolis, despite missing manager Miguel Perez’s initial phone call while playing the Fortnite video game in his hotel room. Cook soon headed to the Toledo Mud Hens’ stadium to pack his equipment, then hit the road early Sunday and arrived at the park around 11:30 a.m.

Cook made his major league debut two hours later, starting at first base and going 2 for 4 with two RBIs in the Pirates’ 7-3 win over the Washington Nationals on Sunday at PNC Park.

“It meant everything,” Cook, 25, said afterward at his locker in the home clubhouse. “This is what I worked really hard for, dreamed about as a little kid, talked to my family and friends about. It still feels surreal to be here, but I’m glad it happened. We’ll keep going. You get one debut, that’s what they all say. It was definitely one to remember.”

Acquired from the Baltimore Orioles in exchange for right-handed pitcher Patrick Reilly at the July 30 trade deadline, Cook has been banging on the door for a promotion to the Pirates. After hitting 15 doubles, 11 homers and 43 RBIs in 70 games at Triple-A Norfolk in the Baltimore system, he batted .276/.389/.486 with seven doubles, five home runs and 21 RBIs in 30 games at Indianapolis.

Pirates general manager Ben Cherington said on his weekly radio show that they wanted to get a look at Cook so that he can get some feedback after facing major league pitching before the offseason, and they like his versatility to play all three outfield spots and first base.

“He’s an athlete. He’s a baseball player. He can run a little bit. He’s got some power. We saw improvement this year in swing decisions, cutting strikeouts down a little bit as he went from Double-A up to Triple-A,” Cherington said Sunday on 93.7 The Fan. “He’s just a player who seems to be coming into his game and improving. He’s just a baseball player — a really smart, heady, hard-working baseball player who’s got a good way about him. We’re excited that he’ll get an opportunity here, get a little exposure to the major leagues.”

Even so, starting at first base was something of a surprise for the 5-foot-11, 205-pound Cook, who plays primarily in the outfield but spent 50 games at first base in the minors this season at Double-A Bowie (two), Norfolk (42) and Indianapolis (six).

But Connor Joe was still stiff and sore after attempting to make a diving catch in the ninth inning Saturday night, and the Pirates wanted a right-handed hitter at first base to face Nationals left-hander Patrick Corbin. So Cook did some work at first before the game with Pirates bench coach Don Kelly to prepare for his debut.

“I knew it was a possibility,” Cook said. “But if you told me I’d play first base in my major league debut last year, I’d say, ‘You’re crazy.’ So there’s that little bit of expecting the unexpected. Everybody’s debut, they say, isn’t exactly how you’d expect it to go. That was kind of the hiccup in mine: As a primary outfielder who can play first, I wouldn’t expect the first game to be there but we’ll make it work.”

It didn’t take long for the ball to find Cook, as Andres Chaparro hit a pop fly in foul territory that caused Cook to lean against the protective netting to make the catch for the second out of the game. Cook nearly flipped over the short wall along the first base line, startling Pirates starting pitcher Jared Jones.

“Did he just hurt himself?” Jones asked. “Oh my God.”

Cook was happy to have the support of the netting — which he said isn’t at all minor league parks — and to come away with the ball.

“So, yeah, ball goes up and as an outfielder you just go catch it,” Cook said, with a laugh. “That’s what I did, but with a first base glove.”

That play was soon followed by Cook’s first major league hit. With Nick Gonzales and Bryan De La Cruz on base, Cook cracked a line drive down the left field line for a book-rule two-run double to give the Pirates a 4-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning.

“I think he makes a great impression for Pirates fans when he dives into the stands for his first putout and then comes up and hits a double,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said. “Overall, really good debut.”

Cook went down swinging in his next at-bat and grounded out to short the next time up before belting a single to center to start the eighth.

“I think it’s really exciting and I think it does a couple things: He makes a play, gets a hit, we saw in the eighth the line drive through the middle,” Shelton said. “Not only does it, for us, give an impression, but for him it’s just like, ‘OK, now I can take a break.’”

For Cook, who started the season in Double-A in the Baltimore system, his major league debut wasn’t how he envisioned it but rather how he’s learned to control what he can and not worry about what he can’t.

“And here I am, in a different uniform, playing for a different team — and it’s worked out great,” Cook said. “You never know what the opportunity is, so you just put yourself in a spot to make it happen. That’s kind of the approach I took and will keep taking.”