Fresh off the best season of his Major League Baseball career, Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Steven Brault is headed Down Under.
The left hander will visit New Zealand at the end of the month and will host training clinics with some of the country's aspiring young players in Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Nelson. He's the latest active MLB player to make the trip to New Zealand to share his knowledge, with New York Yankees shortstop Didi Gregorius the most recent star to make the trip with his visit in 2017.
In his third season with the Pirates at the major league level, Brault worked mostly out of the bullpen with just five starts in 45 appearances during the season. The 26-year-old posted a career-best 6-3 record with a 4.61 earned run average and 82 strikeouts through 91.2 innings pitched. His six wins were the fourth-most earned by a Pirates pitcher this season.
Brault's visit will add to the growing excitement around the sport in New Zealand this spring, as it leads in to the Auckland Tuatara's debut season in the Australian Baseball League.
The first professional baseball team in New Zealand is expected to meet in Auckland at the start of next month before heading to Brisbane for some preseason work, then opening their season in mid-November away to the Perth Heat.
