Colin Selby shows his stuff as small-school success story in major league debut for Pirates

Colin Selby’s first major league pitch was a curveball “that didn’t do anything,” coming in so high and tight on Ronald Acuna Jr. that the Atlanta Braves star dropped to the dirt to avoid being hit.

Asked if it was his way of announcing his presence with authority, the rookie right-handed reliever with the bushy beard simply shrugged.

“Yeah,” Selby said, “I guess.”

If Selby was distracted by inheriting Michael Harris II at second base in his major league debut Wednesday night, facing Acuna got his attention.

Once Selby threw his next pitch, a 96.6-mph sinker that got Acuna swinging for a strike, it became a “normal outing.”

After singles by Acuna and Ozzie Albies, Selby struck out Austin Riley, intentionally walked Matt Olson and got Sean Murphy to ground out to first to end the top of the sixth inning. In the seventh, Selby got Marcell Ozuna looking at a called third strike on a curveball inside and Eddie Rosario swinging at a curveball in the dirt before Orlando Arcia lined out to center.

The first three strikeouts of Colin Selby's career. The first comes on a slider, and the next two come on curveballs. The spin is there ????️ pic.twitter.com/57l0ZjP5Gm

— Justice delos Santos (@justdelossantos) August 10, 2023

“Coming out of the gate from the bullpen, I definitely felt the energy. I felt a little bit of butterflies in my stomach,” Selby said. “But then once I got out there and threw the first strike to Acuna, I was fine. … Everything kind of just went out the window at the point. It was just back to the game that I’ve been playing.”

The 25-year-old Selby, a 2018 16th-round draft pick from Randolph-Macon College, became only the third player to play in the majors from the Division III school in Ashland, Va.: Outfielder Frank Walker (1917-25) and pitcher Paul Gilliford (1967). Syd Thrift, the Pirates’ general manager from 1985-88, also is a Randolph-Macon graduate.

New @Pirates reliever Colin Selby earned a win for Randolph-Macon at the 2016 NCAA Division III Mideast Regional, held at W&J. I had the honor of working that event and here is my scorecard from an 18-6 Game 11 win over La Roche - May 20, 2016. pic.twitter.com/kYtx6U7tmL

— Ryan Briggs (@professorbriggs) August 10, 2023

Not that Selby, a native of Chesapeake, Va., had much of a choice.

“I was actually kind of a stubborn kid going into it. Wanted the same thing that pretty much every other kid wanted, to go to a big SEC or ACC school,” Selby said. “And then once the high-school period started coming to an end and realizing I wasn’t really getting the calls that I wanted to, started reaching out to some of the D-III teams that reached out to me that I kind of just ignored in the past. And, thankfully, they stuck with me and ended up going there and wouldn’t change it.”

Selby spent his first two seasons in the Pirates’ minor league system as a starter before undergoing Tommy John surgery and moving to the bullpen in 2021.

“Before TJ, leading up to it my arm was bothering me really bad and I wouldn’t be able to throw a ball on a line for the first four days between starts. It was just start to start, figuring it out. The one day it just finally went,” Selby said in February. “Ever since I got TJ, my arm has been able to recover a lot faster. Who knows? Looking back on it now, I’m thinking there’s no way I could’ve been a starter. Since then I’ve been money.”

Selby posted a 2.20 ERA and 1.26 WHIP in 32⅔ innings, averaging 11.3 strikeouts and 3.9 walks per nine innings, last season at Double-A Altoona and was ranked the Pirates’ No. 27 prospect by Baseball America.

After playing in the Arizona Fall League, Selby was on the Pirates’ radar this past spring training. He suffered a setback with a shoulder injury but posted a 3.86 ERA and 1.35 WHIP with six saves and a 12.2 K/9 rate at Triple-A Indianapolis before getting the call to the majors.

“I think it definitely affected it just because of the fact that we had that rough stretch, we have to make sure that we get guys healthy, we have to make sure we get them into a situation where they’re ready to come to the big leagues,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said. “He was very impressive in spring training in terms of what the stuff is. I think that’s where my mind is at right now with where he’s at.

“He’s a guy that we wanted to get up here. We know the arm’s big, we know how the slider plays. … It’s another arm that we really like.”

Selby was able to pitch in front of his parents, Christie and Stefan, as well as extended family, his girlfriend and his college coach. Striking out a pair of two-time All-Stars in Riley and Ozuna and an NLCS MVP in Rosario showed Selby he could pitch in the majors. But he didn’t spend much time celebrating, turning his attention back to the Braves.

“You can’t really pitch against a better team right now, so that was exciting,” Selby said. “Just put my stuff up against the best and see how it did. So, just feel confident moving forward.”