Phillip Evans probably didn't need to homer to make the opening day roster. But hey, a homer certainly won't hurt the cause.
In the second inning of Monday's exhibition against the Indians, Evans took a 2-2 Mike Clevinger fastball and did this to it:
"[That felt] pretty good," Evans said Tuesday during a Zoom call. "I've been waiting to get a barrel like that this whole spring 2.0."
Heck, how about a barrel like that in a major-league park. He hasn't homered yet as a major-leaguer, so that was his first in one of the 30 home parks.
That might have been a close call in PNC Park, though, with the infamous notch in left-center.
"That 410 gap is usually where I hit most of my balls, so I have to see [head strength and conditioning coach] Jim Malone in the weight room here soon," Evans joked.
For what it's worth, that home run against Clevinger went an estimated 410 feet, per Statcast. So, it would have cleared the notch. Probably.
It's the type of swing that has should make Evans, 27, officially a Pirate after bouncing around the past few years.
He spent parts of 2017 and 2018 with the Mets, but didn't get a call last year with the Cubs. He hit pretty well, slashing .283/.371/.470 with 17 home runs and 61 RBIs for their AAA team, but the Cubs' roster was too tough to crack.
Evans is friends with Joe Musgrove and worked out with him during the offseason, which helped nudge him to choosing Pittsburgh as a minor-league free agent. He quickly made his presence known during spring training in Bradenton, Fla., taking Trevor Williams deep during the first live batting practice session of camp.
He kept hitting from there, and between spring training and the two exhibition games, he has recorded a .344 batting average and 1.073 OPS. Evans attributed that to the work he has done with hitting coach Rick Eckstein, who has helped him "fine-tune" his swing angle into the zone.
Now, with rosters expanded to 30 players, Evans chances of making the opening day roster seem just about certain.
"It’s definitely helped," Evans said. "I think I had a good shot on spring 1.0, but swinging it well and bouncing around the infield and some outfield, so just took whatever I was doing there and put it into the ol’ 2.0 here and having fun."
It also helps that Evans can play multiple infield positions and has started taking reps in the outfield, working with first base and outfield coach Tarrik Brock this week. With the outfield thin on depth after Gregory Polanco tested positive for COVID-19, he could see some time in right field, as well as third base behind Colin Moran.
"His versatility plays," Derek Shelton said Monday night in Cleveland. "He continues to put good swings on the baseball... I think his versatility allows us to do a lot of different things with him."
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