Pirates' Hunter Owen enjoys making MLB debut after 'crazy cool experience' in year away

May 6—When Hunter Owen accompanied the Pittsburgh Pirates on their road trip on the taxi squad, he knew being added to the major league roster was a possibility but considered it a remote one.

So far-fetched that when told Derek Shelton wanted to talk with him, Owen figured that it was a chance for the Pirates manager to jab him about the upcoming Missouri Valley Conference series between their alma maters, Southern Illinois and Indiana State, from May 14-16.

"One of the coolest parts of this job is to tell a kid, 'Yeah, you're a big-leaguer.' It's even cooler at times when they're totally unaware," Shelton said. "I mean, I think he thought I was calling him in to talk about the series that they were going to play and have a little bet on it. So, for him to be completely blindsided made it a little bit more special because the look on his face when I told him was of great shock."

Owen was dumbfounded but delighted.

"Normally, he chirps me for being an ISU player since he's a Carbondale guy," Owen said. "He looked me in the eye and said, 'You're a big leaguer today.' And I feel like my face was completely numb. It was a crazy cool experience, and something that I'll never forget."

Neither will Owen forget the crazy cool journey it took for the 27-year-old utility player to realize his dream of making it to the major leagues.

After a breakthrough season in 2019 — when he hit .261 with 19 home runs and 53 RBIs between Double-A and Triple-A — the sport shut down in spring training because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Owen wasn't invited to the alternate training in Altoona and found himself out of baseball. Meanwhile, Owen returned home, hitting off a tee and a machine at Indiana State while taking courses to finish his sports management degree and working part-time as a starter at StonyCreek Golf Club.

"It may be the easiest job in the world," Owen said. "People walk by, you tell them their tee times and you give them a thumbs up."

Owen received a late nonroster invite to spring training in February and, thanks to his ability to play the infield and outfield corner positions and even serve as an emergency catcher, was assigned to the Pirates' alternate site training site in April. Shelton said Owen's versatility, along with his "ability to impact the baseball" after hitting a home run in spring training, made him a perfect candidate for the taxi squad.

"It was a crazy couple months for me," Owen said. "With the corona stuff, I know everybody was struggling from that, but for me, it was very frustrating to be my age and not go to the alternate site or anything like that. So I just kept my head up and kept plugging along. I was hoping something good would happen, and the good Lord willing, it did. I got my call to big league spring training, and just that alone was exciting. Having the opportunity to play in the big leagues after that is pretty unbelievable."

Owen had one of the world's hardest jobs Wednesday night, making his debut by facing San Diego Padres ace Yu Darvish before 15,250 at Petco Park.

"If you would have told me that I was facing Yu Darvish two years later," Owen said, "I would have probably called you a liar."

Owen struck out in his first two at-bats — working Darvish for six pitches to a full count before going down swinging in the second — but was hit on his right hand by a pitch in his third plate appearance. He eventually left the game with what Shelton termed a "contusion."

Owen's call-up came Tuesday after Gregory Polanco was placed on the injured list. Owen started in right field next to Bryan Reynolds, who has had a revolving door of outfield mates since moving to center.

"I was pumped when he got called up," Reynolds said. "We're good buddies, so I was really excited when he got the call. Your debut off of Darvish, that's a tough draw there — and he got hit, so that's unfortunate. But he's got a lot of pop so I'm just excited to see what he'll do."

Not nearly as excited as Owen. Before the game, Owen called it "just a dream come true." He planned to take a look around Petco Park before the game, soak up the atmosphere and enjoy the crazy cool experience.

"It's been a culmination of a lot of hard work," Owen said. "I've had a lot of help from a lot of people growing up. It's just, like I said, a dream come true just to be able to step out on the big league field."

Kevin Gorman is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Kevin by email at kgorman@triblive.com or via Twitter .