By KEVIN GORMAN

The Tribune-Review, Greensburg

BRADENTON, Fla. — After spending the better part of two days in a hospital, Isaac Mattson finally found time last Friday to go outside and throw a weighted plyometric ball against the fence in his backyard.

“I was just trying to do a little bit of something,” Mattson said, “but I wasn’t leaving the house, not with who I had there.”

Inside Mattson’s home was his wife Devin and their infant son. The birth of Theodore Oakley Mattson on Feb. 26 was the reason Mattson left big league camp with the Pittsburgh Pirates to return to Richmond, Va., and why he has yet to pitch in a Grapefruit League game.

Mattson’s spring training was interrupted by a phone call that Devin was ready to deliver the baby a week earlier than expected. Two hours later, Mattson was on a flight home and arrived in time for his son’s birth.

“It’s been awesome, a really unique experience and something my wife and I have obviously never been through,” Mattson told TribLive on Sunday at LECOM Park. “It was awesome to be able to support her like that. She was amazing. To be able to support her through the tough times and the joy of our first kid, when she called Tuesday and said she was going into labor, I was like, ‘OK, let’s do it.’ We expected it to happen, but you don’t really know what to do until it’s game time.”

Mattson said Teddy’s middle name was inspired by Pitt’s Oakland campus, where his parents met while Isaac was playing for the Panthers from 2015-17 before being drafted in the 19th round by the Los Angeles Angels. The 6-foot-2, 215-pound right-handed reliever made his major league debut with the Baltimore Orioles in 2021 before making it back with the Pirates last fall.

Mattson, 29, was pitcher of the year for Triple-A Indianapolis, where he was 5-1 with a 3.15 ERA and 1.30 WHIP in 60 innings over 29 appearances and averaged 11.4 strikeouts per nine innings last season, earning a late September call-up to the Pirates.

“The thing I told our manager in Triple-A when he called me into the office and told me I was going back to the big leagues was it felt right,” Mattson said of his conversation with Miguel Perez, now the Pirates’ bullpen coach. “That was the experience I had, the growth I felt I made down in Triple-A was stuff that I felt ready to go and execute at a high level. It just felt right to go back and play in Pittsburgh again.

“Being able to play for the City of Pittsburgh when I was at Pitt was really cool. It was my first experience that I could do this at a really high level for a while. To be able to accomplish that with the City of Pittsburgh at the big-league level was something pretty special.”

The results were mixed for Mattson. He recorded a combined five strikeouts and sandwiched a pair of scoreless two-inning appearances at the Cincinnati Reds and New York Yankees around a rough outing against the Milwaukee Brewers. He gave up three runs on one hit and four walks with one strikeout in 1 1/3 innings in a 7-2 loss at PNC Park.

So, Mattson went to work this offseason to sharpen his repertoire, which saw him throw a four-seam fastball on 70% of his pitches, a changeup on 23% along with a slider.

“Trying to bring my floor up and make the weaker parts of my game a little bit better,” Mattson said. “Just talking with the pitchers and trying to find new ways — like, how do you hold this pitch? — that helps you execute at a higher level.”

Following a whirlwind 72 hours, Mattson returned to camp with the Pirates. Now, he’s looking forward to pitching in his first spring training game and fighting for a spot in the bullpen.

“Every spring is interesting. You have something to prove, just like every game you go in is something to prove,” Mattson said. “I’m just excited to get out there soon. It’s been a little bit of a delay with good things happening but a little bit of a delay to get out there and compete, so I’m excited for the opportunity.”