Tuesday’s “First Call” has some interesting comments from J.J. Watt about the coaching change with the Pittsburgh Steelers. Teammates in Cleveland don’t exactly seem broken up about Myles Garrett’s departure for Los Angeles.
Joey Bart is getting a thumbs up so far in Atlanta, and Mitch Keller needs to reverse some ugly trends Tuesday night versus the Seattle Mariners.
Watt is watching
During Pittsburgh Steelers’ minicamp, T.J. Watt claimed that “change isgood.”
This is the first year that he and the rest of the team’s veterans will be coached by someone besides Mike Tomlin. Now it’s Mike McCarthy and his assistant coaches who are in charge.
Watt’s brother, J.J., whistled a more cautious tune Monday when he was on “The Pat McAfee Show.”
"It's gonna be very interesting to watch how this goes because of the ... history of Pittsburgh."
—@JJWatt on Mike McCarthy succeeding Mike Tomlin as Steelers head coach ????
(via @PatMcAfeeShow) pic.twitter.com/t0k1skCDFO
— NFL on ESPN (@ESPNNFL) June 22, 2026
“I think that it’s going to be very interesting to watch how this goes because of the history of Pittsburgh and the lack of turnover that there has been in the coaching regime,” Watt said. “Any time there’s someone new — especially after (19) years or whatever it was — it is going to be a focal point to see how it goes.”
Watt said he’s been hearing that “the vibes” are good coming out of Pittsburgh, but “vibes are always good in the offseason.”
He said the true test will be to see how the veterans respond to practice changes once training camp begins.
“How are practices set up? The meetings? Obviously, Mike Tomlin’s one of the greatest motivators of all time, so just little things all the time,” Watt said. “It’s going to be very interesting to see how they translate.”
Definitely one change to watch for the Steelers is how Watt’s younger brother deals with moving around more often along the defensive front. That’s something T.J. Watt admitted that he balked at doing in the past, but now will be forced to do more often in the Steelers’ revamped defensive alignment under new coordinator Patrick Graham.
Are we surprised?
Myles Garrett got himself suspended for swinging a helmet at Mason Rudolph, he drove around Cleveland like a maniac for years, and he tried to force himself out of Cleveland before the team eventually traded him to the Los Angeles Rams earlier this month.
So is it any shock to find out that his teammates weren’t entirely fond of the guy?
That’s the disclosure from Cleveland.com Browns beat writer Mary Kay Cabot.
“When you talk about the fact that (fans) haven’t seen guys write or say a lot about Myles, I think that there are some reasons for that,” Cabot said via SteelersNow.com on the Orange and Brown Talk podcast. “He went all around the Super Bowl asking to get the heck out of Dodge. I don’t think that necessarily said ‘team building’ to a lot of guys. I’ve also been told that — even though Myles was very well-respected and, in some cases, revered — he wasn’t necessarily loved by his teammates. He didn’t inspire that warm and fuzzy, big, booming kind of love that some people have for their teammates.”
It’ll be interesting to see if any of the national outlets pick up on this because of all the “warm, fuzzy, big, booming kind of love” ESPN has gushed over Garrett for years. My guess is they’ll probably bury it.
Good start for Bart
Joey Bart didn’t get a hit in his first seven at-bats with the Atlanta Braves over the weekend. But he did draw praise from starting pitcher Chris Sale.
The former Pirates catcher was dealt to Atlanta over the holiday weekend in exchange for Hunter Stratton. And in his first game there, Bart caught the former Cy Young winner.
Sale gave Bart a big thumbs up for his demeanor behind the plate as Atlanta beat the Milwaukee Brewers 4-3 on Saturday.
“It didn’t look like his wheels were turning in a bad way, in a nervous way,” Sale said via SI.com. “And honestly, it just felt like a good rhythm. I felt like I had good tempo, good rhythm today. It just seemed like every pitch called was the right one.”
Bart has always had the reputation as more of an offensive catcher than a defensive one, but Sale seems on board early. He gave up just two runs in 5 2/3 , striking out seven while walking just one.
Mitch on the mound
Mitch Keller pitches Game 1 of the Pirates series against the Seattle Mariners Tuesday night at PNC Park. He’s 5-4 with a 4.92 ERA so far this season.
Three of those words, “night” and “PNC Park,” are bad news for Keller. So far in 2026, Keller has been much worse in the evening and at home than he has been on the road and in the daytime.
In eight home starts this year, Keller is 3-3 with a 5.77 ERA. He is 2-1 with a 3.96 ERA on the road.
At night, Kellers’ ERA balloons to 6.75 and his record is 1-4 in eight starts. His seven daytime starts have him at 3.07 with a perfect 4-0 record. First pitch is at 6:40 p.m. against the Mariners.
On June 16 versus the Athletics in Sacramento, Keller allowed five runs in 5 ⅓ innings, but just one of them was earned. It was 4-0 after one inning, but Keller survived and pitched into the sixth as the Pirates escaped with a 6-5 victory.
Keller will be opposed by George Kirby for Seattle, who is 5-7 with a 4.10 ERA. Kirby was 5-2 with an ERA of 2.48 as recently as May 11. But that was the last time he won a decision. Since that 3-1 victory at Houston, Kirby has lost five decisions in seven starts. Six of his last seven outings have resulted in losses for Seattle.
Kirby has yielded 45 hits and 23 earned runs in those seven trips to the mound. His WHIP is up to 1.31. In three career starts for Kirby against Pittsburgh, he is 2-1 with a 4.76 ERA. In 17 innings, the Pirates have scored nine times against him – including five home runs.