Doval is all about horsing around when he's not on the field

This story was excerpted from Aiden Stepansky’s Pirates Beat newsletter. Perla Paredes pinch-hit on this edition. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

MIAMI -- When Pirates reliever Camilo Doval lived in the Dominican Republic, he used to ride a horse his grandfather gifted him to the ballpark.

The Yamasa, D.R., native signed as a free agent on a Minor League contract with San Francisco in 2015. He played in the Dominican Summer League with the DSL Giants in 2016 until he was assigned to the Arizona Complex League Giants in 2017.

For Doval, there is nothing more beautiful than a horse.

His grandfather always had horses around when Doval was growing up, so he developed a love for the animals at an early age.

Now, during the offseason and All-Star break, the 29-year-old returns home and visits his 10 horses. He also loves charrería, a Mexican traditional practice in which charros show off their herding skills, including roping and reining wild mares and bulls on horseback.

“It’s something beautiful,” Doval said in Spanish. “Horses are the best thing there is, animals in general. In the Dominican Republic, you enjoy [life] a lot because you go everywhere on your horse.”

Back in the Dominican Republic, Doval also likes to listen to the late Mexican singer Antonio Aguilar, whose songs were traditional Mexican regional music. His friends back home even know who to go to when they feel like listening to a “ranchera” song.

On trips to parties or anywhere that requires traveling a couple of miles, Doval will take his horse and even make his horses dance. His favorite is his Friesian horse, Rey, who Doval had a two-year birthday party for in 2025.

The right-hander started his sixth year in the Majors this season with the Yankees before being traded to the Pirates on Aug. 1. The international environment in his new clubhouse has helped him feel connected to home.

“It’s been really good,” Doval said. “I feel like I am in the [World Baseball Classic]. I am here with various Latin guys that I knew, so the atmosphere is different. It feels really good to be here and spend time with them.”

In the Pirates’ clubhouse, Yohan Ramírez and Gregory Soto are usually the loudest, always cracking jokes and jumping from locker to locker to mess with their teammates. Doval is a bit more reserved, but he can’t help but crack a smile when his fellow countrymen approach him.

Since joining his new club, Doval has posted a 1.64 ERA entering Tuesday, with 12 strikeouts and eight walks through 11 appearances. Opposing hitters are batting .167 against him in August.

“I am controlling what I can control,” Doval said. “All other things, other people are in charge of, so I just need to continue to do my work.”

What has changed for Doval is just how much confidence he has in himself and his team.

“I just trust what I have,” Doval said. “I also put a lot on what the team has.”

The walks continue to be an issue for Doval, who has an 11.8 percent walk rate this season, but that is lower than his past two seasons (12.6 percent in 2025 and 14.4 percent in 2024). His sinker velocity has also improved from last season, when it averaged 96.6 mph, compared with 98.4 mph this season.

Doval has also averaged a high ground-ball rate of 54.9%, which ranks in the 94th percentile among qualified MLB pitchers, per Baseball Savant.

“He's been doing a good job in different outings,” Pirates manager Don Kelly said. “Really looking forward to getting the lead and getting it over to the ‘pen with the lead with Doval, Soto, [Luke] Weaver and [Mason] Montgomery. He's been doing a nice job.”