PITTSBURGH — Albeit on the opposite side of the state, Chase Shugart’s upbringing in East Texas wasn’t all that different from some of the kids featured in “Friday Night Lights.”

Shugart hails from Bridge City, a town of roughly 10,000 located on the Texas side of Sabine Lake, which borders Louisiana. The area is known primarily for the oil industry and has produced its share of NFL players. Shugart, like many of his peers, started playing football when he was 6 years old but gave up the sport going into his junior year of high school due to injury.

After all, Shugart was dominant on the diamond and had a future beyond high school in baseball — first at the University of Texas and now as a right-handed reliever for the Pirates.

“I feel like that set me up to be who I am, who I was in high school,” Shugart told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette this week of his upbringing. “Luckily enough, got a scholarship to UT and did what I did at UT and got drafted.”

Shugart, now 28, ultimately became a 12th-round pick of the Boston Red Sox in 2018. But first, he achieved what countless high school hurlers from the Lone Star State once dreamed of: getting on Augie Garrido’s radar.

The late Garrido, who died in 2018, is considered by many to be the greatest coach in college baseball history. Garrido won two of his five College World Series titles as the coach at Texas and thought highly enough of Shugart to invite him, as well as his uncle and grandfather, to campus.

“Augie gives us this whole spiel about who he is, where he comes from, what he expects,” Shugart said. “It’s about 30 minutes, and at the end of it, my grandpa looks at him and says, ‘Well, where do I sign up?’

“So that was the only clear choice to make, you know what I mean?”

Shugart only played under Garrido as a freshman, though, as he retired after a run as a collegiate coach spanning six decades. Regardless, that sole season under Garrido helped mold Shugart ahead of his pro career.

“Looking back on the philosophy that he preached, you take [it] into day-to-day life,” Shugart said. “Even if I wasn’t playing baseball, it’s hard-nosed. It’s competitiveness. It’s wanting to be better for yourself but also for the guy next to you.”

In part, that approach helped Shugart tremendously when he got started in Boston’s system in 2018. Because the 5-foot-10, 200-pound Shugart finished his collegiate career as a starter, the Red Sox initially had him work out of the rotation.

Slowly, Shugart rose the ranks as a reliever, refusing to get complacent with simply being in pro ball like many of those around him. Yet there were tribulations along the way, like when MLB suspended Shugart for 50 games “after a second positive test violating the drug prevention and treatment program.”

Finally, in 2022, Shugart made it all the way up to Triple-A Worcester. Coming out of spring training in 2023, Shugart returned to Boston’s top affiliate — where a seamless season wasn’t exactly in store.

“’23 was a nightmare for me. It really was,” Shugart said. “There was a lot going on — outside factors, personal life. Had a couple of passings in the family and close friends. It weighs a toll on you because you’re not home. The mentality, you’re not all there.

“But you really got to sit there and question yourself like, ‘Is this really what I want to do?’”

Never one to give up, Shugart used a challenging 2023 season as motivation going into 2024. He also added two offerings — a two-seam fastball, which he had previously deployed until the 2021 season, and a sweeper — to his arsenal that now features five pitches.

The two-seamer was a logical re-addition for Shugart considering his struggles throwing inside to right-handed hitters. The sweeper, meanwhile, took a little bit more convincing, but Shugart was actively searching for an out pitch.

Paul Abbott, who was Worcester’s pitching coach in 2023, and Red Sox pitching coordinator Chris Mears both suggested Shugart take up a sweeper.

“Those were two guys that brought it up to me saying, ‘Hey, you can really manipulate a baseball,’ Shugart said, “‘so let’s try to work this in.’”

Shugart, who doesn’t utilize a traditional sweeper grip but rather clutches the horseshoe, honed in on the pitch going into the 2024 campaign. Again, Shugart started the year in Worcester but didn’t stick there all season.

Instead, Shugart was called up to the big leagues by August and appeared in six games for the Red Sox while compiling a 4.15 ERA across 8 2/3 innings with eight strikeouts. Across a small sample size, Shugart’s sweeper had more lateral movement than the MLB average, and opposing hitters struggled mightily against it.

“It’s a plus-plus pitch,” Shugart said. “It moves ‘X’ amount of inches, and the whiff rate on it’s good. If I execute the pitch down and away to righties, back foot to lefties, it’s a real weapon for me setting that up and attacking hitters.

“That was really a huge part of my game [in 2024].”

Even with the rapid development of Shugart’s sweeper in mind, the Red Sox deemed the reliever expendable. Boston designated him for assignment on Jan. 15, which Shugart considered a “humbling experience” after all the success that accompanied him in 2024.

Just two days later, Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow called Shugart to inform him that not only had he been traded but to a team in the Pirates that had been in on him “pretty hard” from the jump.

“I’m excited,” Shugart said. “They’re getting a guy like me who can give you one inning. [I] can give you an out. I can give you three innings. I can give you four innings. I can spot start.

“So I feel like I bring a lot to the table when I’m right.”

It hasn’t always been a linear path, one with an upward trajectory for Shugart when it comes to his pro career. Whether it be suspensions, personal tragedies or struggles on the field, Shugart has grappled with an abundance of hardships yet persevered in the hopes of getting to the big leagues.

Shugart is now a member of the Pirates 40-man roster with ample opportunities awaiting him in a few weeks once spring training gets underway. Sure, Shugart has achieved a great deal since growing up in Bridge City, but the Pirates brought him aboard to help a bullpen that ranked fourth worst in MLB with a collective 4.49 ERA last season.

Far from satisfied by what he’s already accomplished in the game, Shugart can hardly wait to capitalize on his breakthrough season.

“I’ve never really got in the mindset of like, ‘Oh, wow, I’ve made it.’ I want to be a guy that gets up there and sticks,” Shugart said. “Now that I’ve made the crack at the big leagues and seen some success, it’s really now, ‘OK, what can I do going forward to be able to stay there?’”

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