The Pirates announced the selection of outfielder/first baseman Matt Gorski onto the major league roster. Pittsburgh also recalled righty Mike Burrows. They optioned Jack Suwinski to Triple-A Indianapolis and placed Justin Lawrence on the 15-day injured list with elbow inflammation. Pittsburgh transferred lefty reliever Tim Mayza from the 15-day to the 60-day IL to create a 40-man roster spot for Gorski. Mayza is facing a weeks-long shutdown with lat and shoulder strains, so the transfer is a formality.
It’s the first major league call for the 27-year-old Gorski. A second-round pick out of Indiana in 2019, he ranked in the middle of Pittsburgh’s top 30 prospects for his first couple pro seasons. Evaluators credited Gorski with solid speed and power but questioned his pure hit tool. He posted alarming strikeout rates for a college draftee in the low minors. He nevertheless reached Triple-A by the end of 2023 and has played there for the past two years.
Gorski batted .257/.319/.522 over 113 games a year ago. He connected on 23 homers and stole 15 bases, though he was also caught nine times. Gorski struck out at a near-29% clip, so Pittsburgh decided not to add him to the 40-man and left him exposed to the Rule 5 draft. He went unselected and remained with the Bucs. He received a Spring Training invite and hit .360 with four homers in 27 trips to the plate.
The Bucs assigned Gorski back to Triple-A to begin this year. He’s out to a nice start, connecting on three homers and seven doubles while hitting .300 over 18 games. He has fanned 18 times in 73 plate appearances (23.4%) but done enough for the Pirates to see if he can improve the lineup. The Pirates are hitting .222/.304/.335 on the season. They’re in the bottom 10 in both average and on-base percentage, while only the White Sox and Royals have a lower slugging mark.
Primarily a right fielder, Gorski has experience at all three outfield spots and at first base. Oneil Cruz has center field locked down, while Bryan Reynolds is back in right after spending time at DH because of triceps discomfort. Gorski could take some at-bats from left fielder Tommy Pham, who is hitting .184/.267/.224 without a home run. Lefty-hitting utility infielder Enmanuel Valdez has been playing first base. Gorski could factor in there against lefty pitching.
Meanwhile, Burrows draws into Derek Shelton’s bullpen with Lawrence on the shelf. Pittsburgh claimed Lawrence off waivers from the Rockies early in Spring Training. The righty had pitched well in the early going, working 11 1/3 frames of one-run ball. He struck out 15 and was getting grounders at a strong 52.4% clip. It’s unclear for how long he’ll be out of action.
Alex Stumpf of MLB.com first noted that Gorski was in the clubhouse. Colin Beazley of The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette was first to report that Suwinski would be optioned and Burrows was being recalled.
Hope Gorski can hit a couple of dingers so he can stay a while. Will strikeout a lot but probably not as much as Jack. Jack is another example of Cherington’s bad trades.
Wasnt a bad trade. Getting any one for a rapidly declining Frazier was going to be a crapshoot. The problem is that the Bucs can’t develop hitters at all.
Monkey’s Uncle
We received 3 players back for Frazier and only Jack made an impact for a couple of years. We should have done better since Frazier was at his peak , hitting over .300.
panj341
Teams only needed 30 seconds to see his batting average was fake. Pirates sold at his lowest value.
Cherington did extremely well with that trade. He wanted Marcano in the Musgrove trade but Padres wouldn’t do it so had to settle for Head who had like a 3m signing bonus a record for 3rd rounder or whatever he was. Only probably with trade was Cherington was wrong on his evaluation of Marcano.
Not arguing that Suwinski is doing great or was an MVP candidate or anything, but he certaintly wasn’t bad in 2022 or 2023. Can’t say the same about Frazier. Since the Pirates traded him, he has been one of the worst hitters in baseball and is only batting .235/.300/.334 with an 82 wRC+. He ranks bottom five in wRC+, has the second worst wOBA, and the worst OPS among the 147 batters with at least 1500 plate appearances since.
About time. He should have headed north out of spring training.
Cosmo21
Move paying dividends already.
Gorski HR in first AB.
I still blame Andy Haines for completley messing him up. Suwinski is a three-true-outcomes guy, and was good at that. Why try and fix something that isn’t broken and and make him a contact hitter? There’s a difference in changing approach to hit for more contact, and changing your approach to be a contact hitter, and Haines did the latter. Clear that work still needs to be done.
As for Gorski, he’s generally considered an above-average defender at all three outfield positions with decent speed. I’m not expecting much but hey, if he bats like .200 with a 75-80 wRC+, he’ll be a massive improvement over Jack right now.
Does Cruz have CF lockdown? He’s pretty terrible out there. Gorski will not do well in the majors.
He just got done pouting about being forced off SS and you want to move him again?
Not move him. I just think “locked down” means a guy that plays the position well. It’s not as if he’s really found a defensive home as of right now.
I didn’t read article. I got you. I agree with the author that Cruz has cf locked down. Author probably means he’s their best hitter and plays cf. I say it because player development is so awful they don’t have anyone else. Cruz can DH once or twice a week and Gorski can play center. But until Gorski or Jack reduce strike outs Cruz is the cf.
These are good changes.
Jack needs to relearn how to hit and he did not do that in AAA last year.
Gorski deserves a chance,and it shows that the Pirates are not afraid to promote their own.
They will get more information on Burrowes to see if he is a ML pitcher.
What do they have to lose?
An old toaster that someone having a yard sale just gave to you at the end of the day rather than put it back on the garage shelf might improve this particular offense.
Another stiff. Thanks Nutting.
He consistently hits the ball well and has a 91 MPH exit velocity. More important, however, is his 14.6% barrel rate. His barrel percentage is the 10th best in minor-league baseball among the 232 players with at least 150 plate appearances.
Please put Burrows in the rotation and move Mlodzinski to the pen. This experiment needs to end ASAP!
Per Bobby Valentine’s autobiography, Red Sox GM Cherington had him move a reliever to a starter since the guy needed to make more money after he got married. Maybe this is the same case with Mlodzinski and Nutting hired this guy as our GM?
Cherington is passionate about players making more money. Just ask Rowdy Tellez
Carmen is fine for a couple of innings or maybe three but Shelton is too stupid to get him out before he does damage.
If they go back a couple of years and use starters then he can do that.
But they need another decent reliever,and that is him.
Shelton has no choice. With 3 relievers hurt whoever pitches goes as least 5 unless pitch count is up. Heck even with a healthy pen. It’s a long season. Fans want to manage every game like it’s game 7. You can’t.
Now last year they had Ortiz in pen to start year so you could with a 3 0 lead. If Oviedo was healthy you could. They don’t have that guy now. Maybe Burrows could be. Or he switches spots with Carmen.