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.
Jack and his 40% K rate puts him in the Joey Gallo category.
About time. He should have headed north out of spring training.
Cosmo21
Move paying dividends already.
Gorski HR in first AB.
Yes pan and he almost had another one
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.
it’s time to release Canario
For him, it’s strike out or bust
He brings nothing to this offense
People complaining about Frazier, in his lone plate appearance in last night’s game he singled to extend his hitting streak to 8 games
It’s not record breaking but he’s a better hitter than Triolo hands down
Maybe they can replace Canario with david canary
They need to dump Pham, too.
He’s as bad as Canario
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?
The last Buc to hit a homer in his first major league plate appearance, Starling Marte.
I supported Gorski making the opening day roster over Jack in the first place and am glad they finally realized that Jack needs to learn how to drive the ball again.
I agree with Mendoza, Haines messed up Jack’s swing last year.
He tried his make him a contact hitter when his forte is raw power.
Hopefully being at Indy, he can find his stroke again
At some point, the idea has to be that guys like Suwinski and Davis are what they are. How many times are they going to come up, do nothing, and return to Indy?
I guess that’s what’s most clear is that there is little to no help coming from the farm anytime soon. And with that, it’s plausible that the shuttle between Pittsburgh and Indy can keep running
My postings here are becoming repetitive. Gripe sessions galore. I’d love to focus on the positives: Skenes, Heaney’s starts. They’re just so few. It’s such a gloomy time to be a sports fan in this town. As I said recently, instead of just continually regurgitating the criticisms about Nutting and the franchise, a nice change for the sake of bandwidth here is to just sit back and watch for awhile
Have a nice weekend, everybody
Skenes hasn’t been exactly been lights out in his last start. I hope he pitches better against the Dodgers
The league catches up. Hitting coaches and better hitters make adjustments. Agreed
Bad take. Skenes was on “short” rest last time out vs Cleveland
I get that, still he wasn’t his best.
Last night, he pitched a gem as did the relievers that followed him, especially Bednar
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
That’s what I say..mlodzinski could be a good rp….but no the POS MORON jagoff is putting burrows in the pe. This MORON jagoff is the biggest idiot, besides cheetos pres
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.
Fans don’t want to manage every game but we do expect Shelton to manage better.
By the way, as a team they continue to lead the majors in called third strikes
Paul-I saw Bart the other day leaving the batters box before the umpire called the strike right down the middle.
This is almost as bad as not hustling to first base.
They have no idea of what to do if they guess wrong on a pitch.
in last night’s game, IKF was called out on strikes on a pitch right down the middle of the plate.
It still amazes me that these hitters don’t try to protect the plate.
Foul the ball off for goodness sake
I would love Burrows in the rotation. I just wonder if the Pirates brass is concerned about rushing him back to the rotation after his surgery and recovery from last year. Thompson should get a look at the majors if they feel Burrows, Oviedo, and Ashcroft can’t handle the workload the rotation requires. Everyone is hell bent on Chandler, but I really like to see Thompson pitching every 5th day and lock up the back end of the rotation. Falter can move to the pen at some point if Chandler can prove he is better than Falter. Keller, Skenes, and Falter haven’t been too bad so far this season. The 4th and 5th spots, have been a roller coaster for the Pirates. I really don’t like Carmen in the rotation. Put him back into the pen to help that pen with the loss of Bednar (inconsistency), Mayza (injury), and Lawerence (injury) so far this season. I really feel Thompson has the goods to be a 4th or 5th starter. Jones is out for god know how long. Until he returns, our top 3 are Skenes, Keller, and Falter. Beyond that, it’s mess and no clear runaway to handle the 4th and 5th spots in the rotation.
You forgot Heaney and his microscopic ERA.
Burrowes had the whole off season to rest as he came up last year.
Not sure who Thompson is as there is no one named on the roster.
Sorry, Thomas Harrington
Shelton changed the lineup again in tonight’s game
Pham is back at left field
Davis is catching
Both strike out at alarming rates and the Dodgers pitcher has 38ks in 29 innings
What’s the over/under on Bucs strikeouts tonight?
The MORON Shelton sits gorski for Valdez in tonights game. This idiotic moron POS needs to take s hike
Giving Valdez credit, he drove in the first run in last night’s game, but Pham, like Canario, brings very little if anything to the offense
Gorski earned another start and should have been penciled into the lineup instead of Pham
Between the Pirates and the Steelers begging for an aging prima donna to come and play for them as they watch talented QB’s fall off the draft board, I had to wonder if Cherington is doing double duty these days
What a sad time to be a Pittsburgh sports fan
Both teams have terrible GMs and then there the MORON and tomlin the egomaniac
I read that Aaron Rodgers, if he chooses to play for the Steelers, wants an elitist type welcome when it’s announced that he has decided on playing for the Steelers
I cannot stand him.
He used his influence to get the Jets Head Coach fired during last season and caused nothing but trouble for the front office
I had really hoped the Steelers would have drafted Sanders using their first pick, because they will need one eventually
Mason Rudolph isn’t the answer
Would have been a huge reach.
So was drafting Kenny Pickett with their #1 pick, where’s he at now?
Tomlin like Shelton never takes risks
In last night’s game, Keller had only thrown 85 pitches through 6 innings and had a quality start under his belt
Why not let his pitch the 7th inning? If it’s because Ohtani was due to bat, he hits lefties very well too which is evident by the double he hit off of one
And down 4 runs, Shelton never went to a bench to use a pinch hitter
He takes no risks
So Shelton should have pinch hit Cruz Reynolds Cutch with Canario Davis Gorski. Got it. Bold strategy. I would guess every manager in the history of baseball would have stuck with their 3 best hitters who played the entire game vs bringing someone who hasn’t proven they can hit mlb pitching cold off the bench.
Since you are such a fan of these guys you are in luck. Shelton Sunday lineup you will probably see 1 or 2 of them in it starting. Heck maybe all 3.
I didn’t suggest those players be pinch hit for, but Davis put up another goose egg, Cutch was 0-5 but my point is you’re down 4 runs, take a chance
They struck out 9 times
You’re not going to score many runs when there’s not many base runners
of course Shelton will use his bench players.
Scheduling days off for regular players keeps them fresh while the losing is allowed to continue
Yes you did. Those were only 3 players who batted down by 4 runs. I never want them pinch hit for and never want those bench players to pinch hit for someone. You might be the only person on the planet who wants this. Pirates only have a handful of above average hitters. They shouldn’t be replaced unless hurt. There’s taking a chance and there’s getting crazy. You aren’t scoring 4 runs in 9th to come back often. Even worse odds if you replace your 3 best or 3 of 4 best hitters with much lesser hitters.
not taking a chance did nothing to help them win last night and the only place who wasn’t in last night’s lineup is in it today
Catcher Bart
Bart is a person not a place and he was in the lineup last night caught entire game.
yes I was mistaken about Bart but I stand by my original statement that Shelton takes no risks
it’s time to take Falter out of the rotation
Coming into the game his ERA was over 5
Giving up 4 runs to the Dodgers in their half of the first inning isn’t going to help him
He hasn’t looked good on the mound in his recent starts
Falter worse than Carmen? Or you buy the hype machine of all these mlb ready amazing prospects?
I’d move Carmen to the pen to boost it. Too early to replace 2 starters with prospects. Let Falter eat some innings for few more weeks at least. There’s some pitching coming but not as much as most people think and they never thrown full seasons.
So, your recommendation is to move Carmen to the pen ( which I agree with) but give up on the season by keeping Falter in the rotation until the calvary comes.
If they can’t score enough runs to win and are relying on their starters to keep the games close, keeping Falter in the rotation is basically giving up on the season
Called strike three so far 4 times in this game as they continue to lead the majors in that category
Bart swung at 3 pitches nowhere close to the plate.
I seriously have to question whether these players even know the strike zone
Doesn’t matter now, they’re losing 8-2 and have zero chance of coming back
Another double digit strike out performance by these hapless Buccos
The only player not to strike out, Cutch, who had 4 of the Pirates 8 hits
Bart struck out 3 times by the way and Reynolds twice. So much for keeping your best players in to hit when you’re down by 7 runs and not taking any chances at trying to win
I respect your passion. Fans like Gorski because they haven’t seen him fail yet and hit a hr off the type of pitcher he does best against. But most fans I would bet would rather see Cutch Reynolds Cruz hit instead of Canario Davis. Don’t think they want to see Canario on the roster.
I agree with your assessment of Canario. He’s a wasted roster spot and should be released.
Regarding Gorski, given the weak bench, I would rather see him as a pinch hitter than Canario
Canha .346 batting average .417 vs LHP
Grichuk 235 .316 .412 .728
Pillar .300
Hays is simply unworldly
388 .444 .755 1.200
Pham .184 .265 .230 .495
Sadly not fake. Can turn things around. Smll sample. But he has an insanely high ground ball rate and his exit velocity is down 2 moh from last year and 4 mph from 2023.
I also agree that Cherington made several mistakes in signing Pham and not signing one of those other players.
Pham fails repeatedly to drive the ball and like you said, instead hits ground balls which are weak due to an exit velocity that doesn’t get into the outfield often
He also gets called out on strikes quite frequently as if he doesn’t know the strike zone and after all these years still can’t protect the plate
Actually there’s several players who suffer from this problem