Pittsburgh Pirates Prospects: Potential 2022 Lineup for Double-A Altoona

Right Field: Matt Gorski

Matt Gorski was the Pirates’ second-round pick in 2019. So far, he has been very inconsistent but has shown some promise. He’s far from the Pirate best outfield prospect but could be a solid option off the bench for the future Pirates if he can cut down on strikeouts.

We’ll start with the good news. Gorski showed he has the power/speed combo you like to see from prospects. He hit 17 home runs in 401 plate appearances, resulting in a .193 isolated slugging percentage. He was also 18/19 in stolen base attempts. Gorski had a respectable 8.5% walk rate and was a very heavy flyball hitter. His 46.1% FB% was the 27th highest among High-A outfielders with at least 300 plate appearances.

Now here’s the bad news. Gorski strikes out, a lot. He struck out at a 31.2% rate, which makes an 8.5% walk rate look poor in comparison. His inability to make contact frequently led to a poor .223 batting average. Plus he had a sub-.300 OBP despite his respectable walk rate. All told, Gorski had a well below average .710 OPS, .309 wOBA, and 89 wRC+.

Gorski is a plus defender wherever he plays in the grass. He’s seen time at all three outfield positions, and even a few games at first base. He might not be the most enticing part of the Curve line-up, but if he can show plus defense in the outfield as well as above-average speed and pop, there are a lot worse outfield prospects out there.

Gorski is going into his age-24 campaign. He’s a bit older than most Double-A prospects, but he hasn’t shown anything to deserve to skip Altoona yet. Plus the Pirates will want to give Gorski regular playing time, and he won’t get that with Travis Swaggerty, Matt Fraizer, and Canaan Smith-Njigba at Triple-A.