Pittsburgh Pirates Prospects: Matt Gorski Keeps Raking & More

Altoona offense scores early and often in a blowout victory

Sunday afternoon the Double-A Altoona Curve scored early and often. This led to a 19-8 victory over the Richmond Flying Squirrels. A victory that improved the Curve to 18-21 on the 2022 season.

Since it was not the star of the day, we will start with Altoona’s pitching. Kyle Nicolas started, allowing 4 runs on 4 hits, 2 walks, a home run and 5 strikeouts in 2.2 innings pitched. This was a rare poor performance for Nicolas.

Brad Case got the final out of the 3rd inning, before Austin Roberts allowed 3 runs on 4 hits and 2 home runs in the 4th inning. Following Roberts, the Curve bullpen would settle in and finish the day strong.

Travis MacGregor allowed a run on 2 hits, a walk and 2 strikeouts in 3 innings pitched. MacGregor has now struck out 30 batters in 25.2 innings pitched. J.C. Flowers and Zach Matson each struck a batter out in a scoreless inning pitched.

Now the fun part – the Curve offense.

Shortstop Liover Peguero just continues to hit. He drove in a pair of runs in the victory, to go with his .863 OPS. Blake Sabol continues to impress as well going 2-for-3 with 2 walks, 2 runs scored and his 5th home run of the season. He did so while catching and playing right field.

Nick Gonzales continued his recent hot stretch going 2-for-5 with a walk, raising his OPS to .766 this season. Andres Alvarez started at third base going 2-for-2 with a solo home run. Alvarez entered the season with 7 professional home runs, he now has 8 this season.

Center fielder Matt Fraizer was 2-for-5 with a walk and 3 runs scored. Tucupita Marcano started in left field going 3-for-5 with a walk, his 6th double of the season and 3 RBI. Right fielder Lolo Sanchez was 3-for-4 with his 2nd home run of the season, 2 walks, 3 runs scored and 3 RBI. Connor Scott drove in 3 runs, going 2-for-5 with his 7th double of the season.

Matt Gorski carries High-A Greensboro to victory

There is a very strong argument to be made that the two best hitters in the Pittsburgh Pirates minor league system this season currently play for the High-A Greensboro Grasshoppers. One of these two hitters is outfielder Matt Gorski.

The 24-year-old Gorski, who was the 57th overall selection in the 2019 MLB Draft, appears to be finally putting it all together as a hitter and is primed to shoot up prospect boards this season. Sunday afternoon Gorski was 3-for-4 with 3 home runs and 4 RBI. This included Gorski launching a walk off home run in a 4-3 Grasshopper victory, improving their record to 17-21 on the season.

This was the third time this week that Gorski hit multiple home runs in the same game. His 17 home runs are by far the most in the Pirate farm system. Gorski now has an 1.137 OPS on the season and should find himself with Double-A Altoona sooner rather than later.

Jacob Gonzalez is the other hitter for Greensboro who has bene arguably the best hitter in the Pirate farm system this season. Despite a rare 0-for-3 performance on Sunday afternoon, Gonzalez still has a 1.282 OPS since being promoted from Bradenton to Greensboro.

Hudson Head went 1-for-3 with a walk and his 8th double of the season in the victory. Dariel Lopez had the only other hit and was the only other Grasshopper base runner. It was truly the Matt Gorski show on Sunday afternoon.

On the pitching end of things Jared Jones started for the Grasshoppers. He allowed 3 runs on 4 hits, a walk and 5 strikeouts in 5 innings pitched. Jones now has 44 strikeouts in 33.2 innings pitched this season.

Santiago Florez, Michell Miliano, Eddy Yean and Cam Junker each pitched a scoreless inning out of the Grasshopper bullpen. This quartet each walked a batter, but none of them allowed a hit, while Miliano and Junker each struck a batter out.

Marauders squeak by with a 1 run victory

The Low-A Bradenton Marauders improved to 19-20 on the season with their victory on Sunday afternoon. While the Pittsburgh Pirates were defeated by the St. Louis Cardinals, Bradenton defeated the Palm Beach Cardinals 6-5.

Joelvis Del Rosario started for Bradenton and continued his strong start to the season. After allowing 2 unearned runs on 6 hits, no walks and 3 strikeouts in 5 innings pitched, Del Rosario now has a 3.34 ERA, 29 strikeouts and just 8 walks in 29.2 innings pitched this season.

Dante Mendoza followed Del Rosario by pitching a scoreless 6th inning, lowering his ERA on the season to 1.17. After Johan Montero allowed an unearned run in the 7th inning, Cristian Charle failed to record an out while allowing 2 runs. Denny Roman and Jack Hartman each pitched a scoreless inning of relief to close the game out.

Leadoff man Sergio Campana was 2-for-4 with a run scored for the Marauders. Second baseman Brenden Dixon, first baseman Jase Bowen and catcher Jakob Goldfarb each had a 2 hit performance as well. Dixon also drew 2 walks while driving in a pair, Bowen and Goldfarb each drew a walk while driving in a run.

Third baseman Alexander Mojica was 0-for-3 but drew a pair of walks and shortstop Mike Jarvis was 1-for-5. Designated hitter Wyatt Hendrie and right fielder Randy Romero each had a hit, with Romero’s hit being a double.