Pittsburgh Pirates Prospects: Matt Gorski Keeps Raking & More

2019 second-round pick Matt Gorski continues to rake at High-A, Oneil Cruz goes yard again and more in Sunday’s Pittsburgh Pirates minor league roundup

Folks, it’s time. It’s time for two of the best hitters that the Triple-A Indianapolis Indians have to join the Pittsburgh Pirates. These two hitters are shortstop Oneil Cruz and first baseman Mason Martin.

Continuing what has been a strong month of May, Cruz, the top Pirate position player prospect, was 2-for-4 with his 4th home run of the season on Sunday afternoon. Martin went 1-for-2 with his 8th home run of the season and 2 walks. These two helped lead the way to a 7-1 victory for the Indians who are now 21-19 on the season.

Travis Swaggerty started at designated hitter and continued his strong month of May going 2-for-4 with a RBI. Cal Mitchell hit his 9th double of the season and drove in a run, Jared Oliva also had a RBI for the Indians.

Cody Bolton stated for Indy and continued his push for a promotion to the majors. Bolton allowed a hit while walking a batter and striking out 6 in 3.1 scoreless innings pitched. Bolton now has a 3.33 ERA and 32 strikeouts in 24.1 innings pitched this season. Even if it is out of the bullpen, Bolton should be a contributor for the Pittsburgh Pirate at some point this season.

After lefty Cam Vieaux pitched 2/3 of an inning, Eric Handhold allowed a run in 2 innings pitched. Aaron Fletcher, Austin Brice and Cristofer Melendez combined to allow 1 hit, while walking 3 and striking out 5 in 3 scoreless innings pitched.

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.