Pittsburgh Pirates: 2022 Minor League Team Awards

The Pittsburgh Pirates Organization announced the recipients of their Minor League Awards for the 2022 season.  Who brought home the honors?

Under the new leadership of Travis Williams and others, the Pittsburgh Pirates decided to give Minor League awards out.  Under the previous regime, it was not really a thing outside of National outlets naming players of the year or pitchers of the year.  Now the team gives out multiple awards that dawn the names of some of the most iconic players in Pittsburgh Pirates history.

Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post Gazette has been on top of the award announcements.  Yesterday he tweeted out the first round of winners.  Here are the four:

If you are a fan of the Pittsburgh Pirates, young or old, you recognize those iconic names.  Stargell obviously brings the bat to the Slugger award.  Tekulve being the closer on the 1979 World Series team makes up the Relief Pitcher of the Year Award.  Maz, known for his quick hands and impressive defense of course gets the defender award.  Omar Moreno, who stole over 400 bags in his career, gets that award obviously.

Matt Gorski was having a monster season before missing a decent chunk of it due to a quad injury.  He hit .280 with 24 home runs over 81 games played.  Tyler Samaniego posted 14 saves and a 2.45 ERA across 47.1 innings pitched.  Both could be in line for potential 2023 debuts.

The same can be said for Jared Triolo who has long been considered one of the best defenders in all of the minor leagues.  Triolo played three different positions this year including shortstop, third base, and center field.  Tsung-Che Cheng is the youngest of the 4 players playing in Single-A this year.  The 20-year-old stole 33 total bases.

Hopefully, these players continue to progress.  Obviously, they stood out this year, but all that really matters is if they are improving those areas as well.  We shall see hopefully soon.