Pirates promote two prospects, lose key reliever to injured list in roster shuffle

After winning two straight against the Angels, the Pirates made a cluster of moves before the series finale, calling up two pieces from Triple-A. They are promoting Matt Gorski and Mike Burrows to the active roster.

To correpsond with those moves, Tim Mayza is heading to the 60-day injured list with a lat strain. That opens a spot for Gorski on the 40-man and Jack Suwinski is heading to Triple-A to make room on the active roster. Additionally, Justin Lawrence is heading to the injured list to make room for Burrows.

Losing Lawrence hurts as he put together a 0.79 ERA with a K/9 of 11.91 and a 0.97 WHIP. He was emerging as a high-leverage arm in the bullpen, so now this will give David Bednar a chance to earn those reps back. He has been pitching as the seventh-inning guy since being recalled, but this may elevate him.

With this shuffle, though, on comes two newer faces to the team. Gorski will be making his debut and Burrows will be making his second stint in the big leagues.

Pirates finally give Matt Gorski a chance and call up Mike Burrows

After years and years in the Pirates minor leagues, Gorski is finally getting his chance with Pittsburgh. He was drafted by the Pirates in 2019 and has slowly moved up in the organization. He has spent the last three seasons in Triple-A, constantly displaying solid power, but has struggled with consistent contact.

Gorski has hit over 20 home runs in each of the last three seasons, along with stealing at least 15 bases or more. The lowest his strikeout rate in that three-year window was 25.2%, which is not great.

To begin 2025, Gorski got off to a red-hot start, posting a 122 wRC+ with three home runs and 14 RBI. His OPS is up to .853, coming from an on-base percentage of .325 and a slugging percentage of .529. His average exit velocity is impressive at 94.9 mph, to go along with a hard-hit rate of 54.5%, but he has also developed a whiff rate of 32.1%. His goal in the big leagues should be to make more consistent contact.

The other prospect coming up is Burrows, who is ranked 15th in the organization according to MLB Pipeline. He made his MLB debut at the end of the 2024 season against the Yankees and actually performed solidly, going 3 1/3 innings and allowing just two hits, three walks, and one earned run.

So far to begin the 2025 season in Triple-A, Burrows was getting the workload as an MLB starter on four days' rest. He will work out of the bullpen in this stint with the Pirates, so that buildup as a starter prepares him for multi-inning opportunities.

Burrows has been solid too, posting a 4.30 ERA across 14 2/3 innings of work and adding a K/9 of 7.98. His WHIP is up to 1.30, stemming from an opposing batting average of .218 and a walk rate of 11.3%.

The Pirates need these two to make an impact to help them get them back to .500. Losing Lawrence definitely hurts while Mayza's extended IL stint hurts their depth. Suwinski being sent to Triple-A was expected, but he will likely be back up at some point, hopefully with a more improved approach at the plate.