Position: OF
Height: 6’2”
Weight: 198 lbs
Bats/Throws: R/R
Born: 12/22/1997
College: Indiana University
How Acquired: Draft 2nd Rd., 57th Overall, 2019
Bonus: $1,000,000
40-man Roster: No
Rule 5 Eligible: Yes
Minor League Free Agency: 2025
Options Left: 3
Overview
Gorski has plus raw power and speed, but he’s had issues making contact. As a sophomore, he batted 306/404/554, but he fell off to 271/374/498 as a junior. He evidently went more for power, as his walk, strikeout and home run rates all increased sharply. He fanned in over a quarter of his at-bats. Gorski has also had trouble in the wood bat Cape Cod League. He stole a lot of bases in college, going 39-for-39 as a base stealer in his first two years and 18-for-21 as a junior. He continued to be a highly effective base stealer in his first three pro seasons, going 50-for-57. Gorski has a very strong and accurate arm. Baseball America ranked him 150th among draft prospects and MLB Pipeline 112th. He signed a week after he was drafted for $243,600 below the slot value.
2019-21
Gorski’s debut in the New York-Penn League went pretty much as the scouting reports suggested. He showed a modest amount of power and had significant problems making contact. RHPs ate him alive with breaking balls, holding him to a 190/250/317 line. He did well against LHPs, with a 327/424/408 line. His struggles may have resulted in part from a wrist injury.
After the 2020 season was canceled, the Pirates moved Gorski up to high A. He split his time between left and center, playing well defensively, with nine outfield assists. At the plate, his power started to come around, but otherwise he had the same season he had in 2019, with more strikeouts.
2022
Gorski seemingly had a big breakout season, hitting 24 home runs across several levels despite playing the equivalent of little more than half a season. He opened back at Greensboro and managed to cut his K rate, although it remained very high, while hitting for a ton more power. The home runs were aided by the Greensboro ballpark, but it was more a matter of the lack of power alleys there turning doubles into home runs. Gorski really turned it on in mid-May, belting nine homers in a seven-game stretch, which got him promoted to Altoona. Some of the homers turned back into doubles, but he otherwise hit about the same as he had at Greensboro. Unfortunately, at the end of June Gorski suffered a quad injury running the bases. He came back at the end of August. He got into eight more games for the Curve and didn’t hit much, which hurt his overall numbers. The Pirates moved him up to AAA with about a week left in the AAA season, but he reinjured the quad in his first game and wasn’t able to return. For the full season, Gorski had a fairly large platoon split; he had an .899 OPS against RHPs and 1.157 against LHPs. Defensively, he mostly played center, but at both Greensboro and Altoona he started half a dozen games at first, a position he’d played some in college.
2023-24
In 2023, Gorski repeated a recurring pattern with Pirates’ hitting prospects: After a big breakout at Greensboro, he didn’t follow up well at Altoona. He got off to a bad start, with a .546 OPS in April. He mostly hit well after that, but not at his 2022 level. The power partly returned, but he didn’t hit for average or draw walks, finishing with a 238/296/437 line. The Pirates moved Gorski up to Indianapolis for most of September and he continued to hit for power without getting on base much. Overall, he had a 20-20 season, hitting exactly 20 home runs while stealing 23 bases in 27 tries. He played first a little, but mostly stuck to center.
Gorski went back to Indy for 2024 and spent the whole season there. He got hot in May, hitting nine home runs, and finished with a batting line of 257/319/522. His 23 longballs were good for sixth in the league. His walk rate was a little low and his K rate of 29% was high, but not alarming by Pirate standards. Gorski played the three outfield positions about evenly and started a dozen games at first. Despite the fact that the Pirates had easily the least productive center field position in MLB, he never got a callup.
Stats
Transactions
June 3, 2019: Drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 2nd round, 57th overall pick; signed on June 11.