Kevin Gorman stories, Page 38
‘It starts now’: Pirates pumped to showcase top prospects against Orioles in Spring Breakout
Where Paul Skenes and Jackson Holliday are the headliners for the Spring Breakout prospect game between the Pittsburgh Pirates and Baltimore Orioles, they are far from the only attractions. The Pirates’ roster features nine of their top 10 prospects, including four of their five top-100 prospects. Joining Skenes, the 2023...
Pirates sign LHP Eric Lauer, camp cuts include 2023 Opening Day starter, 1st-round pick
The Pittsburgh Pirates signed a veteran pitcher and made five more cuts from major league camp, including a former first-round pick and a 2023 Opening Day starter. The Pirates announced Tuesday afternoon the formal signing of left-handed pitcher Eric Lauer to a minor league contract with a non-roster invitation to...
Chase Anderson makes a solid start for the Pirates, who hit 3 home runs to beat Braves
Chase Anderson knew his chances of earning a spot in the starting rotation for the Pittsburgh Pirates were a long shot, but the 36-year-old right-hander was willing to try anyway. It took Anderson two days to drive to Florida from Texas and even longer for him to make his first...
USA Today ranks PNC Park as MLB’s best ballpark
USA Today named PNC Park, home of the Pittsburgh Pirates, as the best ballpark in its rankings of Major League Baseball stadiums. Baseball reporters and editors from the USA Today network revealed the honor in a story, “Ranking MLB’s stadiums from 1 to 30: Baseball travelers’ favorite ballparks.” PNC Park,...
Pirates’ Paul Skenes, Orioles’ Jackson Holliday in spotlight as top prospects in Spring Breakout
When Jackson Holliday faced Paul Skenes for the first time late last month in a Grapefruit League game, the meeting of the past two No. 1 overall picks was viewed as a prelude to the Spring Breakout. There were no television cameras or broadcasters there to hype up the matchup...
Bailey Falter throws 3⅔ scoreless innings in start but Red Sox beat Pirates
Bailey Falter came to camp with the intention of competing for a spot in the starting rotation and hopes of making the Opening Day roster, willing to pitch in whatever role the Pittsburgh Pirates want to use him. “It doesn’t matter to me,” Falter said. “Start, long guy, closer —...
After ‘crazy’ year, a more muscular Alika Williams plans to prove versatility for Pirates
Alika Williams knows how quickly fortunes can change, especially after a “crazy year” saw him start the season at Double-A only to be traded to the Pittsburgh Pirates and promoted to the major leagues the next month. After being thrust into the starting shortstop role late last July, Williams decided...
Oneil Cruz homers twice, has 4 RBIs but Phillies respond with grand slam in rally for win
Oneil Cruz and Bryan Reynolds hit back-to-back home runs to get the Pittsburgh Pirates off to a strong start, and Cruz added another tape-measure blast that gave them a five-run lead. Cruz went 2 for 4 with four RBIs, driving in the tying run by sprinting to beat the double-play...
Sidetracked from stardom, 1B Jake Lamb now healthy, focused on finding a role with Pirates
Jake Lamb has something on his resume that no other Pittsburgh Pirates player can claim — a 30-home run, 100-RBI season — but the 33-year-old corner infielder also is aware that it happened seven years ago. A lot has happened in the interim for Lamb, who has learned to adapt...
Henry Davis extends Grapefruit League lead in homers, RBI but Tigers rally past Pirates
Henry Davis is taking advantage of the absence of Yasmani Grandal and is doing his best to secure a spot as a catcher on the Pittsburgh Pirates’ Opening Day roster. Davis homered for the fourth time in his past five games, extending his Grapefruit League lead in home runs and...
Waiting game: Injured Pirates catcher Endy Rodriguez deals with downside of a lost season
To see Endy Rodriguez around his Pittsburgh Pirates teammates in the clubhouse, there is little indication that he’s recovering from reconstructive elbow surgery and expected to miss the season. Rodriguez has retained his ebullient personality in spring training, wearing a perpetual smile while conversing in the clubhouse with his teammates...
Braxton Ashcraft puts injuries behind him as Pirates top-10 prospect opens eyes this spring
When Braxton Ashcraft made his Grapefruit League debut for the Pittsburgh Pirates, the right-hander wasted no time filling up the strike zone with his fastball against one of baseball’s best sluggers. Four of Ashcraft’s first five pitches to Vladimir Guerrero Jr. were four-seamers, including one clocked at 98.2 mph over...
Paul Skenes, Termarr Johnson headline Pirates’ roster for Spring Breakout game against Orioles
Headlined by right-handed pitcher Paul Skenes and second baseman Termarr Johnson, the Pittsburgh Pirates will have 20 of their top 30 prospects on their roster for the Spring Breakout game. A new MLB concept, the Spring Breakout features top prospects from the Pirates and Baltimore Orioles who will play a...
Pirates outfielder Joshua Palacios went ‘straight science’ this offseason to work on his swing
Joshua Palacios attributes much of his success with the Pittsburgh Pirates to playing winter ball in Puerto Rico, helping him make the jump from Double-A to the major leagues last season. But Palacios wanted to work on his weaknesses, so he spent this past offseason visiting Driveline Baseball and Motor...
Pirates ace Mitch Keller gives up 3 runs on 4 hits against Orioles, who rally for win
Mitch Keller gave up three runs on four hits for the second consecutive start and surrendered his first home run of spring training Wednesday night against the Baltimore Orioles. Anthony Santander hit a two-run homer off the Pittsburgh Pirates ace in the first inning. Keller allowed another run in the...
MLB Pipeline ranks Paul Skenes the Pirates’ No. 1 prospect; 3B Jack Brannigan makes top 10
MLB Pipeline has Paul Skenes as the No. 1 prospect for the Pittsburgh Pirates in its updated top 30 rankings and moved shortstop/third baseman Jack Brannigan into the top 10. Skenes, the right-hander who was the No. 1 overall pick in the MLB Draft last July, is one of six...
Liover Peguero wants to prove to Pirates that his glove can be as good as the power in his bat
Liover Peguero started last season at Double-A Altoona and finished it in the major leagues, a humbling experience for a middle infielder who was one of the Pittsburgh Pirates’ top prospects. Peguero is being careful not to allow his opportunity to open this season as the starting second baseman to...
Andrew McCutchen singles in return, Liover Peguero homers as Pirates beat Blue Jays
Andrew McCutchen made his Grapefruit League debut for the Pittsburgh Pirates, playing in a game for the first time since a season-ending partial tear of his left Achilles last September. And he didn’t miss a beat. The 37-year-old designated hitter produced a soft single to center field in his first...
Pirates tell top pitching prospect Paul Skenes he won’t make the Opening Day roster
The Pittsburgh Pirates told right-hander Paul Skenes, the No. 1 overall pick of the 2023 MLB Draft and baseball’s top pitching prospect, that he won’t make the Opening Day roster. Pirates general manager Ben Cherington informed Skenes on Tuesday morning that he will start the season in the minor leagues...
Pitching prospect Jared Jones showing Pirates his stuff is as good as advertised
Jared Jones got a text message from Henry Davis asking him to come to Florida to work out, so the 22-year-old right-hander spent the offseason working with another player who has something to prove this spring. Jones and Davis were battery mates at High-A Greensboro and Double-A Altoona, where they...
Pirates reassign 3 top-10 pitching prospects in 1st cuts of spring training
The Pittsburgh Pirates announced their first cuts of spring training after Monday’s game against the Tampa Bay Rays, sending three top-10 prospects to their minor league camp at Pirate City in Bradenton, Fla. Right-handed pitchers Bubba Chandler and Thomas Harrington and left-hander Anthony Solometo, along with infielder Andres Alvarez, were...
Luis Ortiz, Paul Skenes sizzle as Pirates hit 3 homers to beat Rays
Luis Ortiz continued to make a case for a spot in the starting rotation, and Paul Skenes continued to showed off his triple-digit heater, but his first hit allowed in spring training was a home run off a 100 mph fastball. The Pittsburgh Pirates padded a lead for their pitchers...
Kevin Gorman’s Take 5: Injuries an issue for Pirates’ bullpen, Skenes has ‘splinker’ and more
The most troubling sign for the Pittsburgh Pirates wasn’t that right-handed reliever Dauri Moreta surrendered a three-run homer in the ninth inning Sunday against the Baltimore Orioles. It was that after Moreta spiked a slider in the dirt, he clutched his right elbow. And his next pitch, a full-count fastball,...
Catcher Ed Ott, a leader of the Pirates’ 1979 World Series champions, dies at age 72
A tough catcher and respected leader for the Pittsburgh Pirates’ 1979 World Series champions, Ed Ott never missed a chance to celebrate a reunion with his old “We Are Family” teammates. “It’s still a family. It doesn’t matter what ball field or city or country we’re in,” Ott said in...
Martin Perez efficient in Pirates debut, joins Aroldis Chapman in preaching postseason hope
Martin Perez asked Pittsburgh Pirates pitching coach Oscar Marin for more time in live bullpens before he made his first spring training start, vowing that he would be ready. Perez lived up to his promise. The left-hander mixed his cutter and changeup to allow only one hit — albeit a...
