Darin Gorski was a very successful college pitcher at Kutztown University, the same program that produced 2011 breakout pitcher Ryan Vogelsong. Gorski was a presence in the top Division II program since his freshman year when he went 4-0 with 2.63 ERA. He went on to finish his college career 20-6 with a 2.33 ERA in 200.2 innings while allowing just 163 hits, striking out 218 men, and walking just 66 batters. He was considered a pitchability lefty who threw 86-88 mph, touching 89-90 mph, despite having a big frame at 6’4″ 215 lbs. His slider was considered an average to slightly above-average pitch, he had a good feel for his change up, and could locate all his pitches well. The Mets liked him enough to nab him in the 7th round of the 2009 First-Year Player Draft and signed him to a bonus worth $118,000.
After signing in 2009 Gorski was assigned to the Short-Season A Brooklyn and didn’t pitch too well considering the environment he was in. He appeared in 13 games, making 11 starts, and posted a 3-4 record with a 4.91 ERA over 62.1 innings. The command was pretty good as advertised, but he did not strikeout batters as well as he had in college. He went into 2010 as a virtual non-prospect among prospecting circles.
In his first full season in 2010 Gorski was less than impressive. He got into 25 games with the Savannah Sand Gnats, starting 18, and went 6-8 with a 4.58 ERA. The peripherals improved as he was striking out more batters (7.22 K/9 to 8.61 K/9) and he improved his control by a small margin. Hitters hit him pretty hard and he allowed 125 hits in 114 innings, which was good for a .280 batting average against. His groundball percentage went from being pretty good in 2009 at 45% to a mediocre 38% with Savannah. As the season went on the results got worse and it was a bit concerning that he didn’t have the ability to make the necessary adjustments. He remained unnoticed by most for good reason.
Fast forward to 2011 and it has been a completely different story. Gorski started the year in the St. Lucie bullpen, but after excelling during his first five appearances he was promoted to the rotation. The 10 starts he has made since then (one was a five inning “relief” appearance because Bobby Parnell pitched the first inning in a rehab game) have been spectacular and Gorski has gone 5-0 with a sparkling 1.09 ERA. The strikeouts have taken a huge increase over that time with 68 strikeouts in just 57.2 innings and the command has even improved significantly. His overall stat line looks like this: 5-0, 1.57 ERA, 68.2 IP, 54 H, 15 R, 12 ER, 15 BB, 82 SO, 43 GB%. Gorski has been able to make improvements in just about every statistical category thanks to some work with St. Lucie pitching coach Phil Regan.
There have been varying reports on Gorski, but they all say he is throwing harder than when he was drafted. Kevin Goldstein of Baseball Prospectus says that Gorski made some mechanical changes and is up to 90-93 mph and calling it a plus pitch. Keith Law, however, said on Twitter that he spoke to a scout who said 87-91 mph. Gorski is known for having deception on his fastball so no matter which one is right both velocities would play up making it a good pitch for a lefty. Goldstein’s report seems to match up better with the results Gorski is putting up, but Law’s report seems more realistic. His slider is becoming the plus pitch that many expected and the change up is playing as it always had. Another big key for Gorski is that the mechanical changes he made has enable him to keep the ball down in the zone more often and resulting in less damage.
Right now I have Gorski as a C+ prospect and the Mets 17th best prospect, but if he gets his promotion to Binghamton and keeps this performance up he will become a B- by the end of the year.
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