The Pittsburgh Pirates are all down in Bradenton, and in just a few days, spring training baseball will officially get underway.

Few sports can pull off interesting preseasons, but the arrival of the Grapefruit and Cactus Leagues are celebrated among baseball fans who endure long winters without the American pastime.

For the Pirates, a lot of new faces are walking around Pirate City, including Marcell Ozuna, Brandon Lowe, Ryan O’Hearn, and others. They’ll blend with less proven players like Jhostynxon “The Password” Garcia, Rafael Flores, and Nick Yorke.

It seems like every year, we get a few spring training performances that are truly absurd. Given that a decent amount of the pitching is coming from guys in the bottom rungs of minor league baseball, it’s not all that surprising to see some big-time bats steamroll their way through the spring.

But even then, sometimes we get numbers that were unexpected. So today, I wanted to take a look at some past spring training performances from batters of all kinds over the last few years.

Matt Gorski, 2025

A power hitter who grew up just minutes away from Victory Field, the home ballpark of Pittsburgh’s Triple-A affiliate in Indianapolis, Gorski was ready to make the next step to the big leagues.

At 27 years old, the former second-round selection of the Pirates had slowly worked his way up the minor league ranks over the years. In 2023, he spent most of the year in Double-A Altoona before earning a cup of coffee with the Triple-A Indianapolis Indians. The following year, he was in Indy full time. Gorski was one of three players to appear in over 100 games with the club, slashing .257/.319/.522 (.841 OPS) with 67 RBI and a team-leading 23 home runs.

Given Gorski’s ability to play both the outfield and first base, he had a chance to make the roster out of Bradenton. In spring, he tore the cover off the ball, slashing .360/.370/.920 (1.290 OPS) with four home runs and 13 RBI in 18 games. Unfortunately for him, he was one of the final roster cuts coming out of camp, ultimately being assigned to Triple-A to open the year.

He did receive his first big league call up at the end of April, smacking a home run on his first plate appearance in MLB in Los Angeles against the Angels. He appeared in 15 total games for the Pirates, but struggled by going 8-for-41 in Pittsburgh.

He was subsequently injured, and two months later, designated for assignment and released by the Pirates. He found a minor league contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers organization, but remained on the injured list for the rest of the season.