It’s Monday, so we have a new card for sale in our Cardboard Bucs section of Pittsburgh Baseball Network. Last week we added Brennan Malone’s Bowman rookie card to our store. In the previous week, we added the rookie card of 2019 first round pick Quinn Priester. Today we are releasing two cards at the same time. They are both 2019 Bowman Draft, and feature Matt Gorski and Jared Triolo. They were picked back-to-back by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 2019 draft, with Gorski going 57th overall and Triolo going 72nd overall.
We start with the higher draft pick. Gorski was a center fielder at Indiana University, where he showed a nice power/speed combo in his junior year, which led to his high draft pick. He was rated as a top 150 draft prospect by both Baseball America and MLB Pipeline. In our 2020 Prospect Guide released last December, Gorski rated as the fifth best prospect on Morgantown and the 35th best prospect overall in the system. The Pirates felt highly enough about him to give him a $1,000,000 signing bonus. He played 49 games at Morgantown, posting a .643 OPS, while stealing 11 bases.
Here’s the front of his card:
The Bowman Draft rookie cards are released shortly after the players sign, so most (maybe all?) of the photos are airbrushed to show them with their new team. Gorski was with Morgantown after signing, so the uniform obviously doesn’t match up with the minor league team. What’s odd about this card is that Gorski is a talented outfielder with the ability to play center field, yet the photo clearly shows him playing first base (check the mitt).
Jared Triolo signed with the Pirates for an $870,700 bonus, which was the slot amount for the 72nd overall pick. He was a third baseman at the University of Houston, who split his time between shortstop and third base. He posted a .703 OPS in 60 games for Morgantown, which was well above the league average OPS mark (.650) in the pitching-friendly New York-Penn League. In college he was recognized as a solid all-around player. Just like with Gorski, he was rated among the top 150 draft prospects by both Baseball America and MLB Pipeline. We rated him sixth among Morgantown prospects and 37th overall in the system in the 2020 Prospect Guide.
Here’s the front of the card:
Both cards note on the front in the top left-hand corner that they are the first Bowman cards for each player. The backs of both cards have some bio info on each player, along with a scouting report and career highlights from college. They also include their 2019 college stats, as well as their three-year totals in college.
These cards are now both available in our store and they sell for $1 each, with quantities available for each player. You can also find cards of other Pirates prospects and younger players in our store, including Ke’Bryan Hayes, Mitch Keller, Braxton Ashcraft, Will Craig, Calvin Mitchell, Brennan Malone and Quinn Priester. All cards are $1-$2 each and we offer free shipping with any orders of $25 or more, using the code “CARDS” at checkout.
