The fact that lefthander Tom Gorzelanny did not hit the ground running after the Pittsburgh Pirates (1-2, 5.84 in his first five starts) summoned him from Indianapolis, doesn't dampen the view that he will become top notch big league hurler.
When he's on his game, the 6-2, 210 Chicago native can be devastating.
The lefty tested the Draft waters in 2000, but only made the 38th round with the White Sox (1132 OA). He enteredTriton College and tested the draft again in 2003, this time finding favor with the Bucs who grabbed him in the second round at 45th overall.
Gorzelanny made his pro debut in 2003 with Williamsport of the short season class A New York-Penn League where he turned in a crisp 1.78 ERA on 30 innings of work. In 2004 he was promoted to the South Atlantic League (SAL) playing for Hickory Crawdads where he went 7-2 with a 2.23 ERA on 93 innings of work. He was promoted to the Lynchburg Hillcats in the Carolina League where he struggled a bit more. It wasn't enough to stop his promotion the following Spring to the Eastern League.
Last year at Double-A Altoona, Gorzelanny racked up a fine 8-5 mark, with a superb 124/46 strikeout to walk ratio and a 3.26 ERA. That after spending most of April in extended Spring Training with elbow soreness.
The Bucs made him a September callup for three starts, even though he might have been able to help Triple-A Indy in it's Governor's Cup quest, for which the club fell just short.
This year, Gorzelanny started slowly, not earning his second win until his eighth appearance, but he really got going in mid-May, putting together a string of nine quality starts where he went six full innings strangling opposing clubs to three earned runs or less.
Those outings were all the Pirates needed to see to install him in their rotation.
- Dan HICKLING
