Pirates Trade Guardians for INF
PITTSBURGH -- The Pittsburgh Pirates are in the midst of their long offseason, but they recently struck a trade with the Cleveland Guardians.
Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic first reported that the Pirates landed infielder/first baseman Spencer Horwitz from the Guardians. Mark Feinsand of MLB.com reported that the Pirates sent three players in return to the Guardians in right-handed pitcher Luis Ortiz and left-handed pitchers in Josh Hartle and Michael Kennedy.
The Pirates then confirmed the trade soon afterwards, with Feinsand correctly getting all of the details.
We have acquired 1B Spencer Horwitz from the Guardians in exchange for RHP Luis Ortiz, LHP Michael Kennedy and LHP Josh Hartle. pic.twitter.com/2aUjYW2VXW
— Pittsburgh Pirates (@Pirates) December 11, 2024
Horwitz came to the Guardians in their trade with the Toronto Blue Jays, where they sent second baseman Andrés Gimenéz plus reliever Nick Sandlin and received Horwitz and outfield prospect Nick Mitchell.
He hails from Timonium, Md. near Baltimore and played primarily catcher or St. Paul's School for Boys in Brooklandville, Md.
Horwitz would then play for Radford in college, where he started playing more at first base, 161 games, and also six games in left field.
His best season came as a freshman in 2017, where he slashed .311/.384/.481 in 206 at-bats, garnering Big South Second Team honors and Collegiate Baseball Freshman All-American honors. he would earn Big South Second Team honors again as a sophomore in 2018 and then a Big South honorable mention in 2019.
The Blue Jays would take Horwitz in the 24th Round of the 2019 MLB Draft and he would sign an $100,000 signing bonus.
He would spend 2019, 2021 and 2022 in the minor leagues, as the MLB cancelled the minor league season in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Blue Jays finally called him up on June 18, 2023, but they would send him back to Triple-A Buffalo on June 21. He then came back up on Sept. 1 and finished the season with a line of .256/.341/.385 and an OPS of .785 in 15 games.
Horwitz started the 2024 season in Buffalo, where he hit .335 and led the International League with 22 doubles. They called him back up on June 7 and he spent the rest of the season at the MLB level.
He played in 97 games, slashed .265/.357/.433, had an OPS of .790, hit 12 home runs and 40 RBIs and had 42 walks to 70 strikeouts last season.
Horwitz worked with new Pirates hitting coach Matt Hague, who coached him at a variety of different levels at Toronto.
Ortiz spent three seasons with the Pirates 2022-24, and most of the latter two seasons. He started 34 of the 59 games he pitched with the franchise, with a 12-13 record, 3.93 ERA, 238.1 innings pitched and 183 strikeouts to 100 walks.
His best season came in 2024, where he had a 7-6 record, a 3.32 ERA in 135.2 innings pitched and 15 starts in 37 appearances, plus 107 strikeouts to 42 walks.
The Pirates took Hartle with the No. 83 overall pick in the Third Round of the 2024 MLB Draft out of Wake Forest. He pitched briefly for Bradenton in the Florida State League this past summer.
Pittsburgh selected Kennedy in the Fourth Round of the 2022 MLB Draft out of Troy High School in Troy, N.Y. He spent time with the Bradenton Marauders in Low Single-A, before earning a promotion to the Greensboro Grasshoppers of High Single-A in late August.
Newly acquired 1st baseman for the Pittsburgh Pirates, Spencer Horwitz.
— Austin Oravec (@AustinOravec) December 11, 2024
2024 Stats:
127 wRC+, .790 OPS, 12 HR, 19 2B in 97 games. pic.twitter.com/lzQLSKBKL7
Horwitz should serve as the first baseman for the Pirates next season, a position of desparate need after last season and releasing Rowdy Tellez.
