Gorst Secures Closer Role in Salem
Gold is being hit hard in Lancaster; Max Fried has an up-and-down time with the Braves.
Two Jewish Atlanta pitchers who were high school and college teammates are off to very different starts to their third seasons in minor-league baseball on opposite sides of the country.
Matthew Gorst, a relief pitcher in the Boston Red Sox system, was named Jewish Baseball News’ Minor League Pitcher of the Week on Monday, May 7, for the second time this season.
Gorst has become the closer for the High-A Salem Red Sox in the Carolina League. He has an 0-1 record with four saves, 21 strikeouts and only two walks in 14 1/3 innings pitched, compiling an ERA of 1.17. He hasn’t given up any runs in his last six appearances.
Meanwhile, Brandon Gold, Gorst’s teammate at Johns Creek High School and Georgia Tech, has struggled through his first six starts of the year with the Lancaster JetHawks, the Colorado Rockies’ High-A farm team in the California League.
While Gold’s 3-1 record looks good, he has an ERA of 5.51 through his Friday, May 4, start, when he got no decision while giving up three earned runs in four innings.
Gold has given up 46 hits, including six home runs, in 32 2/3 innings pitched while striking out 17 and walking eight. Opposing teams are hitting .341 against the Davis Academy graduate.
He’s scheduled to pitch again Thursday, May 10.
Closer to home, the Atlanta Braves keep shuffling left-handed pitcher Max Fried.
Fried, who made a strong late-season debut for Atlanta as a starter and a reliever after skipping AAA, started this season back at AA Mississippi, then moved up to AAA Gwinnett after one start.
He started two games for the Stripers, and the Braves called him up April 24 to provide long relief — a role Atlanta hasn’t needed much during a strong first six weeks of the season by its starting pitchers.
Fried took the loss in his first two appearances, including giving up a 12th-inning two-run home run without recording an out in his season debut against the Cincinnati Reds on April 24.
After two more appearances, he was sent back to Gwinnett on May 5 so the Braves could bring in a fresh arm. In four games and six innings with Atlanta, he has a 6.00 ERA and an 0-2 record.
As of May 7, he had not pitched for Gwinnett since his return.
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