PITTSBURGH — The Pittsbugh Pirates have one of their most important players still out with injury, but making important progress in their rehab.
Pirates first baseman Spencer Horwitz has missed time with a right wrist injury, that kept him out of Spring Training entirely and also through all of the season so far.
Horwitz hitting coach-pitch batting practice in the batting cages this week, previously htting soft toss, last week.
He is currently nine weeks into his rehab and is taking ground balls and hitting without any restrictions, according to Pirates senior director of sports medicine Todd Tomcyzk, who spoke with José Negron of DK Pittsburgh Sports.
Tomcyzk also said that Horwitz has increased his work at the plate, hitting velocity, but not off of the Trajekt machine. Horwitz could also go to Bradenton, Fla. before he starts his rehab assignment, but that isn’t decided yet.
“He is trending in a really good position to have conversations with the performance team, [Derek Shelton] and Ben [Cherington] about how and when we can consider rehab games, hopefully later this month or early next,” Tomczyk said. “He’s in a really good spot.”
Pittsburgh added Horwitz in a trade with the Cleveland Guardians, sending right-handed pitcher Luis Ortiz and left-handed pitchers in Josh Hartle and Michael Kennedy in return.
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.
The Pirates had seven different players at first base during Spring Training and have had three players at first base through the first seven games of 2025. This includes Endy Rodríguez, who has played there eight times, Enmanuel Valdez, who has played there five times, plus Jared Triolo, who played there twice before his recent injury.
