Darin Gorski returns from independent ball to Las Vegas
Darin Gorski was sitting in the Boston airport last Thursday, waiting out his layover. He and the rest of the independent Somerset Patriots were flying from Connecticut to Texas for a series with the Sugar Land Skeeters when his phone rang.
The former 51s left-handed pitcher normally doesn’t answer calls from numbers he doesn’t recognize, but this time he did.
“For some reason it felt like I needed to pick that one up, so I’m glad I did,” Gorski said.
It was the New York Mets, the only major league organization he has played for. They told him he wasn’t going to Sugar Land but to Reno. He was pitching for the Las Vegas 51s the next night.
Gorski’s adventure had come full circle. He pitched parts of the 2013 to 2015 seasons with the 51s before latching on with an independent league team. After less than a season with Somerset, he is back in the Mets’ organization, taking the ball for the 51s on Thursday when they start a four-game series at the Tacoma Rainiers.
“To get that phone call was surreal,” Gorski said. “I think my manager thought I was kidding.”
Everything to get Gorski back to Las Vegas fell perfectly into place. His original flight from Connecticut to Baltimore was canceled, so he went to Boston. But instead of going from Boston to Texas as planned, he needed to get to Reno via a flight from Phoenix.
As luck would have it, the flights were at about the same time. So he just hopped over to a different terminal and took a 7 p.m. flight to Phoenix and got into Reno about 1:30 a.m. He was pitching for the 51s at 7:05 that night.
He went five innings and allowed four runs in his 2016 debut with the team, but it’s a team he knows well.
Gorski, 28, was drafted by the Mets in the 23rd round of the 2009 First-Year Player Draft. He was promoted to Las Vegas in 2013 and pitched parts of three seasons with the 51s. He signed with the Washington Nationals as a free agent and was assigned to Triple-A Syracuse, but was released March 16. He signed with Somerset on April 3.
“When I ended up there, it was a bit of a change from I thought I was going to be doing,” Gorski said. “When you do end up in (independent) ball, you get humbled a little bit.”
He made 11 starts with the Atlantic League team, going 4-2 with a 3.87 ERA. Now he’s back with Las Vegas, and it’s right when his old team needed him.
With the promotions of left-handers Sean Gilmartin and Logan Verrett to the Mets and Robert Gsellman still nursing a quad injury, the 51s were left with only three starters: Gabriel Ynoa, Rafael Montero and Duane Below. They needed to call upon Seth Lugo for two starts after having moved him to the bullpen.
“We needed starters,” 51s manager Wally Backman said. “Gorski had some success here last year. He won 10 games here last year.”
Whether it comes via promotion, another free-agent signing or the Mets sending down a pitcher (they currently have an extra pitcher, and Jose Reyes’ imminent promotion means the Mets would not need an extra pitcher), Backman said he expects another pitcher to join the team soon.
Gorski joins not only a team he knew but also some old teammates. Among them is fellow left-handed starter Below, who pointed out the added benefit Gorski gives not just to the team but himself personally with Gilmartin and Verrett gone.
“It’s another lefty starter, and we can pick each other’s brains,” Below said. “How I learn is by watching and talking and trying to figure it out.”
Below said he’s happy to have another lefty with him when they are charting the starters’ pitches on their off days. They can bounce ideas off each other and know how the other operates in ways the right-handers on the team might not understand.
That, and Gorski is a ball of energy in the clubhouse.
“It’s good to have him back; it lightens it up,” Below said. “He’s always lively and upbeat and ready to work.”
Gorski went 10-8 with a 5.85 ERA in 2015 with the 51s and has a career Triple-A record of 13-12 with a 5.36 ERA. This is where he wants to be, and he’s sure happy he answered the phone last week in Boston.
“When I got the phone call, I was really excited,” Gorski said. “As a competitor, this is where you feel you belong.”
Justin Emerson can be reached at jemerson@reviewjournal.com. Follow on Twitter: @J15Emerson