PITTSBURGH — An injured Pittsburgh Pirates first baseman continues making progress back to full health.
Double-A Altoona Curve announced that first baseman Spencer Horwitz is starting his rehab assignment on April 27. He will leadoff, plus play first base as they face the Chesapeake Bay Sox, the Double-A affiliate of the Baltimore Orioles, on the road with first pitch set for 1:05 p.m.
Hunter Barco hasn't allowed a run yet this season! pic.twitter.com/BMrsJFMTfY
— Altoona Curve (@AltoonaCurve) April 27, 2025
Horwitz went down to Florida last week where he faced live pitching sessions and is already back up at Double-A beginning a rehab assignment.
He hasn't played at all this calendar year, dealing with a right wrist injury, that kept him out of spring training and every game so far this season.
Pittsburgh added Horwitz in atradewith the Cleveland Guardians this offseason, sending right-handed pitcher Luis Ortiz and left-handed pitchers in Josh Hartle and Michael Kennedy in return.
Horwitz came to the Guardians in theirtradewith the Toronto Blue Jays, where they sent second baseman Andrés Gimenéz plus reliever Nick Sandlin and received Horwitz and outfield prospect Nick Mitchell.
Horwitz hails from Timonium, Md., near Baltimore, and played primarily catcher or St. Paul's School for Boys in Brooklandville, Md.
He 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 went on to 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 coachMatt Hague, who coached him at a variety of different levels with Toronto.
The Pirates have had a four players start first base in Horwitz's abscence, including Enmanuel Valdez, who has started 15 games, Endy Rodríguez, who has started nine games, Jared Triolo, who has started three games, and Matt Gorski, who has started one game.
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