Gorzelanny Brings Talent and Love of the Game to the Iowa Hawkeyes

Tom Gorzelanny was one of the best pitchers in the Pittsburgh Pirates rotation in the late 2000s, earning an all-star nod during the 2007 season. Now, he continues his love for baseball as a coach helping to train the next generation of players at Iowa State.

For the Pittsburgh Pirates, the 2000s we're not a great time in the organization's history record-wise. They were in the midst of what would turn into a 21-year streak without a winning season, and many fans were growing frustrated with the direction that the organization was going in. However, despite their struggles on the field, the team saw many great individual talents come through the organization at that time including players like Jason Bay, Freddy Sanchez, and Aramis Ramirez. One name that usually gets lost in the mix of players is former Pirates starting pitcher Tom Gorzelanny, who pitched for the Bucs from 2005 - 2009.

In those five years, he compiled a record of 32-29 with a 4.87 ERA in 430.1 innings of work in a Pirates uniform. After leaving the Bucs, he would go on to play for the Chicago Cubs, Washington Nationals, Milwaukee Brewers, Detroit Tigers, and Cleveland Indians. He would officially retire from the MLB in 2017 at age 35 as a member of the New York Mets after a 12-year Big League career. Just two years later, Gorzelanny was back in the baseball world when he was named the pitching coach at Iowa State University just before their 2019 season began.

Gorzelanny's professional career won't be one that goes down in the history books, but he showed flashes of greatness at times. His best season came in 2007 for the Pirates when he went 14-10 with a 3.88 ERA in 32 starts. He set career-highs in several categories that season including wins (14), innings pitched (201.1), and strikeouts (135). He made his first and only all-star appearance that season, making it in as part of the MLB Final Fan vote that season. He did not pitch in the game, but it gave him the chance to be around some of the top arms that the MLB had to offer. He would never get into double-digit wins in any other season of his career but did some good work out of the bullpen late in his career. Much like Gorzelanny's professional career, the Iowa Hawkeyes have shown flashes of success over the years, and are looking to build a winning tradition for the program.

After a successful 2018 season, where they went 30-24 with a 13-9 record in the Big 10, the coaching staff was shaken up as the Hawkeyes pitching and hitting coaches both left for jobs in the New York Yankees organization. With his too two coaches gone and several holes to fill with graduating seniors and players going to the draft, Hawkeyes head coach Rick Heller was left in a tight spot. He would hire Gorzelanny as his pitching coach on January 28th, 2019 shortly followed by hitting coach Robin Lund. With the shake-up in place, they improved their overall win total by one but dropped their Big Ten record to just 12-12 last season.

They showed success at times, including posting a 10-3 record against top 30 opponents, but a late-season collapse would drop them out of playoff contention. It was a sweep at the hands of Minnesota that ended their season. After being thrust into the Pitching coach's role less than a month before the season Gorzelanny did a good job of getting his pitchers ready, and they would pitch to a 4.57 team ERA last season. Gorzelanny would help two different Hawkeyes pitchers get recognized nationally and kept the winning tradition that the program has set forth over the last couple of seasons.

Under Gorzelanny's watch, reliever Grant Leonard became one of the best closers in the country. He earned second-team All-Big Ten honors after going 2-3 with a 3.37 ERA in 34.2 innings of work. Leonard went 14-14 in save opportunities and finished seventh in the nation in saves. For his achievement, he was named the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association Stopper of the Year Midseason list for the first time in his career. Gorzelanny's other star pupil was starter Cole McDonald. McDonald went an impressive 6-3 with a 3.54 ERA in 89 innings of work while striking out 83 and walking 28. He ended up getting drafted in the 14th round of the 2019 First-Year Player Draft by the Houston Astros marking the 13th consecutive season that an Iowa Hawkeye was drafted.

Over the off-season, Gorzelanny received a promotion being named The Baseball Director of Player Development where he helps Iowa State baseball players prepare for life after baseball including things like handling finances and developing careers after sports. Gorzelanny also returned as the team's pitching coach and helped Iowa get off to a solid 10-5 start before the season was canceled. In the team's first 15 games, they had a combined 3.39 ERA and we're on pace to have more strikeouts than last season with 147 in 130 innings of work. Gant Judkins was leading the way with a 2-0 record and a 3.00 ERA through his first four starts.

With spring sports officially being canceled, Gorzelanny's job at Iowa becomes that much more important. For the seniors who aren't on their way to the MLB draft, he has to help prepare them for life without baseball as they head out into the real world. He is also tasked with the unprecedented job of helping players cope with the fact that they lost their senior season under no fault of their own. Gorzelanny's Big League career might have not been Hall of Fame worthy, but he is now passing his knowledge and love of the game to the next generation of college baseball players.