Matt Diorio

WTM’S PIRATE PLAYER PROFILES

2016
A-:  215/329/306, 121 AB, 5 2B, 2 HR, 19 BB, 35 K, 0-1 SB

Diorio mostly struggled at Morgantown, striking out a lot.  He did draw a lot of walks.  His playing time started dropping in August and he had a rough month, going 3-for-32.  He had only a small platoon split, but he didn’t hit anybody well.  He played in the outfield corners, mostly right.

2017
R+:  265/392/419, 136 AB, 12 2B, 3 HR, 26 BB, 31 K, 3-5 SB
A-:  143/250/286, 14 AB, 1 3B, 1 BB, 3 K

Diorio started the season at Morgantown but, after four games, the Pirates sent him down to Bristol.  That obviously wasn’t a good sign and probably was triggered by the fact that the Pirates went heavily for college outfielders in the 2017 draft.  Diorio was sent down after they started joining the team.  He played semi-regularly at Bristol, splitting his time between left field and DH.  He hit fairly well there, but you’d expect that given the level and the fact that he was demoted.  The team didn’t play Diorio much against LHPs and he struggled when he faced them, going 3-for-35.

Diorio went in the wrong direction in 2017 and he now has a bunch of college hitters ahead of him on the depth chart, all of whom hit better at Morgantown than he did.  There also may be several 2017 prep draftees and a couple of Latin American signees, all of whom play the outfield, moving up from the GCL, so Diorio may have trouble finding playing time.