Gerald Lipscomb:
The fifth player from the 2023 draft to be inducted into the Hall of Fame was third baseman Gerald Lipscomb. Lipscomb was taken by Pittsburgh with the 15th pick in the first round of the draft. Although the young third baseman was not yet ready for the big leagues, Pittsburgh fans hoped he would arrive soon. The past several years had seen an only occasionally effective platoon of infielders Eric Bang and Walter Garrick. The excitement around Lipscomb went through the roof after he took A ball by storm, slamming 38 homeruns at that level in 2023. He earned himself a cup of coffee at AA, but his numbers weren't nearly as good. The buzz around Lipscomb began to die down a little bit. He split between A and AA in 2024, and had mixed results. The power was there, but his hitting approach was uncontrolled, to say the least. In 2025, Lipscomb again split between A and AA, and this time, his AA numbers dropped sharply. By this time, the Pirates had already converted young outfielder Michael Ebeling to third base, and after two solid seasons at the big league level, it was now unclear as to what would happen with Lipscomb.
In 2026, Lipscomb seemed to recover. He split between AA and AAA, and put up strong numbers at both levels. 2027 was a strange year. Lipscomb began the year at AAA, but his numbers were less than stellar. And yet, in the middle of July, the Pirates traded their firstbaseman, Matthew Jackson, and promoted Lipscomb to the majorsand installed him as their starting thirdbaseman. Michael Ebeling was moved across the diamond to first base. Lipscomb would collect just over 200 at bats in his rookie season, and while he showed a bit of power, his overall numbers were unimpressive. In the playoffs, however, came a breakthrough moment for the 22 year old. The Pirates trailed Sacramento 3 games to 1 in the NLCS, and the young Lipscomb was having a miserable postseason, batting just .154 with 1 RBI heading into Game Five. The game was scoreless until the fourth inning. Pittsburgh put two runners aboard, and right fielder Nathan Keith slammed one over the fence to give them a 3-0 lead. Stepping to the plate after Keith's blast was Lipscomb. Lipscomb proceeded to deposit the baseball into the bleachers himself, making the game 4-0. Two innings later, with the score 4-1, Lipscomb ripped his second homerun of the game, and the Pirates went on to win 6-2. Although Pittsburgh would lose in Game Six, it was one of those moments for the rookie that said to him: "Hey, I
can play at this level!"
A year later, Lipscomb smacked 22 homers and drove in 94 runs, and won the Gold Glove Award at the hot corner. It was the springboard to a magnificent 2029 season. Lipscomb batted .343 and became the first Pirate since Kangorou Yataro in 2012 to hit 50 homers in a season. A tremendous postseason carried Pittsburgh to the World Series, where they fell in 7 games to Grand Rapids, in one of the most exciting Series ever. The deciding Game Seven went 13 innings, and five of the games were decided by 3 runs or less. Lipscomb's excellent season earned him the Silver Slugger Award.
Now established as one of the top sluggers in the National League, it was time to bring Pittsburgh fans something they had been missing for far too long(in their minds, of course): a championship. The Pirates were swept in the NLCS in 2030. In '31, they lost in 6 games to Sacramento. Pittsburgh reached the World Series in '32, but were stunned in 5 games to the seemingly outgunned Memphis Grizzlies. And then, the 2033 season. It had been ten long years since the Pirates had raised the Jolly Roger over all of baseball.
April was a sluggish month for Lipscomb. Though he ripped 7 homers, his .247 AVG wasn't what he had been accustomed to. In May, he got hot. Red hot. He ripped through the month with a .404 average and 10 homeruns. June was more of the same: .367 AVG, 10 HR. July was a "quiet" .292 AVG, 5 homers. August, similar to that: .295, 7 homers. In September, however, Lipscomb's "lethargy" would be lifted. He stormed through the final month of the season with a .330 average, and 12 homeruns, finishing with a career best of 51 four-baggers. And then came the NLCS matchup against San Diego. Leading the series 3 games to 1, the Pirates trailed the Padres 5-3 heading into the ninth inning. With one out and two runners on, Lipscomb slammed his third homer of the postseason to give Pittsburgh the lead. They hung for a 7-6 victory, and were ready to exorcise the demons of the '32 debacle. The unfortunate opponent that got to face Pittsburgh's wrath? The Tucson Diamondbacks. With Game One scoreless in the eighth inning, Lipscomb blasted a two out, two run homer. No more runs would be needed in a 2-0 victory. A 5 run first inning triggered a 10-2 Game Two victory for the Pirates. Tucson pulled out a win in Game Three, but Game Four went to the Pirates, with Lipscomb hitting another homerun. Pittsburgh captured their first championsip in ten years by winning Game Five.
Thus began a run of dominence that the Pirates hadn't approached in about 20 years. 2034 saw the Pirates cruise to a second consecutive championship, blowing away Nashville in 5 games, as the juggernaught offense scored 45 runs. Lipscomb drove in 8 of those runs, blasting 3 World Series homeruns. 2035 made it three straight championships, as the Pirates swept Washington. Though Lipscomb had an uninspiring postseason run, he led the league in homeruns for the only time in his career that year. Strangely, the 39 homeruns he hit that year were only the 5th most of his career. Pittsburgh won its 4th consecutive championship in 2036, knocking off Nashville in 5 games. In '37, despite Lipscomb posting the 4th 1.000+ OPS season of his career, Pittsburgh's streak of championships came to an end. They fell to eventual champion Portland in 6 games. Pittsburgh reached the World Series in 2038 and lost to Tucson. In '39, the Pirates swept the Royals to capture another championship. Lipscomb missed the 2040 postseason with an injury, and the Pirates fell to Sacramento in the NLCS.
In 2041, Lipscomb was 36 years old, and still a productive, if no longer elite, player. At the end of April, Lipscomb belted his 500th career homerun. The '41 postseason would be one last hurrah for him. The Pirates trailed Portland in the NLCS, 3 games to 1. After staving off elimination in Game Five, Lipscomb triggered a 5 run third inning by blasting a two out, three run homerun. Pittsburgh tied up the series with a 7-5 victory. Lipscomb added another homerun in the deciding Game Seven victory which sent the Pirates to the World Series. Pittsburgh swept Knoxville, with Lipscomb notching 3 hits in Game Two, and 2 RBI in Game Three. Despite still being a productive player, Lipscomb chose to go out on top, and retired following the '41 World Series.
At the time of his retirement, Lipscomb ranked 15th all time in homeruns, and tied for 13th in RBI.
Lipscomb's stats:
Code:
Career Batting Stats
Year G AB H 2B 3B HR RBI R BB K SB CS AVG OBP SLG OPS Teams
2027 58 203 52 9 2 6 32 24 9 46 0 0 .256 .288 .409 .697 PIT
2028 143 489 127 21 4 22 94 64 23 103 1 1 .260 .293 .454 .747 PIT
2029 149 586 201 39 3 50 157 133 31 125 0 0 .343 .376 .676 1.052 PIT,NL
2030 149 585 182 31 2 40 127 100 36 92 1 2 .311 .351 .576 .927 PIT
2031 154 601 171 32 6 38 126 94 30 61 2 2 .285 .319 .547 .866 PIT
2032 151 553 186 40 3 42 134 123 33 28 3 4 .336 .374 .647 1.021 PIT,NL
2033 153 577 187 27 4 51 154 126 46 30 3 5 .324 .374 .650 1.024 PIT,NL
2034 155 578 178 22 4 37 130 115 42 37 5 6 .308 .355 .552 .907 PIT,NL
2035 152 575 167 25 5 39 127 104 49 38 14 5 .290 .346 .555 .901 PIT,NL
2036 154 604 173 32 1 38 140 123 51 38 7 4 .286 .342 .531 .873 PIT,NL
2037 152 542 181 34 7 37 137 121 52 24 15 5 .334 .392 .627 1.020 PIT,NL
2038 143 515 151 27 2 35 131 104 53 21 4 3 .293 .359 .557 .916 PIT,NL
2039 146 529 159 24 3 33 132 110 52 26 2 1 .301 .363 .544 .908 PIT
2040 147 541 164 27 6 27 115 81 32 36 2 0 .303 .342 .525 .867 PIT
2041 149 555 142 28 4 22 97 79 31 36 1 0 .256 .295 .440 .735 PIT
Total 2155 8033 2421 418 56 517 1833 1501 570 741 60 38 .301 .348 .560 .908
Career Minor League Batting Stats
Year G AB H 2B 3B HR RBI R BB K SB CS AVG OBP SLG OPS
2023, A 96 442 153 14 0 38 90 86 19 102 8 8 .346 .371 .636 1.006
2023, AA 32 146 38 6 0 5 22 20 2 37 1 1 .260 .258 .404 .662
2024, A 55 244 70 9 0 18 45 32 10 54 3 2 .287 .313 .545 .858
2024, AA 82 351 97 14 1 19 56 52 8 65 2 8 .276 .290 .484 .774
2025, A 54 245 72 8 0 5 18 30 8 53 4 9 .294 .310 .388 .698
2025, AA 81 367 89 18 1 11 54 45 12 86 4 4 .243 .264 .387 .651
2026, AA 74 331 102 23 3 12 45 49 10 64 6 6 .308 .325 .505 .829
2026, AAA 63 272 84 24 0 9 38 29 6 52 0 2 .309 .316 .496 .812
2027, AAA 96 435 113 24 0 14 53 48 14 76 1 6 .260 .282 .411 .693
Career Postseason Batting Stats
Year G AB H 2B 3B HR RBI R BB K SB CS AVG OBP SLG OPS
2027 7 19 5 0 0 2 3 3 1 5 0 0 .263 .300 .579 .879
2028 7 28 7 1 0 1 3 5 1 9 0 0 .250 .276 .393 .669
2029 11 45 18 3 1 3 14 7 3 7 0 0 .400 .438 .711 1.149
2030 4 13 4 1 0 0 0 2 0 2 0 0 .308 .308 .385 .692
2031 6 23 9 3 0 2 4 5 1 3 0 0 .391 .417 .783 1.199
2032 10 40 13 1 0 2 8 7 2 3 0 1 .325 .357 .500 .857
2033 10 42 16 2 0 5 13 8 3 2 0 1 .381 .422 .786 1.208
2034 9 39 15 3 1 3 11 10 4 2 1 0 .385 .442 .744 1.185
2035 8 32 5 1 0 2 3 6 4 3 0 0 .156 .250 .375 .625
2036 11 47 12 1 1 0 3 7 1 2 1 0 .255 .271 .319 .590
2037 6 26 8 1 0 1 2 2 1 1 0 1 .308 .333 .462 .795
2038 13 54 15 3 0 4 10 7 2 6 0 0 .278 .304 .556 .859
2039 10 41 10 1 2 2 7 9 3 2 0 0 .244 .295 .512 .808
2041 11 38 10 1 0 2 7 7 3 2 0 0 .263 .317 .447 .764
Total 123 487 147 22 5 29 88 85 29 49 2 3 .302 .341 .546 .887
Player History
Drafted in 1st round, 15th overall pick, by Pittsburgh in 2023...
Had first career hit on 7/24/2027, off Ramon Sanchez (LA)...
Hit first career homerun on 9/11/2027, off David Lile (ROC)...
Hit 3 homeruns against Rochester, driving in 4 runs on 9/13/2027...
Injured on 7/15/2028 with a Hyper Extended Elbow, out for 1-2 weeks...
Won Gold Glove Award at Third Base in 2028...
Won Player of the Week award on 5/19/2029, hitting .414 with 5 HR, 11 RBI...
Drove in 6 runs against Portland on 6/11/2029...
Won Player of the Week award on 6/30/2029, hitting .471 with 3 HR, 11 RBI...
Was selected to the 2029 Allstar game...
Won Player of the Week award on 8/25/2029, hitting .458 with 4 HR, 10 RBI...
Hit 3 homeruns against Harrisburg, driving in 5 runs on 9/7/2029...
Won Player of the Week award on 9/8/2029, hitting .423 with 4 HR, 7 RBI...
Won Player of the Week award on 9/29/2029, hitting .556 with 4 HR, 12 RBI...
Won Batter of the Month award on 10/1/2029, hitting .408 with 12 HR, 29 RBI...
Won Silver Slugger Award in 2029, hitting .343 with 50 HR, 157 RBI...
Drove in 8 runs against Harrisburg on 5/26/2030...
Won Player of the Week award on 6/2/2030, hitting .455 with 2 HR, 11 RBI...
Won Batter of the Month award on 9/1/2030, hitting .370 with 11 HR, 34 RBI...
Won Player of the Week award on 9/1/2030, hitting .520 with 4 HR, 13 RBI...
Drove in 6 runs against Portland on 5/19/2031...
Drove in 6 runs against Harrisburg on 4/9/2032...
Won Player of the Week award on 4/14/2032, hitting .692 with 5 HR, 11 RBI...
Won Batter of the Month award on 5/1/2032, hitting .412 with 12 HR, 31 RBI...
Hit for the cycle against Harrisburg on 5/24/2032...
Won Player of the Week award on 5/26/2032, hitting .469 with 4 HR, 13 RBI...
Was selected to the 2032 Allstar game...
Had 28-game hitting streak snapped on 8/24/2032...
Won Batter of the Month award on 6/1/2033, hitting .404 with 10 HR, 30 RBI...
Won Player of the Week award on 6/2/2033, hitting .550 with 5 HR, 14 RBI...
Won Player of the Week award on 6/30/2033, hitting .474 with 4 HR, 9 RBI...
Was selected to the 2033 Allstar game...
Drove in 6 runs against Harrisburg on 7/29/2033...
Won World Series with Pittsburgh in 2033...
Drove in 6 runs against Harrisburg on 6/5/2034...
Was selected to the 2034 Allstar game...
Won Player of the Week award on 8/25/2034, hitting .364 with 4 HR, 9 RBI...
Won Player of the Week award on 9/22/2034, hitting .500 with 3 HR, 8 RBI...
Drove in 6 runs against Nashville on 10/14/2034...
Won World Series with Pittsburgh in 2034...
Drove in 6 runs against Portland on 5/13/2035...
Was selected to the 2035 Allstar game...
Drove in 6 runs against Hartford on 9/3/2035...
Won Player of the Week award on 9/8/2035, hitting .435 with 3 HR, 8 RBI...
Had 5 hits with 3 RBI against Portland on 9/15/2035...
Won World Series with Pittsburgh in 2035...
Won Player of the Week award on 6/2/2036, hitting .476 with 1 HR, 7 RBI...
Was selected to the 2036 Allstar game...
Drove in 8 runs against Sacramento on 8/14/2036...
Won World Series with Pittsburgh in 2036...
Won Player of the Week award on 5/5/2037, hitting .619 with 5 HR, 15 RBI...
Won Batter of the Month award on 6/1/2037, hitting .371 with 8 HR, 32 RBI...
Was selected to the 2037 Allstar game...
Drove in 7 runs against Sacramento on 8/4/2037...
Had 5 hits with 3 RBI against Rochester on 9/18/2037...
Injured on 4/18/2038 with a Stiff Shoulder, out for one week...
Was selected to the 2038 Allstar game...
Won Player of the Week award on 9/15/2038, hitting .444 with 4 HR, 11 RBI...
Drove in 6 runs against Tucson on 10/15/2038...
Had 2000th career hit on 5/22/2039, off Richard Graber (LA)...
Won World Series with Pittsburgh in 2039...
Injured on 9/30/2040 with a Strained Posterior Cruciate Ligament, out for 5-6 weeks...
Had 500th career homerun on 4/29/2041, off Bill Amann (SAC)...
Won Player of the Week award on 8/4/2041, hitting .440 with 3 HR, 9 RBI...
Won World Series with Pittsburgh in 2041...
Retired and inducted to the Hall of Fame in 2042.
Batting Leader Boards Appearances
AVG
2029 - .343 - 5th
2030 - .311 - 10th
2032 - .336 - 3rd
2037 - .334 - 2nd
OBP
2037 - .392 - 9th
SLG
2029 - .676 - 4th
2030 - .576 - 5th
2032 - .647 - 2nd
2033 - .650 - 4th
2034 - .552 - 10th
2035 - .555 - 6th
2037 - .627 - 2nd
2038 - .557 - 9th
OPS
2029 - 1.052 - 5th
2030 - .927 - 7th
2032 - 1.021 - 5th
2033 - 1.024 - 5th
2035 - .901 - 9th
2037 - 1.020 - 2nd
Hits
2029 - 201 - 5th
2030 - 182 - 8th
2032 - 186 - 8th
2037 - 181 - 3rd
Triples
2031 - 6 - 7th
2037 - 7 - 6th
2040 - 6 - 10th
Homeruns
2029 - 50 - 4th
2030 - 40 - 5th
2031 - 38 - 9th
2032 - 42 - 4th
2033 - 51 - 2nd
2034 - 37 - 5th
2035 - 39 - 1st
2036 - 38 - 7th
2037 - 37 - 5th
2038 - 35 - 8th
RBI
2029 - 157 - 2nd
2030 - 127 - 3rd
2031 - 126 - 9th
2032 - 134 - 4th
2033 - 154 - 1st
2034 - 130 - 3rd
2035 - 127 - 1st
2036 - 140 - 1st
2037 - 137 - 2nd
2038 - 131 - 5th
2039 - 132 - 3rd
2040 - 115 - 8th
Runs
2029 - 133 - 1st
2032 - 123 - 4th
2033 - 126 - 6th
2034 - 115 - 8th
2035 - 104 - 9th
2036 - 123 - 1st
2037 - 121 - 2nd