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Former Mets minor-leaguer Matt Pobereyko dies suddenly at 31 at his off-season home

Police in suburban Chicago said there were "no suspicious circumstances to report" about the Hammond, Indiana, native's death.
Matt Pobereyko
Matt Pobereyko of the Columbia Fireflies pitches during a game against the Rome Braves in Columbia, S.C., on Aug. 20, 2017. Tom Priddy / Four Seam Images via AP file

Longtime minor league pitcher Matt Pobereyko, who had recently become a top hurler in Mexico, died suddenly near Chicago, officials and shocked loved ones said Monday.

He was 31.

Pobereyko was in his apartment in a west Chicago-area suburb when he collapsed Friday, and he was later discovered by his girlfriend, his brother, Daniel Pobereyko, said Monday.

Matt Pobereyko pitches for the Algodoneros Guasave Mexican team in this undated photo.
Matt Pobereyko pitches for the Algodoneros Guasave Mexican team in this undated photo.Courtesy Algodoneros Guasave

“He just dropped, and that’s all we know,” Daniel Pobereyko said. “We don’t know. There’s nothing outstanding on the autopsy. But from what I understand, he would have gotten a clean bill of health if he had a pulse.”

Pobereyko, a 6-foot-3, 220-pound pitcher, was found "unresponsive on his kitchen floor" and "pronounced dead on the scene," Warrenville Police Chief Sam Bonilla said in a statement.

"There were no suspicious circumstances to report, and an autopsy conducted the following day did not reveal anything further," Bonilla said.

A cause of death is "pending further investigation," a DuPage County coroner's spokesman said. It will likely take 7½ more weeks for a formal cause to be determined, the spokesman said.

Pobereyko's death came as a shock to loved ones, his brother said.

"For what we know now, there's really no leads," Daniel Pobereyko said. "They saw him earlier in the week, and he seemed to be perfectly fine."

Pobereyko played two winter seasons, 2021-22 and 2022-23, for Algodoneros de Guasave in the Mexican Pacific League, and the team placed a wreath on the pitcher's mound at Kuroda Park in Guasave and wrote the number 56 in chalk.

The memorial included a handwritten message: "Thanks for giving so much joy.” 

Pobereyko’s teammates and coaches are suffering “profound sadness," Algodoneros de Guasave spokesman Ruben Benitez said.

"He was a great teammate. He got along very well with everyone," Benitez said. "Never [any health issues]. He was always a very healthy man."

Pobereyko, a native of Hammond, Indiana, played for Kentucky Wesleyan University before he embarked on a minor league career that included stops with the New York Mets, the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Miami Marlins organizations.

He made it as high as the Mets Triple-A team in Las Vegas in 2018.

In recent years, most of Pobereyko's work had come in independent and Mexican leagues.

"He was an incredible teammate and fierce competitor, but an even nicer person," according to a statement from the Saint Paul Saints, for whom Pobereyko pitched in 2020. "He will be missed by all that knew him. We send our love to his family and friends.

This past winter, Pobereyko led the Mexican league with 73 strikeouts in 70⅓ innings, pitching for Algodoneros de Guasave.

His last competitive game was earlier this month, pitching for Mexico in the Caribbean World Series in Venezuela.

Even at the baseball-advanced age of 31, Pobereyko had dreams of playing at higher levels, perhaps in Asia, if he couldn't make it back to the big leagues.

"He had his eyes on the Asian markets, because he had thrown really well in Mexico," Daniel Pobereyko said. "So he was hoping for that at the very least. He still had really good stuff, and he was going to pitch as long as he did."