Matt Pobereyko Biography, Baseball, Heart attack, Obituary

Baseball player Matt Pobereyko, a longtime minor league pitcher who had recently become a top hurler in Mexico, died suddenly near Chicago.

He was 31.

Pobereyko was in his apartment, in a west Chicagoland suburb when he collapsed Friday and was later discovered by his girlfriend, his brother, Daniel Pobereyko, told NBC News on Monday.

“He just dropped and that’s all we know,” the grieving brother 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.”

Matt Pobereyko was found unresponsive on his kitchen floor and pronounced dead on the scene, a statement by Warrenville Police Chief Sam Bonilla said.

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

Matt Pobereyko Biography and Baseball Career

Matt Pobereyko was an American baseball player from Hammond, Indiana, who died suddenly in February 2023 from a suspected heart attack.

Pobereyko played in college for Kentucky Wesleyan before embarking on a minor league career that included stops with the New York Mets, Arizona Diamondbacks and 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 by the Saint Paul Saints, where 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 pitched for Algodoneros de Guasave and led the league with strikeouts, fanning 73 batters in 70 1/3 innings.

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

Even at the baseball-advanced age of 31, Pobereyko still 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.”

Heart attack

A statement from the late pitcher’s team, Saraperos de Saltillo, announced his passing on Saturday.

“We report the unfortunate news of the death of baseball player Matt Pobereyko, due to a heart attack that ended his life,” the statement said.

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.”

The shocking nature of his passing shocked everyone as he was in good health with no signs of any condition.

Pobereyko’s parents visited him earlier in the week and nothing seemed out of the ordinary.

“For what we know now, there’s really no leads,” his brother Daniel Pobereyko said.

“They saw him earlier in the week and he seemed to be perfectly fine.”