Jack Suwinski wants to hit in the middle of the order, improve play in center field for Pirates

BRADENTON, Fla. — When the Pittsburgh Pirates played their Grapefruit League home opener, Jack Suwinski found his name in the same spot of the batting order as he was at the end of last September.

Pirates manager Derek Shelton had Suwinski hitting cleanup, behind Oneil Cruz, Bryan Reynolds and Ke’Bryan Hayes. Traditionally, it’s a place for a power bat, so Suwinski made sense after leading the Pirates in home runs and OPS and ranking second in RBIs last season.

“Obviously, everyone wants to hit in the middle of the order, the meat of the lineup,” Suwinski said. “There’s a lot of opportunities for RBIs, runs, production. It would mean a lot to me, obviously. They’re going to put together a lineup that’s going to win the most games. I’ve bounced around a little bit the last couple years. That’s given me some comfortability in the lineup, learning how each position goes.”

Whether Suwinski stays there depends on whether he performs with consistency, the greatest concern surrounding the slugger. His first two seasons have seen streaky stretches, and finding his way out of funks has been Suwinski’s biggest challenge. Last season, April and September served as bountiful bookends to a June and August when his batting average fell below the Mendoza Line.

“We’ve seen Jack really, really good at times, and we’ve seen him struggle at times,” Shelton said. “We need to narrow that gap when he struggles. I think we saw that last year more mid-August into September, when there was more contact. That was something that was important. When he hits the ball, he hits the ball hard. It’s just shrinking down when he goes into those little spells.”

After rebounding from a dreadful August, where he batted .130, Suwinski moved to the cleanup spot to provide protection for Hayes after Carlos Santana was traded and Andrew McCutchen suffered a season-ending Achilles injury. Suwinski hit fourth in 16 of the final 23 games and had 18 RBIs in September, matching his season-best total from April.

But Suwinski’s splits showed that he fared far better in the five-hole of the batting order, where he slashed .304/.422/.670 with 12 of his 26 homers and 27 of his 74 RBIs in 33 games. At the cleanup spot, Suwinski batted .218/.307/.382 with four homers and 15 RBIs in the same number of games.

Shelton said the Pirates don’t make the decision based on splits, however, as they can be fluid from year to year. Suwinski is more likely to bat in the middle of the order against right-handed pitching.

“There’s very often guys that fluctuate in the lineup who have one spot that they hit a lot better,” Shelton said. “His four-hole came after we traded Carlos, so it came as a function of what our club was. Not that Jack’s a veteran, but it came when we had a bunch of rookies.”

Last year was Suwinski’s first full season in the majors, and it was marked by a move to center field in spring training. The position is physically demanding for the 6-foot-2, 215-pound Suwinski, and Shelton credited him for a “very aggressive, very explosive” offseason training regimen that should be beneficial to playing center.

Suwinski’s minus-10 defensive runs saved ranked as the second-lowest among major-league center fielders last season, but Shelton said he saw signs of progress over the course of the season.

“The improvement is in his jumps, his reads,” Shelton said. “From being there more, I think he’s more confident being there. He got better as the year went on last year, which I think is a credit to him.”

It’s also important to Suwinski, who takes as much pride in his play in center as he does as a power bat in the meat of the order.

“I want to go out there and help the team,” Suwinski said. “I want to help the team on defense, just as much as offense.”