Pirates A to Z: Jack Suwinski made big jump, flashed home run power in rookie season

During the offseason, the Tribune-Review will offer Pirates A to Z: An alphabetical, player-by-player look at the 40-man roster, from outfielder Miguel Andujar to pitcher Bryse Wilson.

Player: Jack Suwinski

Position: Outfielder

Bats: Left

Throws: Right

Age: 24 (July 29)

Height: 6 foot-2

Weight: 215 pounds

2022 MLB statistics: Slashed .202/.298/.411 with 11 doubles, 19 home runs and 38 RBIs in 106 games.

Contract: Not yet eligible for arbitration.

Acquired: From the San Diego Padres, along with pitcher Michell Miliano and infielder/outfielder Tucupita Marcano, in a trade for second baseman Adam Frazier in July 2021.

This past season: Suwinski was riding a nine-game hitting streak and batting .353 (18 for 51) with 13 RBIs in as many games for Double-A Altoona when the Pirates encountered an emergency on April 27.

So Suwinski made the jump to the majors, bypassing Triple A.

“Honestly, Jack has been swinging the bat as well as anybody in the system right now,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said of Suwinski, who was ranked their No. 24 prospect by Baseball America.

With outfielder Bryan Reynolds and infielder Cole Tucker awaiting test results, the Pirates placed both on the covid-19 injured list and recalled Suwinski and Marcano. The duo had just arrived in Akron, so they rented a car and made the two-hour drive to PNC Park.

First, Jack Suwinski smacks a HR, and then follows up with an amazing catch! pic.twitter.com/0o0Hpbaze9

— MLB (@MLB) June 25, 2022

That night, Suwinski was in the starting lineup in right field and recorded his first major league hit, a single, and reached base on an infield error. Where Marcano was returned to Altoona after one game, Suwinski stayed and hit safely in four of his first six games.

In his 11th game, Suwinski finally flashed his power by hitting his first career home run in a 5-1 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers on May 10.

“If you watch him — and this is a kid that came from Double-A — he is very rarely off-balance,” Shelton said. “If you watch the game, you very rarely think, ‘Oh, he’s overmatched’ — because he’s not. He hasn’t gotten probably as many hits as he would like, but the consistency and the control of his at-bats has been really good.”

Suwinski hit five homers in May and eight in June, including a pair of walk-off blasts. He battled Arizona closer Mark Melancon in a nine-pitch at-bat before hitting a two-run shot for a 2-1 win over the Diamondbacks on June 4. Suwinski added a three-homer game against San Francisco on June 19 that served as the highlight of his rookie season.

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Jack Suwinski crushes 3 home runs and wins the game for the @Pirates. pic.twitter.com/MRAJ2n0ZMo

— MLB Pipeline (@MLBPipeline) June 19, 2022

Suwinski drew a walk in his first at-bat, homered off Alex Cobb in the fourth inning, Sam Long in the sixth and delivered a 4-3 walk-off win with a solo shot off Tyler Rogers in the ninth. He drilled a belt-high slider into the right field seats to send the Father’s Day crowd of 23,905 (that included his father, Tim) into a frenzy, then slammed his helmet into the dirt on the third-base line and jumped onto home plate and into a swarm of teammates.

“It’s just unbelievable, especially to do it on Father’s Day with my dad here,” Suwinski said. “I know it means a lot to him and it means a lot to me, just the amount that he’s done for me and always been there. It’s awesome. I mean, it’s hard to describe, you know?”

Pirates rookie OF Jack Suwinski talks about his three-homer game and the walk-off shot to beat the Giants on Father’s Day. pic.twitter.com/iE0F3JRfAr

— Kevin Gorman (@KevinGormanPGH) June 19, 2022

By July 5, Suwinski had 14 home runs. That led all National League rookies and ranked third-most by a Pirates rookie before the All-Star break. But Suwinski was batting .108 in July, striking out at a 30.4% rate (76 in 250 plate appearances) and fell into an 0-for-29 slump, so the Pirates optioned him to Indianapolis.

“He was probably here a little bit longer than all of us expected, just because he continued to perform,” Shelton said. “The league kind of started to make some adjustments against him and he was struggling a little bit to make those adjustments back.”

Suwinski returned in late August, and finished with 19 home runs. He was one of three rookies with double-digit homers, along with Diego Castillo and Oneil Cruz, and finished second on the team.

“Obviously, that’s a really cool thing to do,” Suwinski said. “That’s not my main focus as a hitter but just seeing the work in the weight room and the cage that we do to be able to drive the ball and get it up in the air and accomplish those in the first place is awesome.

“I’d love to take that moving forward and add more things, just like more ball in play, more early aggressiveness, get that early-in-the-count pitch instead of fouling it off. We’re working on things, whether it’s mental or physical, putting yourself in different situations and challenging that, making it as game-like as possible.”

The future: If there was a serious concern about Suwinski, it was his home-away splits. His lefty bat thrived at PNC Park but Suwinski struggled in road games.

Suwinski slashed .282/.373/.609 with nine doubles, 16 homers and 31 RBIs in 56 games at PNC Park but batted .112 with two doubles, three homers and seven RBIs in other ballparks.

“I didn’t really notice anything at the end of the season, once I had time to reflect, that was really sticking out to me,” Suwinski said, acknowledging that his routine required an adjustment on road trips. “Keeping things as simple as possible, being able to keep my routine consistent here and keeping the same routine on the road, that consistency will get things rolling a little bit more.”

Suwinski also had only 38 RBIs on 30 extra-base hits, so he’s hoping to become more of a run producer next season. He hit .159 with runners in scoring position. Suwinski also had almost three times as many strikeouts (114) as walks (41).

First, Jack Suwinski smacks a HR, and then follows up with an amazing catch! pic.twitter.com/0o0Hpbaze9

— MLB (@MLB) June 25, 2022

Suwinski was a pleasant surprise was on defense, where he played 56 games in left field, 38 in right and 19 in center. Even though he didn’t have a reputation as a great defender, Suwinski made his share of spectacular catches.

“I always took pride in and working hard to do that, knowing that I wasn’t always the fastest or the most athletic growing up,” Suwinski said. “Not getting that initial trust right away growing up, I always felt like I had to work harder and earn it more. I’m just keeping that work ethic as I get older. As I develop, that shows in what I’m doing in the outfield. I do take a lot of pride in being out there. I want to be a really good defender, earn the pitcher’s trust, earn the team’s trust and make plays, save runs on defense and create them on offense.”

The Pirates played nine rookies in the outfield last season, and Suwinski should be the frontrunner among those returning for a starting spot in 2023. With Miguel Andujar likely in left and Bryan Reynolds in center, Suwinski has the best shot at the moment to start in right.

If the Pirates acquiesce to Reynolds’ trade request, that could change and Suwinski could shift to center. If not, Suwinski will face competition from the likes of Ji Hwan Bae, Diego Castillo, Marcano, Cal Mitchell and Travis Swaggerty in spring training.

“I think that’s one thing that’s going to help us all get better, really,” Suwinski said. “We’ve got to push ourselves in here, within this group. I think if we do that, then everyone gets better, as opposed to just letting that other side, that other team fuel our competition. I think if we compete within ourselves, it will push us to get a little bit uncomfortable but it will push us to new limits. It’s that loving, friendly competition between ourselves. That only helps the team.”