Pittsburgh Pirates outfielder Jack Suwinski is struggling mightily and might benefit from some time at Triple-A Indianapolis. It’s no secret that the Pirates offense has had a rocky start to the season. As a team, they’re hitting .206/.289/.320, finally getting the batting average past the Mendoza line after their just-completed homestand. At 8-15, they’re in last place in the National League Central Division. There are plenty of culprits. Only Joey Bart and Isiah Kiner-Falefa are hitting with any consistency among the Pirates. But it’s Suwinski and Tommy Pham who have stood out because of the magnitude of their failures.
Pham is going nowhere. The Pirates didn’t give the 37-year-old a $4.025 million contract so they could give up on him after 23 games. They’ll show patience with him as they did with Rowdy Tellez last year.
Pirates Should Return Jack Suwinski to Triple-A
Suwinski, however, is another matter. He still has a minor league option left. At this point in the season, quoting batting averages doesn’t make a lot of sense. Until a hitter gets to 100 or so at-bats, averages go up and down like yo-yos, as the late Pirates broadcaster Bob Prince used to say. But in this case, your correspondent will quote Suwinski’s batting average anyway, to compare it to certain analytical data. Thus, after Easter Sunday’s action, Suwinski, a left-handed batter, is hitting .128 (5-for-39). He’s also struck out 19 times in 45 plate appearances, an alarming and unacceptable 42.2 percent.
Now for a bit of good news. Wait, there’s good news regarding Suwinski? Actually, yes – when he hits the ball. He carries a 45 percent hard-hit rate and a 40 percent line-drive rate. Both are above major league average. The latter is well above major league average. According to FanGraphs, this translates to a .223 xBA, a striking differential from his actual batting average. Thus, besides being a victim of his inability to make contact, he’s also been a victim of bad luck. Good things might happen if he could cut down on the strikeouts that have earned him the “Suwhiffski” moniker hung on him by hard-thinking social media denizens.
All of this is a long-winded way of saying that the Pirates aren’t doing themselves or Suwinski any favors by keeping him on the big club. On the one hand, he might benefit from more consistent playing time. On the other hand, he’s done nothing to earn it. It’s the major leagues. Suwinski has to get right on the Pirates’ timetable, not his. If he can’t do that, he belongs in Triple-A.
Who Replaces Suwinski for the Pirates?
General manager Ben Cherington recently told the local media that any improvements to the offense will have to come internally at this point. While those remarks were disappointing to frustrated Pirates fans, they were realistic. It’s too early in the season for meaningful trades to occur. Unfortunately, the Pirates organization isn’t blessed with an overabundance of major league-ready hitters. Of their top 30 prospects, only three are non-pitchers who have made it as far as Triple-A. Furthermore, it may be a while before the Bucs can welcome Nick Gonzales and Spencer Horwitz from the injured list. Horwitz has just begun rehabbing his wrist after offseason surgery. Gonzales’s return from a nondisplaced ankle fracture will take longer. Let’s look at the limited choices the Pirates have to replace Suwinski.
Pirates’ Spencer Horwitz nearing start of rehab assignment https://t.co/IKblSRLMXa
— WPXI (@WPXI) April 20, 2025
The People’s Choice
Matt Gorski, 27, is a right-handed hitter who plays all three outfield positions and first base. At the close of Sunday’s action, he’s 20-for-65 with three home runs and 14 RBI in 17 games at Indianapolis. He had a good spring for the Pirates, too, going 9-for-25 and leading the team with four home runs and 13 RBI. He’s the prospect Pirates fans are clamoring to see. Gorski is also a good center fielder. Suwinski’s departure would leave the Pirates without a true center fielder to back up Oneil Cruz.
However, those spring training home runs happened late in games against minor league pitchers. There’s no proof that he can hit major league pitching. Then again, there’s no proof that he can’t, either. With his current offensive production and defensive abilities, despite no longer being a ranked prospect, he might be worth a look with the big club. Working against him is the fact that he’s not on the 40-man roster.
A Dark Horse Candidate
Nick Solak, 30, is also a right-handed hitter. He’s seen major league action, mostly with the Texas Rangers, from 2019-2023. He plays second base, left field, and third base. Solak is off to a hot start, even more so than Gorski. At Indy, he’s 18-for-46 with three home runs and 11 RBI in 12 games. Like Gorski, he had a good spring with the Pirates, going 9-for-29 with a home run and four RBI. Solak has been a professional since 2016. With so much minor league seasoning under his belt, one would think he’s immune to some of the boneheaded fundamental mistakes we’ve seen from the 2025 edition of the Pirates.
Nevertheless, Solak seems an unlikely candidate to get the call if the Pirates look to replace Suwinski. He’s enticed major league teams before with good minor league performances, only to fail to live up to the hype once he’s before the bright lights. In the minors, his career stat line is .291/.382/.456, as opposed to .252/.328/.372 in the majors. He hit as high as .293/.393/.491 for the Rangers, but that was back in 2019. He, too, isn’t on the 40-man roster, so his addition to the active roster would take some juggling. That the Pirates would engage in such to add a career journeyman strikes one as just a slim possibility.
Candidates from the 40-Man Roster
Unfortunately for the Pirates, pickings are slim from the 40-man roster. Second baseman/outfielder Nick Yorke and outfielder/first baseman Billy Cook are the Pirates’ Nos. 5 and 18 prospects, respectively. Neither is hitting well at Triple-A, however.
Liover Peguero is off to a good start, hitting 20-for-61. He’s a middle infielder and might function as the right-handed half of a second base platoon with veteran Adam Frazier. If it seems like Peguero has been around forever, it’s because he almost has been. He was acquired in Cherington’s first trade as Pirates GM in 2020. He’s had major league trials over 2022-24, which have resulted in a .237/.280/.370 slash line in 63 games. The Pirates seem to view him as strictly an organizational depth option. Furthermore, there’s nothing in his minor league record that suggests he’ll keep hitting at his current pace.
The Last Word
Regardless of how the above is resolved, it seems that the best move for the Pirates and Suwinski would be to send him to Triple-A to work on his swing. It’s becoming increasingly difficult to see how his continuing struggles are benefiting either party.
Photo Credit: © Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images
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