Jack Suwinski was a great story and might still be.
Suwinski has actually been one of the best stories in the National League after he came out of almost nowhere to hit 14 home runs and be among leaders among all rookies in a number of offensive categories.
His storybook season is on hold now, though, as he has been mired in an 0-for-28 slump. He has looked lost at times at the plate recently and as a result he was optioned to Class AAA Indianapolis on Friday.
Suwinski was replaced by another young outfielder, Cal Mitchell, but presumably he is being sent down for a short stint in the minors to work out his swing.
In general, these kinds of decisions don’t move me one way or the other as teams options young players back to the minors to get some work when they struggle. It is a part of the process of refining a player’s swing or help a player regain confidence and so it makes sense on some level.
This isn’t a spot where the Pirates should have gone that route, especially since they have made it pretty clear they aren’t focused on batting average as a meaningful measure of whether or not a player is struggling.
That line has been used mostly to explain that even though rookie star ONeil Cruz is only hitting .212 he is doing fine and on the right track. Cruz has struck out 33 times in 85 at bats, has only walked five times and his on base percentage is a very pedestrian .253.
Still, the company line is that batting average isn’t significant in measuring Cruz because he has shown some power and his other metrics are all trending in a positive direction.
OK, given that, why are the Pirates worried about Suwinski’s batting average and, by extension, what a falling batting average will do to his confidence? Yes, he is only hitting .198 but he is second on the team in home runs, fifth in runs batted in and fourth in slugging percentage.
Suwinski has proven he can hit home runs in the majors and he has proven he can hit major-league pitching. It is true he is in a slump but why not let him try to battle through it up in the majors?
And, while there is something to be said about protecting his confidence by letting him go to the minors to work out his swing, what if that backfires? He won’t see major-league pitchers in Indianapolis, and if he continues to struggle to hit in the minors, won’t that hurt his confidence more?
Pirates manager Derek Shelton, in his pregame media scrum Friday, said that Suwinski had been tweaking his swing recently and it is hard to do that and have success as a rookie in Major League Baseball. Shelton said this move will make sure he can get back to the swing that was working so well for him earlier in the season.
The reasoning behind sending Suwinski down isn’t logical based on the Pirates’ views of the relative meaningless of batting average, especially with respect to rookies. Suwinski’s power numbers are just as good and, in some cases better, than Cruz’s.
That being said, wouldn’t it seem the Pirates should be willing to let him figure things out at the major-league level? The other thing is Suwinski was pushed through the minors and never actually played in Class AAA so the Pirates knew there would be some struggles.
Why remove one of your best power bats, one of the guys who has won games for you with his ability to hit home runs? Yes, 0-for-28 is ugly but the Pirates just began a series in the very hitter-friendly Coors Field. This might have been the perfect weekend for Suwinski to break out of his slump.
Suwinski also could get some minor-league at-bats next week during the all-star break — so sending him down makes some sense but the same goal could have been accomplished after a couple of weekend games in Denver.
There is a more cynical reason that has been floated out there about why Suwinski went down and it has to do with the Pirates trying to manipulate service time. I refuse to believe that is true but given this ownership group’s history, it is always a possibility.
This subject was broached by the website Pirates Prospects based on a very complicated formula related to service time. Essentially, the website showed the Pirates could earn an extra year of control by sending Suwinski down Thursday.
Maybe I am naive but I can’t believe that was a factor. If it was Cruz, I might buy it because he is a possible franchise player. Suwinski appears to be, at best, a very good complementary player.
It just seems far-fetched.
This genuinely feels like the Pirates trying to make sure Suwinski doesn’t lose complete confidence and get mired in a slump from which he cannot recover.
I don’t agree with that approach but I understand it. Suwinski needs to be a part of the Pirates’ future and that means he needs experience and at-bats in a year like this one.
Paul Zeise: pzeise@post-gazette.com or Twitter @paulzeise
First Published: July 16, 2022, 1:03 p.m.
