BRADENTON, Fla. — Before Jack Suwinski dove headfirst into his offseason work, the diligent outfielder had some business to attend to away from the field.
In between spending time with family around Thanksgiving and Christmas, Suwinski and his longtime girlfriend, Rory, got married in Pittsburgh. Not long after tying the knot, though, Suwinski set his sights on putting a forgettable 2024 season behind him and carrying forward the positive momentum from a productive start to the offseason.
The 2024 campaign was a “challenging” one for Suwinski in myriad ways — he struggled at the plate, in the field and was twice demoted to Triple-A Indianapolis before finishing his year with the Pirates’ top affiliate.
“I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t hard, just because the game, it’s unforgiving. It’s going to do a lot of things to you,” Suwinski told the Post-Gazette last August in Columbus, Ohio. “But I just try and remember what I’m grateful for, and it’s just a passing season, passing storm. At the end of the day, you’re still going to learn stuff from it.
“It might not be exactly what you want out of it or what I want out of it, but it’s a good opportunity to just widen out your scope a little bit and see what you’re going through.”
What Suwinski, 26, learned from last season is that he needs to improve across the board. Specifically, though, he wanted to become a more dynamic athlete this season through altered weight room workouts.
Suwinski hopes that adjustment can help turn him into a more impactful player on the basepaths, in the outfield and, of course, in the batter’s box. He posted a .182/.264/.324 slash line across 277 MLB plate appearances last season and elevated balls with much less regularity as a result of a decreased launch angle.
This year, Suwinski would like to inch closer to being the player who smacked 26 home runs just two seasons ago.
“Being short to the ball, working through it good,” Suwinski said. “Driving the ball to the gaps and to center, staying in the big part of the field — not really getting too focused on the little, little things. Being competitive, working situational stuff like that.
“I think I’m really good when I just go out there and play and compete and just try to beat the guy on the mound.”
There were times last year, Suwinski conceded, that he got away from being himself. The slugging outfielder felt he was trending in a better direction, though, at the tail end of the season when he was with Indianapolis.
“That was kind of more of who I want to be and who I am,” Suwinski said. “I think with the length of the season and how many things get thrown at you, it can happen. And it happened to me.
“I just want to get back to that competitive guy and when things pop up, address them but not linger on them too much.”
As part of his offseason hitting preparations, Suwinski sought some outside help. He linked up with Matt Lipka, a former first-round pick of the Braves and longtime minor leaguer, amid some time in Texas while visiting his wife’s family.
Lipka specializes in hitting and works closely with the Dodgers’ Max Muncy, a two-time All-Star and World Series champion. Though Suwinski wasn’t able to hit with Muncy this offseason like he’d hoped to, he was pleased to connect with Lipka in a relatively lowkey setting and talk shop.
“It was pretty relaxed, to be honest,” Suwinski said. “I think he kind of respected what I was doing at the time. We didn’t do anything crazy. We just did a little bit of tee, a little bit of toss and a little bit of a short over.”
Suwinski has also gotten the chance to work with new Pirates hitting coach Matt Hague this spring. Their interactions haven’t been too in depth so far, as Hague continues to make the rounds with all the Pirates’ position players.
Regardless, an eager Suwinski has nothing but high marks for Hague so far.
“It’s been really good,” Suwinski said. “Our conversations have been good. I’ve been really excited to talk with him more.”
So, too, would Suwinski have every reason to be excited about his start to the Grapefruit League slate. In need of a bounce-back spring considering the plethora of Pirates outfielders in Bradenton, Suwinski has risen to the occasion so far.
In 25 at-bats entering Friday, Suwinski was hitting .320 with a home run, three doubles, six RBIs and three stolen bases. Of course, Suwinski has been down this road before and isn’t one to put too much stock into either a good or bad spring training.
Just last year, Suwinski had a solid spring, hitting .269 with four home runs in 18 games ahead of his most challenging big-league season to date.
“Spring,” Suwinski said, “it’s a little deceiving because you’re trying to figure some things out, refine a couple things, put it together a little bit.”
But rather than work through any kinks in his swing, Suwinski is confident with where he’s at, and he intends to keep his process simple the rest of March. Suwinski wants to lean into his strengths in the batter’s box and be a tougher out than he was for the vast majority of 2024.
So far, so good on that front. He’s once again demonstrated some serious pop and defensive versatility in the outfield, too. And not only is Suwinski back to providing a keen eye, but he’s fouling pitches off, working deeper counts and forcing opposing pitchers to respect him in the process.
“I think that’s something I’m good at. I’ll battle guys, wear them down,” Suwinski said. “Now, just go in there and get used to competing.”
First Published: March 15, 2025, 9:30 a.m.
Updated: March 17, 2025, 12:49 p.m.
