Jack Suwinski: Approach balances strengths and weaknesses

Suwinski's strengths have been able to hide his weaknesses so far, can it continue?

Photo Credit: Ryan Palencer

It’s been interesting watching Jack Suwinski since he made his major league debut with the Pirates.

There is no denying the power, as he’s hit 45 home runs in his first two years combined. He did that while playing a solid center field, improving from 2022 to last season.

So, having a player capable of 20+ home runs and playing solid defense at a premium position should be a slam-dunk cornerstone player in most cases.

That’s where it’s been interesting to watch Suwinski play, as while the good is very good, the bad can be league-worst bad as well.

Just last year, Suwinski ranked in the 90th percentile or better when it came to Barrel, Chase, and Walk rates but also finished among the league’s worst in Expected Batting Average (xBA) and Whiff and Strikeout rate.

The amazing part of Suwinski’s success is that while Suwinski rarely chases out of the zone, helping lead to more walks, he’s also struggled to make consistent contact, which would suggest it’s some pitches in the zone he’s having a problem with.

Despite struggling with some swing-and-miss, the fact that Suwinski doesn’t chase out of the zone and is willing to take a walk (14% in 2023) forces pitchers to perhaps throw him more fastballs than they want.

Suwinski saw fastballs at the plate 54% of the time, slugging .524 against them, with 17 of his 26 home runs also being hit. His xBA and xSLG both show that he should be able to maintain that in the future, as they are very similar to his actual numbers.

While there are some red flags with Suwinski’s game, whether it be the strikeouts or his limitations against left-handed pitching (career 68 wRC+), he’s countered them well with other parts of his approach that allow him to have the success he’s had.

There will always be a chance that those red flags catch up to him, but until it does, few in the game can match Suwinski with the power he hits the ball with when it’s put in play.