Jack

Suwinski

Suwinski had an impressive Cactus League season with his new ballclub, hitting .375 (3-for-8) with three homers and five RBI in his limited action, but he was never going to crack a crowded Opening Day roster. He’ll open the season as a regular in the lineup at Triple-A Oklahoma City.

Suwinski was DFA’d by the Pirates on Feb. 16 and claimed by the Dodgers on Feb. 21, but he went right back on waivers again afterwards and cleared this time. As a result, he hadn’t gotten to play in a major league spring game until today. It doesn’t seem likely that the Dodgers will ever have much use for him, but if he thrives in Triple-A, another club might trade for him.

It qualifies as a massive surprise that Suwinski passed through waivers unclaimed. He’ll remain with the Dodgers as organizational outfield depth heading into the regular season. The 27-year-old was gobbled up from the Pirates last month as a potential reclamation project. The procedural move frees up a spot on Los Angeles’ 40-man roster.

Suwinski is a worthwhile lottery ticket for the Dodgers player development machine since he’s just a couple years removed from a 26-homer campaign at the highest level. The 27-year-old will need to improve his plate discipline to return to fantasy relevance but Los Angeles represents a fascinating landing spot if injuries ever opened up an opportunity. He’ll slot in behind Kyle Tucker, Teoscar Hernández and Andy Pages as quality organizational depth.

The free-swinging 27-year-old outfielder slashed a putrid .147/.281/.253 with three homers, 10 RBI and a 57/24 K/BB ratio in 178 plate appearances with the Pirates during the 2025 season. He has serious pop in his left-handed bat, which may be enough for another team to take a chance on him on waivers or in a trade despite his swing-and-miss issues.

Suwinski hit .147 (22-for-150) with three homers and seven steals in 59 games last season in the majors. The 27-year-old strikeout-prone outfielder projects as more of a righty-mashing platoon option than an everyday option at this stage of his development.

Suwinski collected multiple hits for the first time since Aug. 10. He’s started 43 games this year and had multiple hits just three times, which is the kind of thing that explains his .148 average. Of course, Suwinski has never hit for average, but he showed enough pop to be a decent enough platoon starter in 2022 and ’23 anyway. That hasn’t been the case the last two years, as his barrel rate has gone from 14% to 10%. It’s possible a change of scenery could help; not only are the Pirates not very good at developing hitters, but their ballpark is perhaps the worst for left-handed power in the majors.

Suwinski missed 17 days with a strained right groin. He’ll go back to being an occasional corner outfielder against righties. His very bleak season at age 27 will probably result in him being set free this winter, but that’s not completely assured just yet. He’s hitting just .132/.286/.240 in 147 plate appearances.

No word yet on the severity of the strain or on how much time Suwinski may wind up missing. The 27-year-old outfielder had been slashing a dreadful .132/.286/.240 with three homers, eight RBI and six stolen bases in 147 plate appearances with the Bucs. Ronny Simon was recalled from Triple-A Indianapolis in a corresponding move on Friday.

The 27-year-old outfielder tagged Cubs’ closer Daniel Palencia for his 376-foot (102.0 mph EV) solo shot that gave the Bucs a 3-2 lead and proved to be the difference in the ballgame. Suwinski finished the day 1-for-3 and is slashing a cringe-inducing .125/.282/.240 with three homers and six RBI with the Pirates this season. For at least one day though, he got to be the hero on Friday afternoon.