Pittsburgh Pirates: Who is Prospect Michael Suchy?

Mandatory Credit: David Richard-USA TODAY Sports
Mandatory Credit: David Richard-USA TODAY Sports

With the World Baseball Classic going on, there are many Pittsburgh Pirates minor league players getting into games.  They are getting chances to face big league talent and expose themselves to the big league coaching staff.

So far this Spring Training, the Pittsburgh Pirates have been able to get some of their prospects into game action.  Austin Meadows has received the biggest opportunity to impress, as he has seen 25 at-bats so far.  Meanwhile, other top prospects like Kevin Newman, Elias Diaz, and Nick Kingham have also gotten a good amount of experience too. One trend that often happens in Spring Training is teams will pull some of their lower minor league players over to help fill out the roster for games.

Minor League Players in Spring Training Games

There have been quite a few lower level players who have come over and appeared for the Bucs that fans know.  Some players like Jordan Luplow, Elvis Escobar, and Jason Creasy have made appearances.  These are names that most avid fans are familiar to some degree. If you read our site consistently you should know the name Jordan Luplow. We have Luplow ranked in the top 25 prospects for the Pittsburgh Pirates.  Also, he was a third round pick in 2014.  Elvis Escobar is familiar to many because he was given a significant bonus of $570,000 (Baseball America).  Also, he was signed at the same time as former Top Ten prospect Harold Ramirez.  Meanwhile, Creasy has been a pitcher who has slowly been working his way up the minor leagues.

One of the other lower minor prospects that have appeared in games is outfielder Michael Suchy.  There has been a lot of fans asking who Suchy is, and how the Pittsburgh Pirates got him.  This mainly stems from the size of him, as he looks like more like a football player than a baseball player.  Suchy has not done much, but he has seemed to pique some Pittsburgh Pirates fans interest as a name that they have not recognized. This mainly is because of his lackluster minor league career thus far, but still, he is a prospect of some recognition.

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Scouting Report

Michale Suchy is an outfielder who mainly plays right field. The right-handed hitter was taken out of Florida Gulf Coast in the 2014 draft.  He was a fifth-round pick by the Pittsburgh Pirates.  With the Bucs making him that high of a pick, there is some degree of belief that he has some upside.  The upside mainly stems from his raw tools.  Suchy is 6’3” and 230 pounds, and he is built like a middle linebacker.

Being this size, he obviously has a lot of natural, raw power.  Also, he is considered an above-average runner, and has an average arm for the right field position.  However, there is always that one problem that most built, athletic players have, his ability to make contact.  In his last two minor league seasons, he has struck out 209 times in 239 games.  This is not terrible, but these numbers could very well continue to increase as the level of competition gets better.

Minor League Numbers

So far in his minor league career, Suchy has a career slash line of .256/.347/.386.  The numbers seem a little off compared to his profile, specifically his power.  In 2015, he slugged a solid .444 with 10 home runs for the Low-A West Virginia Power.  However, in High-A Bradenton his slugging decreased to a meager .355.  One positive is that he got on base at a .340 clip last year at High-A while hitting just .246.  He also saw himself strike out .90 times per game at High-A compared to .83 times at Low-A in 2015.

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All in all, Michael Suchy is not a prospect that is expected to turn into an everyday player.  However, being that the Pittsburgh Pirates are giving him a chance to play some in big league camp, they must feel he is someone who is worth to keep working with in the minors.  If he continues to develop at the plate, he could have enough tools to make the big leagues as a bench player.  However, being he will likely start the year at Double-A, he still has at least a good two years before he would be considered as an option in Pittsburgh. In those two years, he needs to add some power back to his swing while managing his strikeouts.