Jack Suwinski's new approach to the plate hasn't worked so far

Pittsburgh Pirates' outfielder Jack Suwinski has seemingly changed his approach, but not for the better. Although he's striking out less, it's led to less raw power and, subsequently, less game power and good contact overall. This approach hasn't seemed to work for Suwinski so far this year, and it might be time for him to revert back to his old approach, even if that means striking out at a high rate.

Suwinski has struck out in just 18.9% of his plate appearances this year, a massive dip from the 32.2% K% he had in 2023. His 9.4% walk rate hasn't changed much from last year, but he's been a lot more aggressive this year in the batter's box. Suwinski has swung outside the strike zone 25.8% of the time, compared to 18.2% last year. Even though he's swinging outside the strike zone more frequently, he is making more contact, as his chase contact percentage has risen from just about 45% last year to nearly 70% this year. His zone contact rate has also gone up from 77.5% to 87.1%.

While on paper, it might seem good that Suwinski is making more contact and striking out less frequently, it's not been for the best. Suwinski's exit velocity has dipped by five MPH from 90.5 MPH to just 85.5 MPH. His barrel rate has dropped even more dramatically from 15.7% to 5.5%. Suwinski's power output has dropped significantly, but his launch angle has barely changed from 22.4 degrees to 21.7 degrees. According to Baseball Savant, batted balls at 85 MPH with a 22-degree launch angle result in a batting average of just .238, with about 10% of the hits going for extra bases. While batting average drops to .199 when you raise the exit velocity to 91 MPH with the same launch angle, the chances of getting an extra-base hit go up to 16.1%.

It's still early, and Suwinski only has 53 plate appearances, but his .170/.245/.255 triple-slash is a massive letdown after his .224/.339/.454 slash last year. Things can obviously change, and Suwinski could all of a sudden learn how to lower his strikeout rate while hitting for the same amount of raw power. But if this continues, I don't see how they can't have him swing the bat like he used to, even if it means striking out over 30% of the time again.

Fewer strikeouts are good. K's are some of the most unproductive outs in baseball. The Pirates strike out a lot.

But is it worth the lower K% and more balls put in play if they result in more outs and lead to less production? Jack Suwinski isn't Luis Arraez, and that's okay. If Suwinski is at his best when he is a three-true-outcomes hitter, then it's best to build and improve his game around that rather than another approach.