NOTES FROM BRADENTON
Outside of yesterday's game recap, be sure to also check out the Pirate bobblehead promotions schedule for 2024 as well as Noah Wright's piece on three pitchers who enter the spring out of options, and could become available to pursue via waivers.
Over on MLB.com, Pirates beat writer Alex Stumpf had a piece on Monday regarding outfielder Jack Suwinski who hopes to become a more consistent player for the Pirates this season.
Last season, Suwinski put up 26 home runs while knocking in 74 but did so on a .224/.339/.454 slash and through his first 250 career games in the Major Leagues, has only hit to the tune of .215/.322/.436 over his first career 906 plate appearances.
The Pirates as a whole have been hitting the ball hard so far this spring. On Monday against the Blue Jays, out of the 10 hardest-hit balls by either team, six were from the Pirates including five of the top seven. Henry Davis had the hardest batted ball of any Pirate with a 108.9 mph line drive out. Termarr Johnson's pair of home runs were the third and fourth hardest-hit balls of the game as well at 104.1 and 103.1 mph. Tsung-Che Cheng had a 101.2 mph single in the eighth inning while Edward Olivares had a 101.1 mph ground out in the fourth.