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Pittsburgh Pirates: Starting Pitching Steps Up & More Takeaways From Series Victory Over the Mets
By Marty Leap
Jack Suwinski needs talked about more
Jack Suwinski flashed at times as a rookie last season. He played slighty above average defense in the outfield while also hitting for a ton of power. However, there were still plenty of facets of his game where he needed to improve.
To Suwinski's credit, he has made improvements this season and taken huge strides as a hitter. After another strong series, including a crucial home run in Sunday's 2-1 victory, it's time that Suwinski gets talked about more.
The 24-year-old currently owns a .244/.354/.517 slash line this season to go with a 14.6% walk rate, 134 wRC+, 136 OPS+, and a .273 isolated slugging (ISO). His 13 home runs put him on pace to potentially flirt with 40 home runs this season. His 1.7 WAR is second on the team behind only Keller.
The left-handed hitter has also steadily shown improvement against left-handed pitching this season. After batting a paltry .122 with a .225 on-base percentage against LHP last season, those numbers have improved to a .200 average and .286 OBP this season. Not great numbers, but the eye test and watching Suwinski's swing/at-bats will tell you he's steadily improving against LHP. That includes game one of this series when he had multiple hits off a LHP in the same game for the first time in his MLB career.
What seems like very quietly, Suwinski has become one of the best players on this team. He is undoubtedly one of the most important bats in an inconsistent at best Pirate lineup. It's time Pirate fans begin to discuss Suwinski as such.