Amid season of struggles, Pirates' Jack Suwinski hopes to manufacture momentum after 3-hit night

As it pertains individually to Jack Suwinski, this season has been a failure for the Pittsburgh Pirates in rediscovering the slugger who hit 19 homers in 106 games as a rookie two years ago and 26 in 2023, his first full MLB campaign.

Suwinski’s offensive production has fallen in every imaginable category this year, as evidenced by his .168/.253/.289 slash line entering July.

The 25-year-old’s struggles even led to a demotion to Triple-A Indianapolis in late May, which ended after about two weeks when the Pirates were short-handed in the outfield due to Ji Hwan Bae’s wrist injury and Michael A. Taylor heading to the paternity list.

Even if Suwinski’s stint with the Indians was shorter than anticipated, allowing for less time to work things out at the plate, the Pirates retained confidence in him.

“The one thing I think we can hold our hat on (is) there’s not a lot of guys that can hit 20 home runs in the big leagues,” manager Derek Shelton said. “And we know it’s in there. It’s just finding out that one thing that’s going to click that allows him to start to go.”

While the bad has still largely outweighed the good for Suwinski in 2024, he put together an encouraging performance in Tuesday’s 7-4 series-opening loss to St. Louis at PNC Park, going 3 for 3 with two singles and a three-run homer.

Jack Suwinski is 3-3 so far tonight pic.twitter.com/BwV9AN9qix

— Platinum Ke’Bryan (@PlatinumKey13) July 3, 2024

It was Suwinski’s first three-hit game and only his seventh multi-hit performance of the season.

“It’s big-time, just something I’ll take with me into the next couple games and just keep rolling with that,” Suwinski said postgame.

Suwinski singled on a 2-2 sweeper from Cardinals starter Kyle Gibson in the bottom of the third.

In the fifth, he connected off Gibson again, lifting a full-count fastball over the right-center field stands and into the Allegheny River for a three-run homer.

JACK SUWINSKI ???? pic.twitter.com/iwcXsXsxxO

— Pittsburgh Pirates (@Pirates) July 3, 2024

Then in the seventh, Suwinski managed another single, this time on a slider from Cardinals reliever Ryan Fernandez.

Suwinski managing hits on three different pitches — a heater and two off-speed balls — added another encouraging layer to his performance.

“Good swings, aggressive swings, was out front — that was the most important thing,” Shelton said. “I think it just shows (that he) was not in-between on the fastball and then got the other two pitches out front. Overall, a positive night for Jack.”

To an extent, Suwinski also draws faith from his past body of work.

Yet focusing on the road ahead and not behind is how he chooses to approach things.

“Some of the things I’ve done now (help me look) forward to the future,” Suwinski said. “But just staying in the moment and being where my feet are is important, too.”

With a 25-game hit streak still fresh in the rearview mirror, fellow outfielder Bryan Reynolds has had about as opposite of an experience in the batter’s box imaginable.

Yet, he can still attest to navigating through cold streaks, something inherent to playing the game of baseball from a hitter’s perspective.

“When you’re struggling, you tend to try to overdo things, but sometimes you’ve got to just simplify and remember what made you good,” Reynolds said.

Shelton echoed a similar sentiment.

“We know he has the ability to hit the ball, impact the ball and drive the ball out of the ballpark,” he said. “So, I think it’s just the commitment to the fastball and commitment to the approach.”

First baseman Rowdy Tellez, actively managing an impressive turnaround by hitting .333 in June compared with only .143 in May and .192 in April, offers proof of the kind of bounce-backs that are possible with time.

The Pirates would benefit significantly if Suwinski could create momentum of similar caliber.

“Jack’s a big-leaguer for a reason,” Reynolds said. “He’s played well and has struggled. But I don’t think there’s any reason to think he’s not going to come out of it.”