Impressions From Pirates Spring Training: Part 2

Suwinski entered spring training without room for him in the Pirates starting lineup. Oneil Cruz’s move to center field is permanent. The Pirates aren’t paying Tommy Pham $4.025 million to watch somebody else play left field. Nobody is displacing right fielder Bryan Reynolds, the Pirates’ best player. But rather than sulk, Suwinski is making their decision a tough one. At the close of Sunday’s action, the 26-year-old is 7-for-20 with a home run in the exhibition season. These numbers could change drastically with an “oh-fer” on Monday evening, but just to add some perspective, his numbers translate to a .350/.409/.600 slash line in 22 plate appearances. He’s making his statement, as the TV talking heads are wont to say.

A Position Change?

Working to Suwinski’s advantage is his ability to play center field and hit left-handed. At age 37, the right-handed-hitting Pham is the most likely outfielder to need frequent off-days. Suwinski has also asked the Pirates to give him a look at first base, where no clear candidates have emerged to replace the injured Spencer Horwitz. Suwinski played there in an intrasquad game on Friday. There might be a fit there. Previously, the best candidates have been a trio of nonroster invitees. However, Darick Hall is only 2-for-18 so far this spring. DJ Stewart has one hit in his last eight at-bats and may be coming back to Earth. Pirates brass seem less excited than their fans about one-time prospect Matt Gorski, whose three home runs in the spring training games have come in the late innings against minor league pitchers.

Miscast Leadoff Batters

Horwitz was ticketed to hit in the leadoff spot of the Pirates batting order to take advantage of his on-base skills. Until he returns, manager Derek Shelton has settled on Pham to hit the leadoff. Suwinski has been used there, too, in the Pirates spring training games. Pham sports a career OBP of .346, which would be ideal, except that it’s the product of wildly fluctuating numbers. It’s been as high as .411 in 2017 and as low as .305 last year. It has declined sharply since 2021 .340. Suwinski, on the other hand, has an inadequate career OBP of .309.

Pham (at 11.2 percent) and Suwinski (12.1 percent) have career walk rates well above the major league average. Shelton might be thinking their knowledge of the strike zone might carry the day in the leadoff position. Neither is a prototypical leadoff man. Then again, the Pirates haven’t had one of those since John Jaso retired after the 2017 season. Furthermore, the Pirates won the National League East Division three years in a row from 1990-92 without an ideal leadoff batter. Their manager, Jim Leyland, would tell the media, don’t worry, when the game starts tonight, somebody will be batting first.

Doing the Infield Shuffle

Isiah Kiner-Falefa, the favorite for the shortstop position, wants to improve on the .240/.265/. He produced 322 slash line for Pittsburgh after coming over in a deadline deal last year. Yet, he’s just 4-for-18 in spring training.

The Pirates have an abundance of middle infielders in spring training camp. Ji Hwan Bae, Adam Frazier, Luis Peguero, Jared Triolo, Enmanuel Valdéz, and Nick Yorke are all vying for spots. Only Frazier and Triolo are assured of surviving spring training. This writer was intrigued, if nobody else was, by Sunday’s starting lineup that had Gonzales at shortstop and Peguero at second base, each playing the other’s natural position. They traded positions later in the game, but one wonders why Shelton wanted to see that infield alignment. Shelton is notorious for not employing a set lineup. Not many teams do these days. It’s still early, but I’m sensing that we may see various middle infield combinations, at least at the start of the season.

Concern Over Heaney

There’s no way to sugarcoat it. The Pirates latest addition, left-hander and $5.25-million-man Andrew Heaney has stunk in two spring training games. He’s given up eight runs (all earned), seven hits, and five walks in four innings. Again, it’s a small sample size, but it translates to an 18.00 ERA, 3.000 WHIP, and 11.3 walks per nine innings. He told the media he’s not worried. He always had bad springs.

Point taken. My crack research team (me) did some digging and ciphering, to borrow a Jethro Bodine word. From 2021-24 in the spring, he’s 0-5 with a 7.51 ERA and 1.805 WHIP. That’s with an anomalous 2024 spring when he kept his ERA down to 3.60. Over these same four springs, he’s struck out 10.8 batters per nine innings, indicating he eventually finds his velocity. One supposes that at age 33, with 11 years in the majors, he knows how to prepare for a season.