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Pirates Announce Several Roster Moves

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The Pirates announced a series of roster moves today. They recalled catcher Henry Davis, outfielder Jack Suwinski and infielder Liover Peguero from Triple-A Indianapolis. They also selected the contract of right-handed reliever Ben Heller from Indy. In one corresponding move, they placed infielder/outfielder Ji Hwan Bae on the 10-day injured list with a right wrist sprain, retroactive to June 3. Outfielder Michael A. Taylor went on the paternity list, opening another roster spot, while left-hander Jose Hernandez was optioned to Triple-A and catcher Grant Koch was designated for assignment.

Additionally, the club reinstated catcher Jason Delay from the 60-day IL and optioned him to Triple-A. To open a 40-man spot for him, left-hander Marco Gonzales was transferred to the 60-day IL.

The news on Davis was reported on the weekend. Manager Derek Shelton was on 93.7 The Fan earlier today, as relayed by Noah Hiles of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, and revealed the news about Suwinski, Peguero, Bae and Taylor.

Davis, the No. 1 overall pick from the 2021 draft, returns to the majors after spending a bit more than a month in Triple-A. He’d gotten out to not only a rough start in 2024 (.162/.280/.206 in 83 plate appearances) but to his overall big league career. The former Louisville star also struggled through 255 plate appearances last season in his debut campaign and carries a disappointing .201/.297/.319 slash to this point in the majors.

Of course, that’s a small sample of just 338 plate appearances — far too limited a data set to make any broad-reaching conclusions about Davis’ long-term outlook. He looked reinvigorated during his short time in Indianapolis, utterly laying waste to International League pitching. In 101 turns at the dish, Davis recorded an outrageous .296/.436/.642 batting line with seven home runs and seven doubles.

Davis has long been viewed as a bat-first catching prospect, which admittedly makes his early struggles at the plate concerning but also creates some optimism that he’ll eventually turn a corner in the batter’s box. The Pirates’ hope is that this brief Indy reset will be a catalyst for just such a turnaround. And with Joey Bart now joining fellow catcher Endy Rodriguez on the injured list, Davis should have a clear opportunity to prove he can carry some of those gains over to the MLB level.

Suwinski will return after just a week in the minors. He was optioned last week after struggling to a brutal .174/.268/.297 slash to begin what he hoped would be a strong follow-up to last year’s 26-homer breakout. His rate stats were better in Indianapolis, as he hit .250/.276/.429 with a homer and a triple in his seven-game sample, but Suwinski also fanned in 13 of his 29 plate appearances (44.8%). That’s not the type of progress for which he and the team were hoping, but Bae’s injury created an outfield need and forced the team’s hand.

Heller, 32, has pitched in parts of five major league seasons and has a 3.06 ERA in 50 big league innings, albeit with a below-average 20.9% strikeout rate and a hefty 11.8% walk rate. Metrics like FIP and SIERA both peg him north of 5.00. He’s benefited from some decent fortune on balls in play (.261 BABIP) and a sky-high 89% strand rate that’s about 17 percentage points higher than average.

That said, Heller has also posted genuinely intriguing numbers in Indianapolis this year — none more so than his enormous 43% strikeout rate. Through 18 1/3 frames, he’s yielded a 4.91 ERA, but most of the damage against him came in one stretch of four straight appearances in which he allowed runs. He’s since rattled off 5 2/3 shutout frames, fanning 10 opponents along the way against four walks. Command is still an issue for Heller, but his 10.1% walk rate in Triple-A is a bit better than his big league standards.

Koch was only just called to the majors for his big league debut when Bart landed on the injured list. The 27-year-old former fifth-rounder appeared in three games but did not collect a hit in eight trips to the plate. He’s a .236/.295/.362 hitter in parts of two Triple-A seasons. The Pirates will have a week to trade Koch, attempt to pass him through outright waivers, or release him.

Delay played a prominent role with the Pirates over the past couple seasons and hit .251/.319/.347 in 187 plate appearances last year. That’s respectable production for a backup catcher, but Delay is generally considered just that — a backup option behind the dish — whereas Davis is the potential future if not at catcher then perhaps at first base or in right field. The Pirates understandably want to give Davis as many opportunities as possible, and he’ll now slide back into the primary catcher role with veteran Yasmani Grandal backing him up.

As for Gonzales, his move to the 60-day IL was largely procedural. The team needed a 40-man spot to reinstate Delay, and Gonzales has been on the 15-day IL since April 14. He’ll be eligible to return later this month, but he’s yet to begin throwing. He’s out with a strained left forearm muscle and may not be back until the season’s second half at this rate.

MLB Issues Lifetime Ban To Tucupita Marcano For Betting On Baseball, Announces Four Other One-Year Suspensions

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Major League Baseball announced Tuesday morning that Padres infielder Tucupita Marcano has been declared permanently ineligible for violating the league’s sports betting rules and policies — specifically Rule 21(d)(2). Per this morning’s press release:

In March 2024, MLB learned from a legal sports betting operator that it had identified past baseball betting activity from accounts connected to multiple Major and Minor League players.  MLB obtained data from that operator and other sportsbooks, including authentication data for bets.  None of these players played in any game on which they placed a bet.  Further, all of the players denied that they had any inside information relevant to the bets or that any of the baseball games they bet on were compromised or manipulated, and the betting data does not suggest that any outcomes in the baseball games on which they placed bets were compromised, influenced, or manipulated in any way. None of the players are appealing their discipline.

Under Major League Rule 21, “Any player, umpire, or Club or League official or employee, who shall bet any sum whatsoever upon any baseball game in connection with which the bettor has no duty to perform, shall be declared ineligible for one year.” Whereas, “Any player, umpire, or Club or League official or employee, who shall bet any sum whatsoever upon any baseball game in connection with which the bettor has a duty to perform, shall be declared permanently ineligible.”

MLB’s investigation found that from Oct. 16-23, 2022 and from July 12 to November 1, 2023, Marcano placed 387 bets on baseball, including 25 bets on Pirates games where he was a member of Pittsburgh’s roster. All 25 of those Pirates bets came while Marcano was rehabbing from a season-ending ACL tear, so he did not appear in any of the games in question. The bets nonetheless violate the league policy and have thus triggered the lifetime ban.

The league’s investigation found that Marcano placed more than $150K worth of bets on baseball. Most of the bets in question were parlays, some including his own (at the time) Pirates club. Marcano’s bets typically involved the Pirates winning the game or were over/under bets on the number of runs scored within the game.

Major League Baseball also announced that Athletics right-hander Michael Kelly, Diamondbacks lefty Andrew Saalfrank, Padres minor league pitcher Jay Groome and Phillies minor league infielder Jose Rodriguez have been given one-year bans for violating Rule 21(d)(1). All four players were found to have made bets on Major League Baseball games but were not on the Major League roster or injured list of any teams involved in the bets they placed.

Kelly, 31, is an active member of the Athletics’ bullpen and has pitched to a 2.59 ERA in 31 1/3 innings this season. His bets were all placed in Oct. 2021, when the right-hander was with the Astros’ Triple-A affiliate. He made only ten bets for a total of $99.92, with three of those bets coming on games involving the Astros’ big league club during the postseason. Despite the meager total of Kelly’s bets, his gambling activity was a violation of the rule in place and will trigger that one-year ban.

Similarly, each of Saalfrank ($445), Groome ($453) and Rodriguez ($749) bet under $1,000 on Major League games back in 2020-21. All were minor league players at the time — Saalfrank with Arizona’s Low-A team, Groome with the Red Sox’ High-A affiliate and Rodriguez with the White Sox’ Double-A club.

Commissioner Rob Manfred issued the following statement on today’s suspensions:

“The strict enforcement of Major League Baseball’s rules and policies governing gambling conduct is a critical component of upholding our most important priority: protecting the integrity of our games for the fans. The longstanding prohibition against betting on Major League Baseball games by those in the sport has been a bedrock principle for over a century. We have been clear that the privilege of playing in baseball comes with a responsibility to refrain from engaging in certain types of behavior that are legal for other people. Since the Supreme Court decision opened the door to legalized sports betting, we have worked with licensed sports betting operators and other third parties to put ourselves in a better position from an integrity perspective through the transparency that a regulated sports betting system can provide. MLB will continue to invest heavily in integrity monitoring, educational programming and awareness initiatives with the goal of ensuring strict adherence to this fundamental rule of our game.”

MLBTR readers can view the league’s entire press release, which contains further specifics on the nature of each player’s bets, in its entirety at MLB.com.

Tucupita Marcano Under Investigation For Betting On Baseball

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Padres infielder Tucupita Marcano is under investigation by Major League Baseball for betting on baseball while a member of the Pirates, according to a report from Jared Diamond and Lindsey Adler of The Wall Street Journal. Marcano is facing a lifetime ban. Four other players are under investigation for betting on baseball while in the minor leagues as well, though the identities of those others are not known. The report adds that there’s no evidence at this point of games being manipulated.

Marcano, 24, was placed on the injured list by the Pirates in July of last year and eventually underwent surgery to repair the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee. The Padres claimed him off waivers in November and he has been on the injured list for all of 2024 so far, still recovering from that surgery.

Per the report from Diamond and Adler, Marcano “has been accused of betting on games involving the Pittsburgh Pirates last season while he was on the injured list for that team.” Per the report, the league and the MLB Players’ Association are still discussing Marcano’s ultimate punishment but, as mentioned, a lifetime ban is on the table. Marcano, the league and the union all declined to comment for the piece, though the Padres released a statement:

“We are aware of an active investigation by Major League Baseball regarding a matter that occurred when the player in question was a member of another organization and not affiliated with the San Diego Padres. We will not have any further comment until the investigative process has been completed.”

Brian Warecki, Pirates’ senior vice president of Communications, also issued a statement, relayed by Noah Hiles of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on X. “We are aware of the matter that’s under investigation and are fully cooperating. We will refrain from further comment at this time.”

As relayed by the WSJ piece, the league’s gambling policy is prominently displayed in all clubhouses. Baseball players are legally allowed to bet on other sports but not on baseball. A player betting on teams other than his own faces a one-year suspension but betting on a game involving his own team results in a lifetime ban.

Gambling scandals have been around almost as long as baseball itself. Most famously, the “Black Sox Scandal” saw eight members of the 1919 White Sox were banned for life after being accused of taking bribes from gamblers to throw that year’s World Series. MLB’s all-time hits leader Pete Rose also received a lifetime ban in 1989 after accusations that he gambled on the Reds during his time as a player and manager.

More recently, gambling scandals have come back into the spotlight, thanks to a 2018 Supreme Court decision that opened the door for states to legalize the practice. Ippei Mizuhara, the former interpreter for Shohei Ohtani, is in the process of pleading guilty to bank fraud and subscribing to a false tax return in relation to a gambling scandal. To this point, the evidence of that case suggests he didn’t bet on baseball. However, he did make bets with an illegal bookmaker in California, where sports betting is still illegal. He is alleged to have stolen millions of dollars from an account in Ohtani’s name in order to pay off his debts. David Fletcher of the Braves is also under investigation for placing bets with the same bookmaker as Mizuhara, though Fletcher isn’t accused of placing bets on baseball either. Gambling has also been an issue in other sports, with Jontay Porter receiving a ban from the NBA for gambling violations while playing for the Raptors.

Mizuhara and Fletcher both bet on other sports in a state where it’s illegal, while Mizuhara is also alleged to have committed several financial crimes. MLB commissioner Rob Manfred discussed those situations last month and said the league would be taking a hands-off approach until the legal process played out.

The Marcano situation would appear to be a different matter. If the accusations are proven to be true and he did indeed bet on the Pirates while a member of the team, it would appear to be a straightforward case where a lifetime ban will be the result. Further details on this case, and the cases of the other four players, will undoubtedly be forthcoming in the future.

Pirates To Call Up Henry Davis

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After a month at Triple-A Indianapolis, former first overall pick Henry Davis is headed back to the majors, as Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (X link) reports that the Pirates are calling Davis up in advance of their next game on Tuesday against the Dodgers.  The corresponding move isn’t yet known, but it seems likely that backup catcher Grant Koch will be optioned to Triple-A a few days after making his big league debut.

Davis, the first overall pick of the 2021 draft, hit .213/.302/.351 over 255 plate appearances after making his MLB debut last season.  Davis only played as a catcher in two games during his rookie season, but headed into 2024 slated for a heavier workload behind the plate once fellow rookie catcher Endy Rodriguez underwent season-ending UCL surgery during the offseason.  Injuries to Yasmani Grandal and Jason Delay further cleared the path for more playing time for Davis at catcher, but the struggles continued both offensively and defensively.

Pitch-framing remains an issue for Davis, and the Defensive Runs Saved metric rates him a -2 based on his 184 1/3 innings at catcher this season.  With the bat, Davis has hit only .162/.280/.206, and struck out in 29 of his 83 plate appearances.

The decision was made on May 3 to send Davis to Indianapolis for more seasoning, and Davis has responded by hitting .286/.433/.649 with seven home runs over 97 PA.  While Davis torched minor league pitching during his initial trip up the Pirates’ pipeline, it should be noted that Davis had only 63 PA at Triple-A when the Bucs first promoted him last season.  It could be that he was simply brought up a bit too soon, even if Davis also might’ve forced the Pirates’ hand by looking like he had little left to prove in the minors.

Delay just started a minor league rehab assignment, so while he is eligible to be activated from the 60-day IL later this week, he’ll need quite a bit of time to get ramped up after missing almost the entire season due to meniscus surgery.  Joey Bart was also just placed on the 10-day IL with a thumb injury, while Grandal is healthy but has struggled badly at the plate.  With this lack of depth and Davis’ overall import as a cornerstone of Pittsburgh’s rebuild, he should have plenty of runway for playing time as the team’s regular catcher.  Andrew McCutchen has the everyday DH spot pretty well covered, so while Davis could conceivably get some more work as an outfielder if the Pirates are looking for ways to get his bat into the lineup, the likeliest scenario is that Grandal just moves into a backup role.

Pirates Place Martín Pérez, Joey Bart On Injured List

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The Pirates have placed left-hander Martín Pérez on the 15-day injured list due to a left groin strain and placed catcher Joey Bart on the 10-day injured list with an left thumb injury, per a team announcement. (Further details on Bart’s injury aren’t yet available.) In a pair of corresponding moves, Pittsburgh reinstated third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes from the injured list and selected the contract of catcher Grant Koch, who’ll make his big league debut when he first gets into a game.

Pérez exited his Sunday start after three innings. The 33-year-old appeared to tweak something while covering first base on a third-inning grounder (video link). While he finished out the frame, he was replaced in the fourth inning. Bart also departed yesterday’s contest early, but the severity of his injury — or even a formal diagnosis — has not yet been provided by the team.

Pittsburgh signed Pérez to a one-year, $8MM contract in the offseason, hoping he could provide some veteran stability at the back of a rotation they were expecting to rely heavily on Mitch Keller, Jared Jones and Paul Skenes. Through his first 11 starts, he’s more or less been that. Pérez has pitched to a pedestrian 4.71 ERA with an 18% strikeout rate and 7.5% walk rate in 57 1/3 innings. That number is still skewed to an extent by one nightmare outing that saw Pérez shellacked for nine runs at the hands of the Brewers. His combined ERA in 10 other starts sits at a far more palatable 3.61 mark.

While the veteran is on the shelf, the Bucs will still have that trio of Skenes, Jones and Keller to anchor the rotation, with Bailey Falter alongside them as well. They will likely need to find a fifth starter at some point, but they should have some time to figure that out. They were off yesterday and will be off again on Thursday and Monday. That means they could theoretically keep those four guys on regular rest through the first week of June without need of another starter.

Whether they wait until then or decide to bring up another arm sooner, they have some options. Quinn Priester and Daulton Jefferies are each on the 40-man roster and currently on optional assignment. They also have some non-roster guys with major league experience, including Domingo Germán and Wily Peralta.

Behind the plate, Bart’s injury gives the Bucs three catchers on the IL, as Jason Delay and Endy Rodríguez were already on the shelf. Rodríguez is out for the year due to UCL surgery while Delay underwent knee surgery earlier this year. Delay recently started a rehab assignment but has only played two games as part of that so far.

The Bucs have Yasmani Grandal on the roster and could have perhaps recalled Henry Davis to join him. Davis was optioned after hitting just .162/.280/.206 in the big leagues but has slashed .297/.444/.672 at Triple-A since being sent down. That latter line has come in a small sample of just 18 games and perhaps the club wants him to keep getting regular playing time away from the bright lights of the show. It’s also possible that Delay will be ready shortly and they didn’t want to promote Davis just for a few days. Another explanation is just that Koch happened to be available, as Kevin Gorman of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review relays on X that Koch was on the taxi squad.

Whatever the logic, the result is that Koch will get to the big leagues for the first time. The 27-year-old was drafted back in 2018 and has been climbing the minor league ladder since then. He has never really been on the radar of prospect evaluators and has hit just .203/.284/.322 in his minor league career. That includes a line of .167/.211/.259 in Triple-A this year while striking out in 42.4% of his plate appearances.

Despite the lackluster offense, Koch was the primary backstop of Skenes when the two were both at Triple-A, as relayed by Alex Stumpf of MLB.com on X. Stumpf then theorizes that the two could perhaps work together tomorrow, when Skenes is scheduled to start. Whatever the plan is, Koch will be making his major league debut as soon as skipper Derek Shelton sends him onto the field.

Latest On Ke'Bryan Hayes, Jason Delay

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Cubs left-hander Shota Imanaga was set to take the ball for a start against the Cardinals last night, but after rain caused the game to be postponed until July he’s seen his start pushed back until the club’s game against the Brewers on May 29. That scheduling change will give Imanaga a whopping ten days rest between his most recent start against the Pirates last week and his next, but Patrick Mooney of The Athletic writes that manager Craig Counsell made clear that Imanaga’s extended layoff wasn’t injury related, instead describing the decision as a “proactive” effort to manage his workload amid the 30-year-old lefty’s workload.

  • The Pirates offered updates on a handful of injured players today, as noted by Noah Hiles of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Most notable among those updates was that regarding third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes. Hayes has been on the shelf for two weeks due to low back inflammation but has resumed full baseball activities, and manager Derek Shelton told reporters (including Hiles) that they will meet to discuss the next steps of his rehab process. Given that encouraging update, it’s feasible to imagine Hayes heading out for a rehab assignment in the coming days, which could allow the third baseman to return to Pittsburgh at some point in early June. Jared Triolo has handled the hot corner while Hayes has been on the shelf.
  • Sticking with the Pirates, that same list of injury updates also relays positive news regarding catcher Jason Delay. The backstop underwent surgery to repair a torn meniscus in his right knee in mid-April and was expected to miss at least six weeks of action before undergoing baseball activities, but is already slated to start a rehab assignment just over a month after undergoing the procedure. Delay is currently on the 60-day injured list and would first be eligible to return to action in early June, although it’s feasible his rehab assignment could last longer than that given the lengthy layoff. Yasmani Grandal and Joey Bart have handled duties behind the plate in Delay’s absence, and it’s unclear if Delay would return to the big league club or be optioned to the minor leagues once healthy enough to be activated.

Pirates GM Ben Cherington Discusses Suwinski, Davis, Tellez

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Pirates GM Ben Cherington spoke to reporters (including Noah Hiles of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette) recently about the struggles a few key players have faced on offense this season in Pittsburgh, including recently-optioned outfielder Jack Suwinski. Despite the club’s decision to option the 25-year-old earlier this week, Cherington made clear that the club believes in his talent.

“Jack is really important to us,” Cherington said, as relayed by Hiles. “..Clearly believe that the best version of our team in 2024 has Jack on it, doing the things that we know he’s capable of doing. We tried to give that as much time as we could to get on track.”

That time to work things out came in the form of 157 plate appearances in the majors with Pittsburgh this season, where Suwinski slashed a brutal .174/.268/.297 despite being just one year removed from a breakout season where he posted a 112 wRC+ in 144 games as the club’s regular center fielder. That upside is certainly tantalizing, but Cherington indicated that the club’s decision to option him comes from a belief that Suwinski will need “consistent” at-bats on a daily basis that they can’t afford to him at the big league level.

With veteran franchise face Andrew McCutchen installed at DH and Bryan Reynolds taking one corner spot every day, that left just two spots in the outfield for a combination of Suwinski, Michael A. Taylor, Edward Olivares, and Connor Joe. Olivares and Joe have both hit fairly well to this point in the season, while Taylor is both not optionable and also an excellent defender in center field. Even with that outfield logjam complicating matters, Cherington still indicated that the club hopes that he’ll be able to show enough to return to the majors at some point this year, although he made clear that there is “no guarantee” as to when or if he’ll be back in the majors this year.

Suwinski isn’t the only potential core piece that the Pirates optioned to the minors this month, as the club also optioned catcher Henry Davis just after the calendar flipped to May. Davis, 24, was the first overall pick in the 2021 draft and made his debut last season but struggled at the plate while working almost exclusively as an outfielder. Injuries to the club’s catching corps this offseason spurred Pittsburgh to return Davis to his native position behind the plate, where he looked to be below average but serviceable with the glove. That would be well worthwhile if Davis was a stud on offense, but he hit just .162/.280/.206 in 23 games prior to his demotion.

Fortunately, Davis has caught fire in the weeks since then at Triple-A with an otherworldly .315/.456/.741 slash line in 15 games. That strong hot stretch earned Davis considerable praise from Cherington, who acknowledged that the youngster has been “working hard” since being optioned and that the club is seeing “progress” both in his on-field results and in the specific goals the club set out for him when he was demoted. If Davis can reach the ceiling that made him a consensus top-50 prospect in the sport a couple of years ago, that would be a huge boost to a Pirates club that has struggled to a 24-28 start this season despite winning 11 of their first 16 games this year.

Not every struggling player can be optioned to the minor leagues, of course, and that includes first baseman Rowdy Tellez. The 29-year-old slugger signed a one-year deal in Pittsburgh coming off a down season in Milwaukee last year and has looked even worse through 45 games with the Pirates this season, hitting a nightmarish .175/.242/.225 that’s a whopping 64% below the league average hitter in terms of wRC+.

In spite of his struggles, it doesn’t appear that the club doesn’t plan on giving up on Tellez any time soon, and Cherington confirmed as much in comments to reporters. While the GM acknowledged that the club isn’t “seeing the outcomes we hoped to see” out of Tellez to this point, he also made clear that Tellez is healthy and that the underlying skills that prompted the Pirates to target him, including his bat speed and strong power potential, don’t seem to have changed.

Even as the club intends to stick with Tellez for the time being, that doesn’t mean they haven’t begun to lean less heavily on him. Tellez is still a semi-regular fixture in the club’s lineup with appearances in 15 of the club’s 21 games this month, but Joe has begun to see increasing playing time at first base as a result of a strong .273/.344/.460 slash line in 45 games this season. Should the Pirates decide to move on from Tellez at some point, non-roster veteran Jake Lamb could serve as a potential left-handed complement to Joe at first base. The 33-year-old is currently playing for the Pirates on a minor league deal in their system with a .341/.428/.500 slash line in 37 games and had some success in the majors as recently as 2022.

Pirates Option Jack Suwinski

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The Pirates announced Thursday that they’ve optioned struggling outfielder Jack Suwinski to Triple-A Indianapolis. Left-hander Jose Hernandez has been recalled from Indy in his place.

It’s a notable turn of events for the Pirates and Suwinski, who looked to have emerged as a potential core piece for the Bucs just last season. Suwinski mashed his way into an everyday outfield role, clubbing 26 home runs and drawing plenty of walks en route to a .224/.339/.454 slash (112 wRC+). Everything’s gone in the wrong direction for the slugger this season, however. In his first 157 trips to the plate, Suwinski has posted an anemic .174/.268/.297 batting line.

The decline at the plate hasn’t followed the typical pattern. Suwinski has actually greatly improved on last year’s problematic 32.2% strikeout rate, punching out in a more palatable (albeit still higher-than-average) 25.5% of his plate appearances. He’s making contact at a much higher rate both on pitches within the strike zone (88% in ’24, 81.3% in ’23) and off the plate (60.2% in ’24, 52.7% in ’23).

Counter-intuitive as it may seem, that improved plate coverage has resulted in some ugly trends that have tamped down his production. For starters, Suwinski is swinging more in general. His 28.9% chase rate is lower than average but still up considerably from last year’s excellent 22% mark. That’s likely contributed to a dip in walk rate, which sat at a huge 14% a year ago but is down to 11.5% in 2023 (still about three percentage points north of average). It seems there’s been a conscious effort to be more assertive at the plate. Only eight qualified hitters swung less often than Suwinski in 2023, but this year there are 79 qualified bats swinging less often.

Suwinski’s more aggressive approach hasn’t generated quality contact, however. His ground-ball rate has spiked from 27.9% all the way to 44.4%. His line-drive rate is down two percentage points, while his fly-ball rate has plummeted by 14.2% percentage points (from 53.6% to 39.4%). He’s no longer elevating the ball at a strong rate, and when he does make contact, it’s been weaker in nature. He’s lost 2.4 mph off his average exit velocity and seen his hard-hit rate fall from 43.4% to 36.4%. After barreling up 15.7% of his batted balls last year (as measured by Statcast), he’s at just 6.1% in 2024.

Whether the more aggressive approach was intended to take advantage of Suwinski’s clearly plus power, to improve his batting average, some combination of the two or perhaps has simply been borne of frustration at his slow start, the results aren’t there. He’ll head to Indianapolis for now in an effort to get back on track and hopefully recapture some of the form that made him the Bucs’ top power threat just last season.

From a service time vantage point, the demotion won’t alter Suwinski’s path to free agency. He entered the season with 1.118 years of MLB service, meaning he only needed 54 days on the active roster or injured list to reach two years of service and remain on pace for free agency following the 2028 season. He reached that number earlier this week, so even in the unlikely event that he stays in the minors all year, he’d still have stayed on his prior free-agent trajectory. It’s at least possible this could cost him Super Two designation, as he’d have been on the Super Two bubble with 2.118 years of service this coming offseason, but he could remain on that bubble if his optional assignment is short enough. He’ll have to spend at least 10 days in the minors, unless he’s recalled sooner as a replacement for someone who’s being placed on the injured list.

With Suwinski no longer in the outfield fold, the Pirates figure to use a rotation of Bryan Reynolds, Michael A. Taylor, Ji Hwan Bae, Connor Joe and Edward Olivares. Taylor and Bae are likeliest to see time in center. Reynolds has split his time between the two corners this season but will be on the lineup on a near everyday basis. Olivares and Joe can rotate through the free corner spot, with Joe also an option at first base and either a candidate to stand in as the designated hitter (should Andrew McCutchen need a day off).

Pirates Notes: Bae, Tellez, Lamb

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The Pirates announced Tuesday that they’ve recalled infielder/outfielder Ji Hwan Bae from Triple-A Indianapolis and optioned righty Ryder Ryan to Triple-A in his place. (Noah Wiles of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette first reported Bae’s looming promotion). It’s the third straight season with some MLB time for Bae, but this time around he’ll be looking to carve out some staying power on the heels of a big start to his season in the International League.

Through his first 122 plate appearances of the season, Bae has turned in a ridiculous .367/.479/.551 batting line — about 72% better than league-average production, by measure of wRC+. He’s clearly earned himself a look in the majors, though there’s ample reason to take those rate stats with a grain of salt. For instance, Bae has been set down on strikes in 28% of his plate appearances so far. Were it not for a comically high .525 average on balls in play, his slash line wouldn’t look nearly so strong. Fans should temper their expectations, gaudy Triple-A stats notwithstanding.

That said, there are also some encouraging signs. Bae is drawing walks at a mammoth 17.2% clip through his first 27 Triple-A games. He’s popped four homers after only hitting three in 120 games (MLB and Triple-A combined) last season. He’s 7-for-10 in stolen bases as well, showing the speed that helped him swipe 24 bags for the Bucs just last season. At the very least, he’s deserving of an opportunity to try to show he’s better than 2023’s .231/.296/.311 slash in 371 big league plate appearances.

Bae has experience at second base and in the outfield, but the latter seems a likelier landing spot. The Pirates only recently called up second baseman Nick Gonzales in another effort to spark a tepid offense, and he’s already ripped a couple of homers while posting a solid enough .265/.297/.471 line in 38 turns at the plate.

One option for the Bucs would be to displace struggling first baseman Rowdy Tellez, pushing right fielder Connor Joe to first base in place. Tellez has managed only a .181/.250/.233 line in 128 plate appearances since signing a one-year, $3.2MM deal over the winter. Meanwhile, Joe — who’s played 750 big league innings at first base — has mashed at a .280/.350/.476 pace. With six long balls, he’s already more than halfway to his 2023 total (11) in just one-third the playing time.

Jason Mackey of the Post-Gazette took a look at Tellez’s significant struggles yesterday, noting that players like Bae and minor league signee Jake Lamb (.342/.438/.514 in 137 Triple-A plate appearances) have earned a look with their play thus far. Mackey speculated in an appearance on 93.7 FM The Fan in Pittsburgh this morning that a move involving Tellez could be nigh, though he’s since more concretely reported that Tellez is expected to hang onto his roster spot for now and to be in uniform for tonight’s contest.

Assistant general manager Steve Sanders appeared on The Fan this weekend as well, touching on Lamb’s success in Indianapolis and whether the club might be tempted to make a move (link via Justin Guerriero of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review). Sanders sidestepped, calling Lamb “an incredible professional on and off the field” as well as “one of the toughest outs in the minor leagues right now.” Sanders praised Lamb’s leadership and work with young Pirates prospects in Triple-A but wouldn’t commit to a promotion in the near future, only stating: “It gives us a really good feeling knowing we have a quality bat there.”

Pittsburgh has received strong offensive output from the aforementioned Joe, from Bryan Reynolds and  from catcher Joey Bart, in addition to a handful of roughly league-average batting lines (Oneil Cruz, Andrew McCutchen, Edward Olivares). They’ve also seen 2023 breakout slugger Jack Suwinski struggle tremendously, however, while top catching prospect Henry Davis has already been optioned to Indianapolis in an effort to get back on track at the plate. Opening Day second baseman Jared Triolo has hit just .212/.297/.265 and could see his playing time dry up once Ke’Bryan Hayes is ready to return at third base. Triolo has shifted to the hot corner for now to cover for the injured Hayes and in deference to Gonzales.

Currently, Pittsburgh is tied with Oakland for the third-fewest runs in the majors (180). Pirates hitters collectively rank 27th in batting average (.226), 26th in on-base percentage (.301) and 28th in slugging percentage (.353). At 24.7%, they have the game’s sixth-highest strikeout rate, although to their credit, the 9.4% team walk rate is also tied for fifth-highest in MLB. For now, they’ll hope that the recent additions of Gonzales and now Bae can be a catalyst for better run production, but more significant changes likely loom on the horizon if the lineup continues to sputter.

Bubba Chandler Placed On 7-Day IL Due To Forearm Tightness

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  • Pirates pitching prospect Bubba Chandler has been placed on the seven-day IL at Double-A due to forearm tightness, as assistant GM Steve Sanders relayed in an interview on 93.7 radio (hat tip to Justin Guerriero of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review).  Chandler was a third-round pick for the Bucs in the 2021 draft, and he is ranked 57th by Baseball America and 66th by MLB Pipeline in their current lists of the sport’s top prospects.  The righty had 3.10 ERA over his first 20 1/3 innings of the Double-A season but was hit hard in his last two outings, perhaps in relation to the forearm issue.
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