Pirates send outfielder Jack Suwinski to Triple-A, recall lefty reliever Jose Hernandez
Moments before the first pitch of Paul Skenes’ third MLB start in Thursday’s series finale against the San Francisco Giants, the Pittsburgh Pirates demoted outfielder Jack Suwinski to Triple-A Indianapolis.
In a corresponding transaction, left-handed reliever Jose Hernandez was recalled from the Indians.
Suwinski is batting .174 through 49 games with an on-base percentage of .268.
The 25-year-old Suwinski has four homers with 13 RBIs but has struck out 40 times.
“We’ve seen Jack perform at the major-league level, and this year I think he got in between a lot,” said manager Derek Shelton. “He got off the fastball. Jack’s a big part of what we’re gonna do here, so we need to get him going. It’s important for him to get going.”
Thursday’s optioning to Triple-A marks a disappointing road bump in the young career of Suwinski, who hit a team-high and career-best 26 homers with 74 RBIs in 2023.
As a rookie in 2022, Suwinski hit 19 home runs in 106 games, splitting time between the big leagues and Triple-A.
Hernandez offers some needed reinforcement to a Pirates bullpen that’s been heavily used of late.
Hernandez, 26, was 1-1 with a 1.93 ERA in six appearances with Pittsburgh before he was optioned to Indianapolis in mid-April.
While with the Indians, he was less sharp, posting a 7.62 ERA over 13 innings, with 19 strikeouts.
But he does notably become the only other lefty reliever at Shelton’s disposal other than Aroldis Chapman.
Justin Guerriero is a TribLive reporter covering the Penguins, Pirates and college sports. A Pittsburgh native, he is a Central Catholic and University of Colorado graduate. He joined the Trib in 2022 after covering the Colorado Buffaloes for Rivals and freelancing for the Denver Post. He can be reached at jguerriero@triblive.com.
Remove the ads from your TribLIVE reading experience but still support the journalists who create the content with TribLIVE Ad-Free.