Ben Cherington Leaves the Door Open on Double-A to Majors Promotions

Jumping from Double-A to the Majors isn’t as rare anymore with the way the game of baseball is trending. In the Pirates’ case, we saw Rodolfo Castro make the jump in 21,’ and now we see it with outfielder Jack Suwinski.

Suwinski was acquired in the trade with the San Diego Padres that, sent second baseman Adam Frazier away in exchange for INF Tucupita Marcano and Michell Miliano. Suwinski spent the entire year in Double-A in ’21, where he hit a .252/.359/.391 slash line with Altoona in 151 at-bats.

Suwinski got off to a very fast start in ’22 with the Pirates Double-A squad batting .353 in 51 at-bats. Suwinski’s call to the show occurred on April 26th when both Cole Tucker and Bryan Reynolds were placed on the COVID IL.

During general manager Ben Cherington’s radio show, he spoke on Suwinski and what he has seen thus far from the outfielder.

“We’ve seen a lot of poise from [Suwinski],” said Cherington. “Suwinski looks really comfortable and has made good swing decisions for the most part and has played extremely good defense as we saw yesterday saving that home run ball.”

Cherington clarified that they think highly of Suwinski and think he can develop into a good hitter. Although the overall numbers aren’t standing out like the batting average, Cherington stressed that the quality of Suwinski’s at-bats has been extremely consistent.

With Suwinski joining Castro as two of the most recent Double-A to the Majors call ups, this opened the door to a conversation discussing would other prospects get that same opportunity.

“I don’t think there’s anything holding any player back from getting an opportunity,” said Cherington. “Once you get to the upper levels and you’re playing well consistently and doing the things that can help our team win, they will have a chance or opportunity.”

One of the biggest things pulled from that conversation was when Cherington said, “Suwinski won’t be the last to get that opportunity this year.” Now, this is the part where you start to turn the gears in your head and figure out who might be the next to get that opportunity.