Jack Suwinski Achieves a Few Firsts Saturday Evening for the Pirates

Jack Suwinski has had an odd start to his Major League career. When you look at pure box score numbers, you may find yourself saying, “why is this guy still up here,” or “what’s so special about him?” When you watch Suwinski at the plate, you can see he puts together very professional at-bats and doesn’t look lost, whereas most young kids would.

No at-bats were as professional as the one Suwinski had Saturday evening against former Pirate’s closer Mark Melancon. In a tough 3-2 count and after fouling off several tough pitches, Suwinski belted his sixth home run of the season and walked it off for the Pirates in a 2-1 victory.

Pittsburgh Pirates right fielder Jack Suwinski (65) June 4, 2022 David Hague/PBN

There hasn’t been a Pirates rookie to hit a walk-off home run in quite some time; in fact, the last time a rookie hit a walk-off home run was August 24th, 2009, by none other than Andrew McCutchen against the Philadelphia Phillies.

Since today was a bunch of firsts for Suwinski, this walk-off home run was the first one he has ever hit. It’s crazy to think that in his 23 years of existence, Suwinski has never hit a walk-off home run.

Let’s even take just his professional career into the equation. Suwinski came to the San Diego Padres organization in 2016 at 17 and signed on July 12th of the same year. So if math serves right, it took Suwinski  2,153 days to hit a walk-off home run; that’s a lot of days, folks. Now, take this information to your local bar for trivia night and wait for a Suwinski question.

Pittsburgh Pirates right fielder Jack Suwinski (65) June 4, 2022 David Hague/PBN