{"id":114478,"date":"2026-02-21T21:47:22","date_gmt":"2026-02-22T02:47:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/?p=114478"},"modified":"2026-02-21T21:47:48","modified_gmt":"2026-02-22T02:47:48","slug":"dodgers-claim-former-pirates-outfielder-jack-suwinski-off-waivers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2026\/02\/21\/dodgers-claim-former-pirates-outfielder-jack-suwinski-off-waivers\/","title":{"rendered":"Dodgers Claim Former Pirates Outfielder Off Waivers"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Los Angeles Dodgers are not done polishing off their roster, as they claimed former Pittsburgh Pirates outfielder <a  target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/s\/suwinja01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-02-21_br\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jack Suwinski<\/a> off waivers on Saturday, as first reported by Robert Murray of FanSided. Suwinski <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2026\/02\/16\/pirates-dfa-jack-suwinski\/\" target=\"_self\">was designated for assignment<\/a> by the Pirates last week after struggling the last two seasons. The Dodgers later announced that <a  target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/h\/hernaen02.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-02-21_br\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Kik\u00e9 Hern\u00e1ndez<\/a> was moved to the 60-day injured list to make room for Suwinski on the roster.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_97171\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-97171\" style=\"width: 624px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/03\/USATSI_25572160-300x197.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"624\" height=\"410\" class=\" wp-image-97171\" srcset=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/03\/USATSI_25572160-300x197.jpg 300w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/03\/USATSI_25572160-1024x673.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/03\/USATSI_25572160-768x505.jpg 768w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/03\/USATSI_25572160-1536x1009.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/03\/USATSI_25572160-2048x1346.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 624px) 100vw, 624px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-97171\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Mar 3, 2025; Tampa, Florida, USA; Pittsburgh Pirates outfielder Jack Suwinski (65) reaches base on error during the third inning against the New York Yankees at George M. Steinbrenner Field. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement Neitzel-Imagn Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h2>Dodgers Claim Ex-Pirate Jack Suwinski Off Waivers<\/h2>\n<h3>A Reclamation Project<\/h3>\n<p>Suwinski made the Pirates roster out of spring training last year, but was sent down to Triple-A because of a high whiff rate. Unfortunately, he also dealt with an injury and struggled to regain his momentum at the big-league level. Suwinki made his debut in Pittsburgh in 2022. The following season, the left-handed outfielder showed some pop. In 2023, he had 26 home runs, good bat speed, and great strike zone discipline. For whatever reason, though, he hasn&#8217;t come close to replicating that in the last two years. In fact, he has a lifetime batting average of .199. However, he likes hitting against the Dodgers. The 27-year-old has a .314 batting average and five home runs in 15 games against them.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">The Dodgers have claimed OF Jack Suwinski from the Pittsburgh Pirates. In order to make room on the 40-man roster, the Dodgers transferred IF\/OF Kik\u00e9 Hern\u00e1ndez to the 60-day injured list.<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Dodgers\/status\/2025319057151721695?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">February 21, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h3>How Will He Fit In?<\/h3>\n<p>The Dodgers must see something they like in Suwinski. The outfielder will have to maintain a place on the roster or be let go, as he has no options left. <a  target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/t\/tuckeky01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-02-21_br\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Kyle Tucker<\/a> will not be replaced anytime soon in right field. <a  target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/h\/hernate01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-02-21_br\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Teoscar Hern\u00e1ndez<\/a> may need <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2025\/09\/17\/dodgers-need-more-production-corner-outfielders-quest-to-repeat\/\" target=\"_self\">more days off,<\/a> but he has left field locked down because his bat has proved lethal in big situations. It is unlikely that he replaces <a  target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/p\/pagesan01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-02-21_br\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Andy Pages<\/a> in center field. Despite <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2025\/04\/11\/paging-the-dodgers-center-fielder-needed\/\" target=\"_self\">his struggles early last season<\/a>, Pages has a better glove than Suwinski. The former Pirate has a negative defensive rating in center field. Suwinski&#8217;s best bet would be to outduel <a  target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/search\/search.fcgi?pid=callal02,call--001ale&amp;search=Alex+Call&amp;utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-02-21_br\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Alex Call<\/a> as the fourth outfielder.<\/p>\n<h3>Musical Chairs<\/h3>\n<p>The Dodgers have all spring to watch the completion play out. This feels like baseball&#8217;s version of musical chairs. We will see who&#8217;s left standing on Opening Day.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Main Photo Credit: Kim Klement Neitzel-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Los Angeles Dodgers are not done polishing off their roster, as they claimed former Pittsburgh Pirates outfielder Jack Suwinski off waivers on Saturday, as first reported by Robert Murray of FanSided. Suwinski was designated for assignment by the Pirates last week after struggling the last two seasons. The Dodgers later announced that Kik\u00e9 Hern\u00e1ndez [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5226,"featured_media":103714,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33,1071,35],"tags":[28688,28464,5720,2915,2319,1198],"class_list":["post-114478","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dodgers","category-mlb","category-news","tag-alex-call","tag-andy-pages","tag-jack-suwinski","tag-kike-hernandez","tag-kyle-tucker","tag-teoscar-hernandez"],"modified_by":"Lewis Masella, Site Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114478","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5226"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=114478"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114478\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":114503,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114478\/revisions\/114503"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/103714"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=114478"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=114478"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=114478"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}