Ji Hwan

Bae

The Pirates need room on the roster for Carmen Mlodzinski, and they’re making it by sending Bae to the minors. The 25-year-old offers roster versatility and speed, but just hasn’t hit enough to justify being an everyday player at this stage of his career.

The Pirates have now faced three left-handed starters in a row so Tellez, Ji Hwan Bae, and Billy McKinney continue to sit with Connor Joe at first base, Michael A Taylor in center field, and Bryan De La Cruz in right field. Tellez and Bae should get back into the lineup regularly when the Pirates face a righty but, unfortunately, they are lined up to face another lefty starter on Friday.

Bae missed four games while dealing with soreness in his knee. The speedy outfielder will hit seventh and patrol center field, and he essentially takes the lineup spot of Andrew McCutchen; who is out with tightness in his left quad.

That’s not a real diagnosis, and we’re guessing Bae is IL bound, which should lead to Jack Suwinski’s recall. If Joshua Palacios goes on the IL, too, then Edward Olivares might also rejoin the Pirates. Really, though, the team ought to be looking at acquiring an outfielder.

He had to be helped off, so this is probably more than a day-to-day thing. It’s terrible timing for Bae, who suddenly seemed to be in line for quite a bit of playing time with Jack Suwinski getting sent down and Nick Gonzales going on the IL. Suwinski might be recalled now.

Bae had five hits in eight games with the Pirates earlier this year. At Triple-A, he hit .355 with five home runs and 26 RBI in 48 games. Despite his sterling minor league average this year, Bae has just two home runs and a .315 slugging percentage in 129 games in his major league career.

The Pirates started Bae in center field in six of 11 games before he went on the IL three weeks ago, but they’ve decided to go in a different direction for now. It’s a little surprising, just because the guys he’d be battling with for playing time in the outfield, Jack Suwinski, Edward Olivares and Connor Joe, have all slumped badly this month.

The Pirates didn’t provide any word as to what the injury is, so it’s tough to know what kind of timetable Bae has at this point. He’ll miss at least a week-plus, however, and Jack Suwinski is up from Triple-A to take Bae’s place on the active roster.

Suwinski spent a little over a week in Triple-A, but he’s back to take the place of Ji Hwan Bae, with Bae hitting the injured list. Suwinski hit just .174/.268/.297 while with Pittsburgh prior to the demotion in 2024, but showed flashes of brilliance in 2023. Still, outside of those desperate for power in NL-only formats, Suwinski should probably be left on the waiver wire.

Bae will start in center field Tuesday against the Giants and hit ninth. The 24-year-old had some flashes of success for Pittsburgh in 2023, but he isn’t likely to contribute in enough categories to be a recommended addition in fantasy circles.