As he gets ready to pitch the Orioles’ spring training opener today, it takes some jogging of the memory to recall that this time last year right-hander Albert Suárez was an unknown non-roster pitcher.
He was a long shot to make the O’s roster and had not even pitched in the big leagues since throwing 31 2/3 innings for the 2017 San Francisco Giants.
He had spent most of the time since then pitching in Japan and Korea. He would not make the O’s Opening Day roster, but he sure would impact the team during the 2024 season.
It all started for him on a sunny afternoon on the west coast of Florida.
I was in Clearwater the day that Suárez announced himself as a roster contender for the team. He announced this not with words but with his right arm. In spring training the home teams usually send out more regulars than the visitors and that day the Phillies’ first four of what was a pretty representative lineup featured Kyle Schwarber, Trea Turner, J.T. Realmuto and Alec Bohm. The Phillies were a good team, too, having played in the 2023 National League Championship Series.
As Suárez was throwing pitches by their hitters that afternoon, I recall the Baltimore media contingent was double-checking their facts with each other. Did that last pitch say 97 on the gun? It did. Hey, how do you spell this guy’s name again? When did they sign him?
We had some homework to do.
Suárez would pitch three impressive and scoreless innings on two hits with no walks and seven strikeouts. That meant he had now pitched four spring innings with nine strikeouts.
Yeah, make sure to double-check that spelling.
Since BayCare Ballpark featured Statcast data, we learned that his four-seam fastball averaged 96.3 mph and topped at 97.5, and he got 12 swings and misses on 23 swings in a dominant performance. He got a whopping 10 whiffs off 17 swings against his four-seamer.
Who the heck was this guy?
Sometimes in spring training a lower minors player or real unknown can have a big at-bat or a good inning. But this was three innings of dominance against a good lineup playing regulars.
We could not have known it then, but we’d see a lot of this guy during the 2024 season. What started out as a cool story in Clearwater would play out as a good one during the year in New York, Chicago, Boston, Anaheim and Baltimore among other places.
After that wonderful outing and realizing this had not been just another day at camp, the O’s media wanted to know more about this guy and talk to him. Suárez told us that day that after the O’s signed him as a minor league free agent in September of 2023, he went to Florida and worked with coaches and gained some velocity.
“I did some adjustments on my mechanics with the hip separation, and I think that is helping me a lot to create more power towards home plate. I started [making these adjustments] when I signed with the Orioles last year. I came to Sarasota for two weeks and they sat down with me and talked about small adjustments, and I’ve been working since then. I went to Venezuela to pitch winter ball and I was working there, too. That’s a big help.”
Whatever those coaches told him during those sessions paid off big for the veteran right-hander.
After his major contribution over 133 2/3 innings last summer, when he went 9-7 with a 3.70 ERA, as he takes the mound Saturday, we all know now how to spell his name, and Suárez doesn’t need an eye-opening outing to gain anyone’s attention.
That day in Clearwater he got it and kept it.