One of my favorite things about spring training is when that random player your team signed in the winter shows up and just blows you away out of nowhere.
In the Orioles’ matchup with the Phillies on Wednesday, we got to see one of those situations.
The random player here is 34-year-old right-hander Albert Suárez, who was signed by the O’s back in September of last year. He last pitched professionally in 2023 for the Samsung Lions of the KBO.
None of Suárez’s professional numbers peak much interest, especially with his rough MLB career thus far.
However, what Suárez did on the mound for the Orioles is worth noting and might be more proof of this pitching lab the O’s have seemed to concoct over the last couple of years.
In three innings of work against the Phillies on Wednesday, the Venezuelan native struck out seven batters, all of them swinging, while reaching speeds on his fastball that he has never touched in his career.
Very similar to left-hander Cole Irvin and what we saw with him in his first Grapefruit League outing, Suárez was known to sit around the low 90s with his fastball. On Wednesday, he was sitting around 97 mph with that same fastball, which made a really good breaking ball look even better off it.
Changes like that are a direct influence of the staff around you as a pitcher. If this pitching philosophy sounds familiar, it should.
The O’s pitching lab has put an emphasis on high spin rate fastballs, which is something we’ve seen in the revival of Félix Bautista’s career, Cionel Pérez, this year so far with Irvin and even with Kyle Bradish last season.
When you are in need of bullpen arms, sometimes you get lucky. Other times, you can groom a professional arm into what you need, and we may want to keep an eye on Suárez being an example of that for the rest of the spring.
In his start on Wednesday, Suárez was blowing a high 90s fastball past some of Philly’s best hitters, and these fastballs seemed to touch the top of the zone and stay there. As a potential long relief arm, that is textbook pitching.
Even as a non-roster invitee, Suárez is certainly an arm to keep an eye on as we progress through spring training towards Opening Day against the Los Angeles Angels.
What are your thoughts on Albert Suárez? Let us know in the comments below! Make sure to follow The Baltimore Battery on Facebook, Twitter (X) and TikTok, and use the hashtag #baltimorebattery when sharing our content!
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