One of the Diamondbacks’ key offseason acquisitions was picking up Eugenio Suárez in a trade with the Seattle Mariners. Suárez was coming off a down year in Seattle, but was still considered at least an average starter at third base by Baseball Reference’s Wins Above Average metric. The Diamondbacks looked to upgrade a position that mustered collective .234/.304/.340 slash line in 640 plate appearances in 2023.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!While the trade made sense on paper, Suárez has massively struggled to begin the 2024 season. While he is still above replacement level on the campaign, with 0.1 bWAR, the offense has not been there. In 43 games, he’s hitting .220 with just three home runs and a .624 OPS. While he’s done a solid job of driving in runners from scoring position, batting .357 in those situations, the overall body of work has been disappointing. Those struggles have often resulted in the Diamondbacks’ inconsistent results on offense and ability to score runs.
While his strikeout rate has improved from 30.8% to 26.3%, it’s come at the expense of walks and quality of contact. The walk rate, which has hovered around 10% or better from 2017-2023, is down to 6.7%. His average exit velocity has declined from 90.3 MPH in 2023 to 87.5 MPH in 2024, while his hard-hit rate has dropped from 43% to 33%. For a hitter whose reputation is being able to provide disciplined at-bats and extra-base hit impact, that is a giant red flag.
Factoring in his age (32), it’s not uncommon to think this is simply a player in decline. Given how much Arizona is paying Suárez ($13.3M guaranteed), they’ll need to get more production out of his bat to alleviate the issues with the middle of the lineup. His struggles are compounded with Lourdes Gurriel Jr. in a deep slump since the middle of April, which in conjunction have crippled the middle of the Diamondbacks lineup and negatively impacted their ability to consistently score runs.
The sample size is still small, as a strong week would still pull his numbers close to being a league-average bat. However, at 179 PA, we’re getting close to the point where there are legitimate concerns about Suárez’s ability to help the Diamondbacks win with the bat.
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Michael McDermott covers the Arizona Diamondbacks and Arizona Cardinals for Burn City Sports. You can follow him on X via @MichaelMcDMLB
