The Diamondbacks might be out there to maneuver on from one in every of their high offseason acquisitions, as USA In the present day’s Bob Nightengale wrote in his Sunday Notes column that the Snakes are “prepared to hearken to affords” on third baseman Eugenio Suarez. That’s maybe some charitable terminology, as Nightengale himself goes on to notice that the 33-year-old Suarez has struggled to the purpose that he may quickly lose his maintain on an on a regular basis function at third base.
Suarez, acquired in a salary-driven commerce that despatched backup catcher Seby Zavala and reduction prospect Carlos Vargas to the cost-cutting Mariners, is incomes $12MM this season and has a $15MM membership possibility for the 2025 marketing campaign on his contract. The Diamondbacks don’t intend to train that possibility right now, per Nightengale, which is barely pure given Suarez’s bleak .200/.265/.317 slash in his first 257 journeys to the plate with Arizona.
Whereas Suarez hasn’t seen his already hefty strikeout fee creep any additional north — he fanned in 30.4% of final yr’s plate appearances and is at 28.8% in 2024 — there are nonetheless loads of worrying tendencies that counsel his decline isn’t essentially an early-season fluke. He’s chasing pitches off the plate on the highest fee of his profession and making contact on mentioned swings at a career-low fee. His common exit velocity (87.5 mph) and hard-hit fee (33.5%) have cratered from final yr’s ranges (90.3 mph and 43%). Suarez has by no means seen a bigger share of his fly-balls be of the infield fly selection, both; after coming out to the infield solely 10 occasions in each 2022 and 2023, he’s already hit eight innocent infield pops this season.
Suarez really bought out to a scorching begin this season, and whilst his manufacturing started slipping a bit within the second half of April, his batting line to that time within the season was inside arm’s attain of league-average. Because the calendar flipped to Could, his bat has taken a nosedive. In his previous 131 plate appearances, Suarez is hitting .161/.221/.280 with a 30.5% strikeout fee.
Discovering a commerce associate for Suarez in mild of current swoon and appreciable wage gained’t be simple. Usually, veterans on this scenario are likelier to be designated for project and launched. However there’s additionally usually no less than one or two exchanges of unhealthy contracts each deadline season, with final yr’s Guardians/Dodgers swap of Noah Syndergaard and Amed Rosario standing as one current instance. With 4 gamers signed by means of no less than 2026 and three by means of 2027, the D-backs may not need to tackle a very long-term participant, however swapping out Suarez for one more impending free agent or maybe somebody signed by means of 2025 at a lesser annual worth may make some sense.
Regardless of his downturn on the plate, Suarez has accounted for practically each inning at third base for the D-backs this season. Jace Peterson bought one begin there earlier than being reduce free. Rookie Blaze Alexander has made three appearances there (two begins). All three have come up to now 12 days, nonetheless, lending additional credence to Nightengale’s assertion that Suarez may quickly be pushed out of his common function.
Alexander, 24, is a pure shortstop who’s hit .283/.345/.409 in his first 139 MLB plate appearances this season. That line is propped up by the disproportionate fee at which the right-handed-hitting Alexander has been platooned. He’s seen practically half his plate appearances in opposition to lefties and tormented them with a .350/.409/.533 batting line. Towards right-handed pitchers, Alexander’s .224/.288/.299 slash doesn’t look any higher than Suarez’s season-long numbers.
The highest different within the higher minors could be Deyvison De Los Santos, who’s within the midst of a breakout after failing to make the Guardians’ roster as a Rule 5 Draft decide. In 238 plate appearances between Double-A and Triple-A this season, the 20-year-old slugger touts a mixed .358/.412/.656 batting line and 17 dwelling runs. He’s additionally trimmed his strikeout fee from the 26% he logged in Double-A a yr in the past to a a lot stronger 21.4%.
All in all, the D-backs rank twenty ninth within the majors when it comes to manufacturing from their third basemen, by measure of wRC+. Their mixed .200/.258/.317 slash is 36% worse than common when weighting for dwelling park and league run-scoring setting, main solely the White Sox (.197/.248/.288, 52 wRC+).
