Saluting Ranger Suarez

This has been a rough first month for Major League Baseball starting pitchers. A rash of season ending injuries to multiple starters, including All Stars Shane Bieber and Spencer Strider, has left fans, players and media alike wondering what is the culprit. I come here not with any definitive answers (though I have ideas) and instead propose acknowledging someone who doesn’t light up radar guns. He doesn’t wow you with spin rates and knee buckling curves. He’s what you call an artist and right now he is painting a masterpiece of a season.

Give it up for Ranger Suarez, please.

The 28-year old left hander is coming off a streak of 32 consecutive scoreless innings, tied for fifth best in Philadelphia Phillies’ history. To call this a breakout season so far is an understatement. His ERA is a miniscule 1.32 and he has thrown one of the Majors’ only complete game shutouts. He gives the Phillies a formidable 1-2-3 combination with Zack Wheeler and Aaron Nola. Yet, outside of Philadelphia, there doesn’t seem to be a lot of fanfare about Suarez’s work. The easy and correct answer is that he is not a strikeout pitcher. He has 40 K’s in 41 innings pitched. He doesn’t throw 98 miles an hour. He doesn’t scream after a big out.

I’d rather focus on the fact he has only issued six walks and 20 hits. That translates to a phenomenal .0634 WHIP (Walks and Hits per Innings Pitched.) All the big pitching talk revolves around strikeouts per nine innings, an obsession that is killing the pitching profession. Suarez’s success is a credit to both his physical ability and his acumen in knowing HOW to get batters out. That to me is much more impressive than someone looking to hit triple digits on the radar gun on nearly every pitch. Large amounts of strikeouts leads to shorter outings by your starting pitching and more use of the bullpen. Suarez’s pitching saves the bullpen, keeps his fielders active and goes deep into games, a combination all starting pitchers should be emulating. Would we be overlooking Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine if they were pitching today?

I have no idea if Ranger Suarez’s ERA will remain below 1.50 for the rest of the season. Chances are, the laws of baseball will catch up and he will be closer to 2.00 or higher by the end of the season. However, what I do know is that the only way for the baseball establishment to become less reliant on velocity and spin rates is for Ranger Suarez to out together a string of Cy Young worthy seasons. Maybe then we will focus on the art of pitching. I’ll be rooting for him.