The Baltimore Orioles added several veterans to their organization via minor-league contracts this week, including former SF Giants right-handed pitcher Albert Suárez. Suárez, who pitched for the Giants from 2016-2017, has spent the past five seasons in Asia, splitting his time in the NPB and KBO. However, he will be back stateside competing for a spot on the Orioles Opening Day roster at spring training.
Suárez has spent the last two seasons as a staple of the Samsung Lions starting rotation in the KBO. The righty was easily the Lions best pitcher in 2022, appearing in 30 games and leading the team in innings pitched (173.2), ERA (2.49), and strikeouts (159). Suárez returned to the Lions on a one-year, $1.3 million contract, but was unable to replicate that success. He was still a solid mid-rotation arm, recording a 3.92 ERA with 88 strikeouts and 32 walks in 108 innings pitched (19 starts), but his season was cut short by a calf injury that prompted his release. After becoming a free agent, Suárez made 11 starts at the Venezuelan Winter League before inking his contract with Baltimore.
Now 34, Suárez’s professional career started back in 2008 as a teenager with the Tampa Bay Rays. Despite lacking strikeout stuff and facing consistently older competition, Suárez managed to be effective in the lower minors. A combination of injuries and Tampa Bay’s prioritization of other prospects limited his looks against upper minors competition before he first reached minor-league free agency.
Suárez caught on with the Angels’ organization for the 2015 season, where he posted a 2.98 ERA across 163 innings with their Double-A affiliate. Still only 25, it was a particularly impressive performance in the context of the hitter-friendly Texas League.
Seemingly intrigued with his potential, the Giants signed Suárez to a minor-league contract that offseason and gave him his first Triple-A assignment to start 2016. By the end of the season, Suárez had made his big-league debut and found himself in a swingman role with San Francisco. Suárez would make 40 MLB appearances (12 starts) with the Giants across two seasons. He posted a 4.51 ERA (4.40 FIP) with 88 strikeouts and 37 walks in 115.2 innings pitched.
Non-tendered by the SF Giants at the end of 2017, Suárez would spend the following season with the Diamondbacks Triple-A affiliate. Then, he inked a deal with the Tokyo Yakult Swallows that brought him to the top pro baseball league in Japan, the NPB. Injuries and the pandemic-shortened 2020 season would limit his overall impact, but he maintained a 3.00 ERA with 134 strikeouts and 64 walks in 162 innings pitched (40 games) from 2019-2021.
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