Former Rockies relief pitcher drawing rotation interest

Eight teams are involved in the market for free agent pitcher Brent Suter, reports Robert Murray of FanSided. Murray adds that a few of those clubs have told the left-hander’s camp they’d be interested in stretching him back out as a starter.

Suter has worked in relief for the last five years. His only consistent rotation run came in 2017-18 when he combined to make 32 starts in 42 outings for the Brewers. Suter had generally solid results over that stretch. He posted a 4.09 ERA while holding opponents to a .259/.300/.429 slash in 165 innings as a starter. 

Milwaukee nevertheless kicked him into relief as they continued developing starters with higher upside than the soft-tossing Suter provided.

The Harvard product has quietly turned in consistently strong numbers in relief as well. He has topped 60 innings while allowing between three and four earned runs per nine in each of the last three seasons. That’s despite hitter-friendly home environments. After pitching parts of seven years in Milwaukee, he was claimed off waivers by the Rockies last offseason.

Suter didn’t have any issues acclimating to Coors Field. He turned in a 3.38 ERA in 69 1/3 innings. As has always been the case, he did so without missing many bats. Suter struck out 18.8% of batters on a modest 9.3% swinging strike rate. 

He did a solid job avoiding walks and keeping the ball on the ground. Suter also proved one of the toughest pitchers for opponents to square up, a skill he has shown throughout his career.

The 34-year-old clearly has the ability to be a successful reliever. There’d be more of a leap of faith in projecting him as a starter. However, as Murray points out, Suter has effectively handled hitters from either side of the dish. 

Since the start of 2021, he has held right-handed batters to a .250/.309/.376 slash in 586 plate appearances. Lefties own a .236/.321/.399 mark over 291 trips. 

That should keep opponents from stacking a lineup with right-handed bats if Suter were tabbed as a starter. He also has the command to hold up for multiple innings and a traditional four-pitch mix (four-seam, sinker, changeup, slider).

A few former relievers have gotten chances to start as free agents. Michael Lorenzen made that jump two years ago. Seth Lugo had a very good season out of the rotation with the Padres, positioning him for a three-year pact with Kansas City in a return trip to free agency this offseason. The Braves are considering that possibility with Reynaldo López. Perhaps Suter will get a chance to join that group, although he doesn’t throw nearly as hard as any of that trio. 

There haven’t been any teams publicly linked to him in free agency. Colorado held onto him despite interest at the trade deadline, in part because Rox GM Bill Schmidt noted in July the team had interest in an extension.