Is Ranger Suárez the Pitcher Rockies Need to Target This Offseason?

There are a plethora of both metric and historical reasons why Suárez would be an exceptional fit for Colorado. Starting off with some of the more surface-level topics, he is a very consistent good arm who has proven he can be near the top of a rotation when needed, and is coming off a great year.

Giving him a four to six-year deal would be feasible, given he is still only 30, and has plenty left in the tank to both pitch and be a veteran mentor to Rockies prospects.

His repertoire being focused around pitches other than the fastball makes for an intriguing mix, and it works enormously well. According to Baseball Savant, he is 98th percentile in hard-hit rate and 95th percentile in average exit velocity, both bode extremely well for Coors Field, as his contact is predominantly weak. Additionally, most of the hits or contact he allows are dead center, with 40.1% being marked as center field shots.

Additionally, the Rockies are familiar with him, as he has pitched four games at Coors against them, and also a complete game shutout against them in April of 2024 in a Philadelphia Phillies home game.

In his career at Coors, though, he has a 3.20 ERA in 19.2 innings, with 20 strikeouts, nine walks, one home run allowed and 19 hits allowed. His most recent start was a 2-0 victory where he went 6.2 innings and gave up six hits with six strikeouts.

For those concerned about home runs allowed, where he had 15 this year, Baseball Savant's metric of expected home runs by park has him only allowing 13 in Coors Field, and his overall expected is at 14.2, lower than his true value, which shows how good he is at keeping the ball low and in play. With 38.4% of contact against him being topped by batters, that is a good sign for his ability to keep the ball out of the air as well.

This is the type of pitcher Colorado needs in their starting rotation to settle things down after a brutal year, and adding Suárez, while maybe pricy, would be a great way to ensure they have a good top-of-the-line arm for years to come.