Reds to Sign Eugenio Suarez: What to Make of Move

Last season, Eugenio Suarez made his return to the Mariners thanks to a midseason trade. Now, he’ll make a second return to Cincinnati. The Reds will reportedly sign the slugger, who was a former All-Star with the Reds in 2018, on a one-year deal for 2026.

A Look at Suarez

It’s been a while since Eugenio Suarez has been a Red. Cincinnati traded him in March 2022 after the previous lockout, as part of a multi-player trade that sent him and Jesse Winker to Seattle. It was a deal that netted the Reds Jake Fraley, Brandon Williamson, and Justin Dunn, a move that was designed to jump-start the rebuild.

With the Mariners, Suarez was a hit. The third baseman hit 31 home runs in 2022, helping Seattle get back into the postseason. The Mariners then traded him a year later to the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Suarez, in a deep lineup alongside Corbin Carroll and Ketel Marte, thrived in the desert. The 34-year-old hit 66 total home runs in a year and a half with the Diamondbacks, impressive given he slashed .216/.302/.366 in his first half as a D-Back.

He hit 36 home runs as a Diamondback last season before he was traded to Seattle. Suarez hit an additional 13 with the Mariners, giving him 49 on the season.

Generally speaking, it sounds very weird to think about a 49-home run hitter sitting in free agency until February — until you look at the numbers a little closer.

One, Suarez slashed .189/.255/.428 as a Mariner. Expanding out a little bit, Suarez posted a .729 OPS in the second half that was largely buoyed by his home run power. His 34.2% K% was among the bottom 10 in the Majors over the second half (min. 125 PA).

With Suarez, the game is simple: get out in front and get under the ball to drive it. He’s a very pull-heavy hitter, an approach that has worked to benefit him in the past. It certainly did in the 2019 campaign — one where home run numbers were up everywhere — as he hit 49 home runs as a Red.

He’ll regularly expand out of the zone. And as one would expect with his approach, a lot of swing-and-miss on non-fastballs.