Ranger Suarez

Suarez was one of the stars of the early part of last season, recording a 1.75 ERA and 0.89 WHIP through his first 15 starts. He rode a bit of good luck, but his strikeout rate was up (26.8%), his walk rate was down (5.4%) and his ERA estimators (2.70 FIP, 2.84 xFIP) were excellent. But what looked like a breakout in Suarez's age-28 season was not to last. He slumped to a 6.17 ERA in 12 starts the rest of the way, struggling on either side of a one-month absence due to lower-back soreness. That ERA wasn't necessarily a fair reflection of his performance, but his 4.42 FIP and 3.93 xFIP down the stretch were a far cry from his early-season success as his K% (18.4) and BB% (8.1) took big steps back. Suarez's good stretch was longer than his bad stretch, resulting in year-end numbers which are stronger than we're used to seeing from him, but the late-season swoon pushes back against the idea that he's anything more than the groundball-heavy innings-eater he's been for years. Read Past Outlooks