PHOENIX — Arizona Diamondbacks third baseman Eugenio Suarez completed his 2024 season turnaround with a milestone that seemed impossible to achieve back in June.
Suarez, right after belting a foul ball to the second deck just left of the pole, crushed a fastball over the line in center field on Sunday, Arizona’s regular season finale against the San Diego Padres.
There was a little something extra in his home run trot, beyond the typical goggles flash and heart-shaped hands at home plate. Several teammates threw their fists in the air, with Lourdes Gurriel Jr. jumping up and down.
The veteran blasted his 30th home run of the season, completing his first 30-homer, 100-RBI campaign since 2019 with the Cincinnati Reds.
Eugenio Suárez now has his 5th career 30+ homer season 😮💨 pic.twitter.com/KC8xt1N1Oj
— MLB (@MLB) September 29, 2024
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“After I had that first half that wasn’t — I wasn’t that good — and then be able to have a very good second half and be able to hit 30 homers after that, it’s awesome,” Suarez said postgame. “I got to feel proud of myself, proud of my work and I give a lot of credit on the hitting coaches. They helped me a lot. They support me a lot and that’s something I appreciate.
“Thank you to them, and then to Torey (Lovullo) for believing me, giving me opportunity to play every day, even when I’m not doing good for the team. They believed in me. And that means a lot.”
Suarez led the D-backs with 101 RBIs and finished second with 30 home runs — only trailing Ketel Marte’s 36.
Suarez became the fifth Diamondbacks third baseman (at least 50% of games played at the position) to accomplish the 30-100 feat. The other four are Matt Williams, Mark Reynolds, Eduardo Escobar and Jake Lamb.
The 33-year-old was a candidate to be designated for assignment near the midway point of the season. The D-backs were looking at giving other options playing time, such as Blaze Alexander. Suarez’s OPS dropped to a low point of .575 on June 11, 66 games into his season. He also only hit five home runs to that point and was batting .197.
And he did not get that average back over the .200 line until July 2.
From July 2 onward, Suarez ranked fifth in MLB with 3.8 fWAR, only trailing MVP candidates Aaron Judge, Bobby Witt Jr., Shohei Ohtani and Francisco Lindor.
His 24 home runs were third to Judge and Ohtani, and he led the league with 69 RBIs. His OPS at the end of the year sat at a strong .788.
“I can’t say enough good things about Geno,” Lovullo said. “He has walked into this organization and embedded himself into every one of our hearts, and he’s done a great job emotionally staying balanced, helping his teammates emotionally stay balanced and then goes out there and plays the type of baseball that he did. It was a great moment. I was so proud of him, so happy for that accomplishment.
“It was a rough April, a rough May and a rough half of June, but man, he caught a tailwind and never looked back. And we’re in this position now because of him.”
Suarez made adjustments to his pregame routine, including taking higher-intensity reps off the pitcher-mimicking Trajekt machine in the batting cage.
He lowered his strikeout rate from 29.2% at the end of June to 25.8% the rest of the way. The right-handed bat also improved his hard-hit rate by 10 points. Suarez said on Sept. 11 that he was having the best stretch of his career.
Even through the frustration of his first half, Suarez remained a standout teammate in Arizona’s clubhouse as a veteran presence and positive attitude. When Marte made the All-Star team, Suarez gave the loudest cheers.
“I’ve been hitting in front of him or behind him it seems like a lot of this year, so I get a good view of it from the on-deck circle,” Jake McCarthy said. “He’s easygoing. I think, even when you talked about maybe he didn’t get off to the start he wanted to, it seems like he’s very calm, cool, collected and he’s a really good teammate. We have a lot of fun in here, so I’m happy for him. You always like to see good people have success.”
Suarez was excited after the game with his achievement along with the critical win that kept Arizona’s postseason chances alive.
Asked whether it felt sweeter given his first half malaise, he thanked his the club, his teammates, family, God and anyone who spent this season alongside him.
“You do your best and you work hard and they believed in me, and they give me the opportunity to wear this jersey every day,” Suarez said.
Without a guarantee Suarez will play another game for the D-backs — there is a 2025 team option for $15 million — he has done everything to make a decision to retain him easy.
from Arizona Sports https://ift.tt/R9ZiBID
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