2022 Padres Player Review: Robert Suarez

2022 Regular Season Statistics

0.7 fWAR, 45 G, 47.2 IP, 2.27 ERA, 1.05 WHIP, 61 K, 21 BB, 4 HR, 4 HBP

Positives From This Season

It is mind boggling to me that Robert Suarez only compiled 0.7 Wins Above Replacement this year when he was one of the best reliever in all of baseball for the last month of the season. Maybe that’s just my recency bias.

Obviously we’re going to remember Suarez’s postseason forever. He didn’t allow a run in his first five playoff games and came through with one of the clutchest relief appearances in Padres history in Game 2 of the NLDS. If you somehow don’t remember, he got out of the first and third with no outs jam in the 6th and then got out of the second and third with one out jam in the 7th.

Going back to the regular season, Suarez pitched 37 scoreless outings and allowed more than one run just twice all year. The first of those two was Opening Day when he had to take on a role he probably wasn’t ready for in the moment because San Diego’s new closer, Taylor Rogers, had just arrived in Arizona.

Suarez ended his rookie regular season on a month-long 13.1 innings scoreless streak.

Suarez has a player option of $5 million for 2023 and we all know he’d get more than that in free agency based off his tremendous season so the Padres are going to have to pay up if they want to retain him next year.

Negatives From This Season

There are maybe two negatives this year for Suarez. The first being his rough debut outing and the second being the home run he allowed to Bryce Harper in Game 5 of the NLCS that ended the Padres season.

Those aren’t even really negatives though. They’re just unfortunate things that happened. Every reliever has a bad outing and Suarez battled with Harper in that at-bat. He threw a nasty changeup that only a few humans can take like Harper did and then he threw a 99 mph fastball on the outside part of the plate that Harper was ready for. That’s more props to Harper than a bad job by Suarez.

If you wish to listen or watch me talk more about Suarez’s season on the Talking Friars Podcast/YouTube show, click here!