Featuring remade fastball, Suárez dazzles vs. Phils

CLEARWATER, Fla. -- Albert Suárez may not have been on many people's radar -- well, at least outside of the Orioles' organization -- this spring, but that's certainly not the case any more.

The 34-year-old journeyman right-hander unveiled a reworked four-seam fastball in a dominant outing in Tuesday afternoon's 3-2 win over the Phillies at BayCare Ballpark -- and the pitch was downright filthy.

Suárez racked up seven strikeouts over three scoreless innings while overpowering a Philadelphia lineup featuring a number of regulars. His four-seamer, which accounted for five of those seven K's, averaged 96.3 mph and maxed out at 97.5.

"He really threw the ball extremely well," Orioles manager Brandon Hyde said. "Really impressed with his strike-throwing ability. Big-time life to his fastball -- throwing his fastball by good Major League hitters."

Suárez struck out Kyle Schwarber twice. He also got Trea Turner and Alec Bohm once apiece. The righty ended his day by striking out the side in the third inning.

"It helps a lot; it tells you where you're at," Suárez said. "I like the challenge. So facing guys like them is really good for me."

The Phillies took 17 swings against Suárez's four-seamer -- and whiffed on 10 of them.

To put that in perspective, the 10 whiffs with the four-seamer matched the single-game high for any Orioles pitcher all of last season. Grayson Rodriguez reached the total twice and Tyler Wells did so once.

But keep in mind, Suárez did it all in just three innings. By needing only 17 swings to induce his 10 misses, that works out to a whiff rate of 58.8%. Only five pitchers across the entire Majors last season registered at least 10 whiffs and a 58.8% whiff rate in a single game with their four-seamer: Max Scherzer, Aaron Nola, Freddy Peralta, Yusei Kikuchi and Bryce Miller.

Not bad for a pitch that averaged just 93.5 mph and had a 15.4% whiff rate when we last saw Suárez in the Majors with the Giants in 2017.

So what changed?

"I made some adjustments on my mechanics, with the hip separation," Suárez said. "I think that's helping me a lot to create more power toward home plate."

It's a change that the O's first brought up to Suárez after signing him to a Minor League deal last September.

Suárez, who spent 2019-23 pitching in Japan and Korea, immediately embraced the tweaks. He tried them out over the final couple of weeks of the season at the club's complex in Sarasota, then continued working in winter ball in Venezuela.

"I like the challenge, and I was working to come back [to MLB]," Suárez said. "This chance opens up with the Orioles and I took it. So right now is very important."

Plus, there's the added incentive of potentially pitching against his brother, Robert, who debuted for the Padres in 2022 -- five years after Albert's last MLB appearance.

"It'd be fun to pitch against him at some point," Suárez said.

For an Orioles team dealing with multiple injuries in its starting rotation, the opportunity is certainly there for Suárez to seize in the coming weeks.

"He's come in here and opened a lot of eyes," Hyde said. "If he keeps doing what he's doing -- it's fun to watch."