Eugenio Suarez was supposed to be the major win of the trade deadline.
The Seattle Mariners landed the slugging third baseman from the Arizona Diamondbacks, just days after bringing over Josh Naylor. It looked like a coup and a massive statement in the AL West race.
And while the Mariners have passed the Houston Astros and now narrowly lead the division, it hasn’t been because of Suarez.
Entering Wednesday, Suarez is hitting .165 with a .613 OPS with Seattle. He has nine home runs in 42 games.
With the Diamondbacks, he had batted .248 with an .897 OPS and 36 homers in 106 games.
What gives?
What’s wrong with Eugenio Suarez?
Suarez has simply been a worse hitter since joining the Mariners, by pretty much every metric.
With Arizona, he struck out 26.8% of the time. With Seattle, it has been 34.9% of the time.
Suarez had a 91.1 mph average exit velocity with the Diamondbacks. It’s 86.1 mph with the Mariners.
His hard-hit percentage with Arizona was 51.1%. That’s down to 32.7% with Seattle.
He’s hitting line drives at a seven-percent lower rate in Seattle, and groundballs at a nine-percent higher rate.
It’s not clear whether Suarez has unintentionally created a mechanical issue, or had some sort of physical problem, or if this is just an extended slump.
Whatever the reason, it’s been quite the bummer.
The Mariners will just cross their fingers that he can turn it around. If he does, this already potent lineup would become that much more dangerous.
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