San Francisco Giants: Andrew Suarez Shows Great Signs in Debut

Andrew Suarez was the second San Francisco Giants’ pitcher to make his major league debut, and showed some great signs throughout the day.

The San Francisco Giants’ revolving door in the rotation continues to spin, this time bringing up Andrew Suarez in place of Johnny Cueto, who was placed on the disabled list with an ankle sprain. Suarez, already the sixth starter used by San Francisco this year, was the team’s second-round pick in 2015 out of the University of Miami. On Wednesday, one day after Tyler Beede began his big league career,, Suarez was on the mound for his big league debut.

If Suarez had any nerves, he didn’t show it in his debut. He was calm, cool, and collected right from the time the umpire yelled “play ball”. His command was fantastic from the start, consistently hitting the spots that catcher Nick Hundley called. He established his own pace and didn’t deviate, working quickly right from the beginning. Suarez got through the first inning cleanly, ending the frame with a strikeout of Paul Goldschmidt on a backdoor curveball before walking off the mound with a grin on his face.

Suarez continued strong, striking out A.J. Pollock and Nick Ahmed in a quick second inning. All in all, Suarez retired the first 10 batters of his big league career. That streak came to an end when Ketel Marte grounded a single through the middle, and then Goldschmidt got his revenge. The Giant killer crushed a 1-2 fastball that caught too much of the outside part of the plate for a two-run home run, giving Arizona the lead.

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The young lefty fell behind 3-1 the next hitter Pollock, but came back and ended the inning with a groundout and his sixth strikeout. Suarez made another mistake in the fifth inning, throwing a lazy curveball on the first pitch to opposing catcher and eighth hitter John Ryan Murphy. It hung, and Murphy smashed it for Arizona’s second home run of the day.

Suarez went on to get two more outs before the final pitch of his debut was lashed into left-center field for a double by Marte. Suarez left to a standing ovation after 5.1 very solid innings, but would have another run charged to his ledger when Sam Dyson allowed his inherited runner to score.

On the day, Suarez allowed four runs in his 5.1 innings, but really pitched so much better than that number would indicate. He only allowed four hits while striking out seven, and didn’t issue a free pass. He threw 83 pitches, and 62 were strikes.

Suarez’s start was a stark contrast to Beede’s start from the day before. The 25-year-old lefty lived up to his billing as a pitcher with great command. He threw 13 first-pitch strikes to the 20 batters he faced, which is a bit lower than desired, but he didn’t fall behind 2-0 in the count to a single batter.

He threw all of his pitches consistently and confidently, mixing a four-seam fastball with a cutter with big movement at 89 to 91 mph. He also added his changeup and curveball, giving him four offerings that he could throw at just about any time. Suarez did a great job of using all four quadrants of the strikezone, and had no problem going way in on the hands to right-handed hitters.

Suarez did learn a valuable lesson in this start, however. He can’t get away with many mistakes at the big league level. For the most part, he was able to nail his spots and pitch to the corners. But when he missed, the Arizona lineup didn’t miss. Goldschmidt took advantage of a center-cut fastball in the fourth inning. Murphy crushed a first-pitch, get-it-in curveball that ended up right down the middle. And Marte was able to get around on a fastball up and in that wasn’t up or in as much as it should’ve been for his double.

Next: 3 Up, 3 Down: Dropping Series to AZ

These are mistakes he can easily clean up, though, and it’s easy to see why the team has thought so highly of him. He was composed the entire way, and had excellent command for the most part. There is a lot of talent there, and it will be fun to watch him grow in the coming years.