Trea Turner’s home run may have saved the Philadelphia Phillies from being swept by the Arizona Diamondbacks Wednesday, but it is becoming increasingly clear that the team’s starting pitching issues run much deeper than the No. 5 spot.
Ranger Suárez — after a two-year run of being one of the most effective pitchers in baseball, regardless of what role the Phillies utilized him in — has had a disastrous start to his 2023 campaign.
After opening the season on the injured list with inflammation in his left arm, Suárez hasn’t looked anything like the legitimate No. 3 starter that he was a year ago. That continued Wednesday, as he allowed five runs over five innings against the Diamondbacks:
After the game, both Suárez and manager Rob Thomson were adamant that there aren’t any physical concerns with the lefty. Thomson said Suárez pitched well from the windup, but struggled throwing out of the stretch, adding that pitching coach Caleb Cotham will likely address that in his next side session.
Regardless of the reason, in three starts this season, Suárez now has an unsightly 9.82 ERA.
That’s on top of Taijuan Walker’s 5.79 ERA and 5.12 FIP across his first 10 starts of the season. Zack Wheeler has a 4.11 ERA after 10 starts. Aaron Nola has a 4.31 ERA. And that says nothing of the hole that the No. 5 spot in the starting rotation — mostly occupied by Bailey Falter — has been for most of 2023.
There are some reasons for optimism. In three of his last four starts, Walker has gone at least five innings, pitching six frames on two occasions. Wheeler’s 3.56 expected ERA and 2.89 FIP suggest he’s due for positive regression. Nola has continued to be a workhorse, as his 62 2/3 innings pitched are among the top 10 in the league. Even Dylan Covey struck out six and allowed just one run over five innings in his Phillies debut Tuesday.
But if the Phillies are going to finish 2023 with a winning record — let alone, compete for a World Series — they need drastic improvements in starting pitching. Some of that may very well come externally, but the bulk of it will have to be improvements internally, and Suárez is probably the most concerning of that bunch currently.
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