Arizona Diamondbacks 2024 Player Review: Eugenio Suárez

The D-backs' power-hitting third baseman overcame a brutal start to become one of Arizona's biggest weapons.

Aug 25, 2024; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Arizona Diamondbacks third baseman Eugenio Suarez (28) reacts to his three run home run against the Boston Red Sox during the sixth inning at Fenway Park. Mandatory Credit: Eric Canha-Imagn Images / Eric Canha-Imagn Images

This article is part of a series chronicling the individual seasons of players who appeared for the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2024.

Reviews for players who still have rookie eligibility for 2025 will appear in our prospect season reviews. Players are presented in the reverse order of their aWAR, an average of Baseball-Reference and FanGraphs WAR.

3B Eugenio Suárez

2024 Contract status: Final year of 7-year extension, just under $11.3 million

Eugenio Suárez 2024 and career statistics / Alex D'Agostino | Diamondbacks On SI

After their 2023 World Series appearance, the Arizona Diamondbacks were in need of a reliable third baseman. On November 22, 2023, general manager Mike Hazen struck a trade with the Seattle Mariners, bringing veteran slugger Eugenio Suárez to Arizona, in exchange for catcher Seby Zavala and reliever Carlos Vargas, a pair of minor leaguers.

Suárez was coming off a rough year, hitting just .232 and slugging .397 in 2023 with the Mariners, though he had been an extremely sturdy defensive presence, and still managed 22 home runs.

Ahead of the 2024 season, the projections were anything but kind to the veteran, expecting a meager .229 average with 22 home runs and 74 RBI. Truthfully, even those numbers would have been an upgrade for Arizona's third base slot, but projection models were convinced Suárez's production would continue on a downward trajectory.

Suárez started off hot. In his first three games with the D-backs, he went 6-for-11, with four RBI and only one strikeout. But once the Colorado Rockies left town, things began to look increasingly bleak.

Despite five multi-hit games in April, Suárez looked uncomfortable at the plate, hitting just .214 on the month, only managing one home run while striking out a massive 32 times.

May was no better. In fact, it was much worse, as Suárez slashed an unsightly .172/.229/.276, while striking out 29 times.

And when it felt like things couldn't get worse, they did.

June saw Suárez's worst average yet. He hit a mere .156 for the month, and, on June 12, manager Torey Lovullo opted to give rookie infielder Blaze Alexander reps at third.

It wasn't what would be considered a true benching, but Suárez began to see reduced starts, and was frequently pinch-hit for in clutch moments. At his lowest point, on June 23, he was slashing just .192/.276/.308 on the season, good for just a .584 OPS.

Fans (and some media) called for his DFA. The veteran who had been brought in to add slug, looked powerless and ineffective, essentially a black hole in the lineup. It was time for the failed experiment to end.

Or was it?

Suddenly, something began to click in July, as Suárez hit safely in five of his first six games.

But perhaps the true turning point of his season came on July 7. With the D-backs hovering around .500, facing a crucial matchup with the San Diego Padres, Suárez's bat truly came alive for the first time since April.

He went 3-for-4, including a double, two runs scored and a home run, knocking in five total runs on the way to a dominant 9-1 victory.

And from there, the veteran never looked back. He was brilliant at the plate through the rest of July, including a mind-blowing performance against the Washington Nationals on July 30, going 4-for-6 with a double, three home runs and five RBI, recording 13 total bases.

That performance helped him finish July with an exceptional .333/.398/.733 slash. Coming into the month with just six homers on the year, he hit 10 in July alone, and continued to look in control of nearly every at-bat.

In August, his average dipped to a still-respectable .260, with nine more doubles and five more homers, while knocking in 24 runs. In a three-game set at Fenway Park in Boston, Suárez's hot bat was a game-wrecker, as he went 8-for-13 with two homers and 10 RBI and the way to a series sweep.

As September hit, and the stakes began to rise, both the D-backs' offense and pitching was troublingly inconsistent. Suárez was the exception. He continued his tear with a .347/.385/.644 monthly slash, helped along by another nine homers.

On September 15, Arizona was facing a potential sweep at the hands of the Milwaukee Brewers. Trailing 8-7 in the eighth inning, Suárez hit a sacrifice fly to score Corbin Carroll and tie the game.

But the Brewers put up two more in extras. Now facing a 10-8 deficit, Arizona's offense went to work. A pair of hits and a hit-by-pitch loaded the bases, and Suárez once again stepped up, smacking a sharp single to right field and walking off Milwaukee 11-10.

Though his efforts wouldn't be enough to will the Diamondbacks to the playoffs, Suárez finished his season with a .256/.319/.469 slash, reaching 30 homers and 101 RBI, an extremely far cry from his projected .229/.320/.406 projection.

That initial projection did seem a bit unfair to this writer, however. Ahead of the 2024 season, I wrote about three Diamondbacks hitters who I expected to outperform their projections, and Suárez headlined the three.

Not only was he able to hit in a more offense-friendly environment by escaping T-Mobile Park, but he was protected in the lineup, hitting mostly in the six-hole with plenty of slug at the top of Arizona's order.

Despite the grind of his horrific slump, the affable veteran remained consistent with his "good vibes only" mindset, continuing to work hard in the face of adversity. That consistency and dedication allowed him to not only pull out of the slump, but become one of MLB's best power hitters in the second half.

Certainly, the D-backs' offense would have looked much weaker without him, but it wasn't just his bat. Defensively, he was reliable. While not one of the elite defensive talents, he played 158 games, only four down from a literal everyday season with the Mariners in 2023.

When called upon at the hot corner, he took care of business. Although posting -4 Defensive Runs Saved, he did manage a +2 Fielding Run Value and +3 Outs Above Average.

But his season truly felt like a miracle turnaround at the plate. Despite his abysmal numbers through June, Suárez finished with a .788 OPS (77 points above MLB average) and a 115 wRC+ (15% above average).

That, coupled with his solid-enough defense, earned him 3.4 aWAR, third-highest on the D-backs.

2025 Outlook

2025 Contract status: Club option, $15 million

There were talks of trading Suárez at the 2024 deadline, and even a threat of DFA. Certainly, his 2025 club option seemed like a complete waste of $15 million in mid-June.

But now, with the brilliant resurgence behind him, and his reputation as a positive clubhouse figure never wavering, the D-backs officially picked up his option. The veteran third baseman will return to the club in 2025, and will be a free agent in 2026.

That said, it's extremely difficult to imagine Suárez matching his 2024 production next season. While he was anything but lucky, and his contact was mostly solid and encouraging even in his slump, he did still strike out at a very high rate, punching out 176 times (a 27.5% K rate), and only walked 7.7% of the time, his lowest walk rate since 2015.

The K rate was, however, his best since 2018, and he struck out his fewest times since 2021. Those facts are encouraging in a vacuum, but at 32 years old, and approaching his 12th major league season, regression is an extremely likely result.

That said, even regression from his second-half production would add up to a valuable player. If he can avoid beginning his year on as potent of a slump, even a scaled-back version of his 2024 second half would bring plenty of power to Arizona, if he can even somewhat avoid inconsistency.

At any rate, expect Suárez to be the D-backs' 2025 Opening Day third baseman, barring injury. He's earned it.

Related Content

Three Diamondbacks Hitters Who Could Outperform Projections

Eugenio Suárez's Selfless Consistency Bridges D-backs Culture to Results

Arizona Diamondbacks 2024 Player Review Links Hub