Eugenio Suarez's Work Ethic, Training Strategy Spur Offensive Turnaround

The D-backs' third baseman has ridden a hot streak into an elite month, as he and his manager made adjustments to achieve results.

Jul 31, 2024; Phoenix, Arizona, USA; Arizona Diamondbacks third base Eugenio Suarez (28) throws to first base against the Washington Nationals in the first inning at Chase Field. Mandatory Credit: Matt Kartozian-USA TODAY Sports / Matt Kartozian-USA TODAY Sports

The Arizona Diamondbacks, just a month prior, had a third base problem. Veteran slugger Eugenio Suárez had been compounding poor at-bats with bad luck, and an occasional defensive gaffe.

On June 26th, Suárez was slashing .192/.274/.312, and it seemed that he was trending closer to a DFA than becoming a contributor.

But as the month began to turn over to July, something changed for the power hitter. He catapulted himself into a blazing hot stretch, slashing a monstrous .333/.398/.733, good for a 1.131 OPS and 10 home runs.

In Tuesday night's contest, he put an exclamation point on his stellar month, going 4-for-6 against the Washington Nationals. He crushed an unbelievable three homers to knock in five runs, as the D-backs went on to win 17-0.

His numbers on the season, after a dismal start, now sit at .230/.309/.415. He's begun to break the barrier of league average stats, and is officially sitting above our pre-season projections, although there remains plenty of season left to play.

“I never give up, never, never, never ever, I just work hard every day. Having a day like this one is when I say the hard work paid off. It’s awesome, it feels great,” Suarez said.

It was the second time in the veteran's career that he's hit three home runs in a game, the previous coming in the fanless 2020 COVID-19 season. Suarez said this time felt different with a crowd chanting his name, and was a special moment for his family watching in the stands.

"We’re here for [the fans], they really deserve everything that we do on the field, and days like these they enjoy, they cheer my name and it feels great,” he said.

But the veteran told reporters that he doesn't chase home runs. Even in a game where he hit three of them, with a chance for a fourth in his final at-bat, he emphasized that he simply tries to put forward a quality at-bat regardless of the situation.

Similarly, he said he doesn't think about his strikeouts either. Known for being a heavy swing-and-miss player, he's punched out 25 times in the month, although for his trends, that's an improvement.

“I feel like the strikeouts shut [down] a little bit. I don’t think a lot about strikeouts, I think about having good at-bats. To be honest, I'm not that guy… that thinks too much about strikeouts, I just think about having good at-bats,” he said.

“When you have good at-bats, the results are going to be there at some point, so [Tuesday] is an example.”

Suarez said he'd had conversations with the D-backs' hitting coaches, and began taking a bit of a different approach with his

“I listened to them, that’s why they’re here… I’m always working, but I put in a little bit extra lately, and like I said, it’s paid off.”

Manager Torey Lovullo praised his third baseman, and touched on the changes his coaching staff made to try and get Suarez back on track.

"You don’t just lose it, you’ve got to maybe look for it in different ways, and that’s what we were trying to encourage him to do," said Lovullo, "We talked about high-intensity, low-rep training, not just going out there and getting loose, you might have to change things up.

"He really stuck with it, he started to change a couple of his work habits, just little minor adjustments, and he’s really taken off. It was awesome watching that third [home run] going over the fence," Lovullo said.

Although some might have clamored for the veteran to be DFA, Lovullo said that the conversation never got to his office.

"It never really came into my office, and I don’t know what would’ve happened if it did. He’s a true veteran presence who can go out there and carry a team for a game, a week, and it’s now been a month," Lovullo said.

Suarez has been traditionally a better player as the season wanes, putting up better career numbers mostly across the board after the All-Star Break.

“We had a lot of statistical data that showed his Julys trend in a very positive way, his Augusts and Septembers are always really good, and it’s happening, right before our very eyes,” Lovullo said.

Suarez noted that the latter half of seasons is when he feels the numbers begin to show up as a result of his work. Although clarifying that he always puts his best effort forward, he concurred with the sentiment of second-half success.

“I believe in myself, I never give up, this time of the season is when I start feeling more confident in myself, and start playing better, play everyday more, and that’s when I put everything on the field,” he said.

But it's not just the results, or the on-field work that Suarez puts in that makes him an asset to the D-backs. Lovullo praised his emotional stability, and the positive veteran presence the third baseman maintains in the clubhouse.

“He was so steady emotionally, that I was looking at him, thinking ‘do you have a heartbeat?’ [his poor results] would bother anybody, but he just was so consistent with his attitude, and then his work ethic kind of improved to that high-intensity type of work, and he was accepting the coaching," Lovullo said.

The manager noted his willingness to go along with coaching, and that Suarez's acceptance of coaching stood out to Lovullo through the process.

The contagious, everlasting positivity of the 33-year-old translates to plus leadership, and his on-field results have certainly bolstered his cruciality to the club.

“He’s such a great presence inside of the clubhouse, he’s fearless with any conversation he needs to have," Lovullo said.

"He challenges guys, says the right thing at the right time, and for me, that was enough to say ‘I’m going to stay with you because I know you’re going to help us out no matter what, and eventually that offense is going to come.’”