Phillies Star Pitcher Discusses Family Seeing Him Play In-Person for First Time

It was a great moment for one of the Philadelphia Phillies' star pitchers on Wednesday when his family was finally able to see him pitch in-person.

Apr 27, 2024; San Diego, California, USA; Philadelphia Phillies starting pitcher Ranger Suarez (55) / Orlando Ramirez-USA TODAY Sports

The Philadelphia Phillies have the best record in the National League at 49-25 entering Thursday.

Much of the reason for that is because the star-studded roster the front office has put together is performing at a high level, finally allowing this group to get off to a good start.

Bryce Harper, Kyle Schwarber, Zack Wheeler, Aaron Nola, Trea Turner and others will always dominate the headlines when discussing the Phillies, but a surprise candidate has put his name into the conversation of who is having the best season on this team.

Philadelphia fans have come to know Ranger Suarez for his elite playoff outings in 2022 and 2023 despite him getting his first Major League experience in 2018.

Originally a reliever, the left-hander has turned into one of the premier starters in the MLB, currently the favorite to win the National League Cy Young award.

The Phillies have been able to see the improvement that Suarez has made year-over-year to get himself to this point of contending for an individual trophy, but his family has not been able to watch him pitch in-person since he left Venezuela to join the MLB.

That is until Wednesday.

For the first time, Suarez's family was in the stands to see him play, and he opened up about that experience.

"It's going to be something beautiful," he told Matt Gelb of The Athletic the day before his outing.

And it was.

His wife and two kids sat in the stands, seeing the stadium filled with "SUAREZ" jerseys and hearing strangers cheering on their husband and father.

The star pitcher has wanted his family to come stateside earlier, but poor relationships between the United States and Venezuela has prevented that from happening. It's also been an issue for Suarez himself, causing him to show up to Spring Training late because of visa problems.

That wasn't the case this year, and it maybe has helped him be dominant to start this campaign.

It certainly helped Philadelphia get Suarez's family to the city to watch the game.

"Basically, I did nothing about this. I just told the organization that I wanted my family here. And they just made everything possible to make it happen. So, I'm really grateful for the organization for helping with that," he said.

Director of international operations, Ray Robles, was in charge of getting everything taken care of.

"It means a lot to us to be able to bring a family together. It's one thing we strive for. Family is everything in Latin America, hence the reason why we always go above and beyond when our guys ask us to help them with this ... We know how important it is to the players to have their family and support system alongside," Robles told Gelb.

Teammates could tell this impacted Suarez, as one of his best friends on the team, Seranthony Dominguez, said he looked extremely happy.

Suarez told Gelb that he played with his kids all night on Father's Day, repeated that the next day. and continued it at the stadium until it was his turn to pitch.

"I wanted them with me during the season ... and to spend every single night with my family," he said.