Previewing the Arizona Diamondbacks’ potential 2024 Opening Day line-up

Third Base

Eugenio Suarez

One of the Diamondbacks’ multiple off-season acquisitions was third baseman Eugenio Suarez from the Seattle Mariners. The veteran third baseman will provide the Snakes some pop at the hot corner as well as some solid defense. Suarez also solves the team’s problem of having an inconsistent answer at the hot corner.

Suarez played in all 162 games last year, batting .232/.323/.391 with a .313 wOBA, and 102 wRC+. He went yard 22 times, which marks the seventh straight non-COVID shortened season he hit at least 20 bombs. Suarez struck out over 30% of the time with a 30.8% K%, but offset it with a quality 10.1% BB%. Although this was a step backwards for Suarez compared to his 2022 campaign, there are some promising factors.

Suarez had a quality 90.3 MPH exit velocity and 43% hard hit rate, both of which were above the 60th percentile. But even better was his 13.2% barrel rate, coming in the 87th percentile of batters. Suarez had an xSLG% above .400 at .413, as well as a better xwOBA at .324. Both point to some improvement in 2024. For what it’s worth, he currently has a .611 SLG% in Spring Training.

While Suarez was never considered a poor defensive third baseman, 2023 was his best season with the leather in his career. He had -2 DRS, but +11 outs above average. Suarez was tied for the third most OAA among third basemen. He, along with Manny Machado and Ryan McMahon both had +11 OAA. Only Maikel Garcia and Ke’Bryan Hayes had a higher OAA count than Suarez.

Suarez has averaged about +3.6 fWAR the last two seasons. He’s a guaranteed 20 home run threat with above average offense, and average defense, at the very least. He is also a very steady option as he’s played about 94% of his total possible games over the last three seasons. If Suarez plays anything like he has the last two seasons, he’ll be the first +3.0 fWAR third basemen the Diamondbacks have had since Jake Lamb in 2016.