Phillies’ Ranger Suárez leads 4 pitchers it’s time to stop underrating

Ranger Suarez leads a list of four pitchers who should be getting a lot more attention from MLB fans.

Monday night, a series with a potential National League Wild Card feel to it kicked off at Great American Ball Park. The Cincinnati Reds have been playing some of their best ball lately, led by a surge from ever-improving Elly De La Cruz. The offense went wild in a weekend sweep of the Los Angeles Angels. But in game one, they ran into a buzzsaw in the form of Philadelphia Phillies rising star Ranger Suárez.

The Philadelphia Phillies’ Ranger Suárez walked all over the Reds Monday, throwing seven shutout innings on just 88 pitches. It was the latest and greatest performance from the 28-year-old Suárez, who stepped up huge for Philly in last year’s postseason and has only gotten better since, now enjoying the longest active scoreless inning streak in the league at 25 straight.

As the number three starter in his high-powered rotation, Suárez typically doesn’t get much love in the public debate about the best pitchers in baseball. But all that is set to change, because it’s time to shine light on the pitchers who have been dominating in the shadows. These are the most underrated pitchers in Major League Baseball so far in 2024.

What, you thought we were done talking about Ranger Suárez? Far from it. He’s been enough of a revelation that we need a closer look at some of the underlying data. He’s in the 97th percentile of pitching run value and the 92nd in expected ERA. So essentially, none of what he’s doing is a fluke. And it’s all because he’s becoming a master of deception

Suárez relies on a five-pitch mix and so far, the entire kitchen sink is working. His four-seam fastball is untouchable and that’s because he only throws it 17% of the time. And his fourth offering, a change-up with massive vertical drop, has a 40.5% whiff rate this season, without allowing a hit.

Ranger Suárez is everything you want in a starting pitcher, especially one not at the top of the rotation. He’s efficient with his pitch count, pounds the zone, fields his position better than anyone and believes his stuff is good enough to get out any hitter at any time. And so far this season, that is precisely what he has been doing.

José Berríos, Toronto Blue Jays

There’s only one man who has taken the ball for five games in the 2024 season and produced five quality starts. And ironically enough, it’s the man who wasn’t given the opportunity to qualify for a quality start when he was mowing down the Minnesota Twins in last year’s playoffs, José Berríos.

It’s hard to say where the Toronto Blue Jays would be without Berríos early in this season. He’s second in MLB in both ERA and bWAR, is the only starter with a perfect 4-0 record and the Blue Jays have won every time he’s taken the mound. Not bad for a guy who was at various points considered the third or even fourth starter in Toronto over the past few seasons.

 

The only objectionable thing about Berríos’ season so far is that Statcast thinks his ERA should be 4.28 instead of under one. But guess what: it’s a results-based competition. Even if Berríos regresses somewhat as the season rolls on, he’s proving he’s capable of strapping a team to his back and there aren’t many pitchers at his pay grade who can say the same.