BlueClaws' Suarez fans 10 in latest gem

The Lakewood rotation boasts three of the Phillies' top 30 prospects -- No. 7 Sixto Sanchez, No. 15 Adonis Medina and No. 25 JoJo Romero -- so it shouldn't be much of a surprise that the BlueClaws lead the South Atlantic League in ERA (2.91) and WHIP (1.16). Perhaps the club's most dependable starter, however, has been an unranked arm, and he was back at it again Wednesday.
Ranger Suárez tied a season high with 10 strikeouts and scattered four hits and a walk over 7 2/3 innings to lead Lakewood to a 3-0 win over Greensboro at FirstEnergy Park. The outing was his longest since lasting eight frames in the Venezuelan Summer League on Aug. 2, 2014. The 21-year-old left-hander improved to 3-1 with a 2.01 ERA and 56 strikeouts in eight starts (44 2/3 innings) this season.

"I guess the 10 strikeouts would stand out, but he also had nine groundouts today, which is big," said BlueClaws pitching coach Brian Sweeney. "He had command of his pitches and a great plan of attack. You put those together, and that's how you get the execution portion of it. ... His fastball command led the way with both the two-seamer and the four-seamer, and he was throwing his slider for strikes. Eighty-five percent went for strikes actually. Then, the changeup, too -- it was a strong outing."
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Of the 22 outs Suarez recorded, only one was on a ball that left the infield: Walker Olis' flyout to right that led off the fourth. He threw 106 pitches, 77 of which were for strikes.
Before the season, the Venezuela native had never struck out more than eight in a single outing. He's reached double digits twice in 2017, also fanning 10 on April 20 at Class A West Virginia. Sweeney first worked with Suarez in 2015 in the Gulf Coast League and has seen the southpaw grow in the years since.
"When I was down there, you could see he had an exceptional feel for pitching," said Sweeney. "As his delivery got better, he's got even better, and a lot of that came last year at Williamsport working with [pitching coach] Hector Burris. ... It's got more rhythm, and the way he uses his legs more has gotten better the more he develops. His velocity has jumped by becoming a more effective leg user, and that's allowed him to add command as well."

In terms of velocity, Sweeney said Suarez was sitting 85-89 mph during their time together in the GCL, but on Wednesday, he was up to 94 on the radar gun. It's not quite the plus fastballs sported by Sanchez or Medina, but Suarez's dependability has set him apart through the first two months of the season.
"With his repeatable delivery, you know what you'll get almost every time out there," Sweeney said. "He's still only 21, so he's starting to develop all the other things that make you a good pitcher, but it's good to start with his repeatable delivery every time out. We've got an 18-year-old, two 20-year-olds on this staff, guys still learning their deliveries. He's a nice leader who they can all follow."
With five seasons in the Minor Leagues entering 2017, Suarez is the designated veteran of the Lakewood rotation, though this is the first time he's pitched in full-season ball. He's yet to crack more than 80 2/3 innings in a season, so it should be interesting to see how the velocity jump holds up over a heavier workload as the season progresses. For now, Sweeney is happy with the way the left-hander has fit in with bigger names.
"It's been contagious," he said. "With this group of pitchers, everyone is unique in their own way. They're feeding off each other. Some throw harder than others. Others are more off-speed-heavy. But they're all trying to get 15 pitches or less per inning, three pitches or less per out to buy into our ideas on being efficient. It's really helped them all."