ROBERT SUAREZ

• Position(s): Right-handed pitcher
• Bats / Throws: Right / Right
• 2025 opening day age: 34
• Height / Weight: 6-foot-2 / 210 pounds
• How acquired: Signed as a free agent in December 2021
• Contract status: Will make $10 million in the third year of a five-year, $46 million deal; Suarez holds $8 million player options for 2026 and 2027.
• fWAR in 2024: 0.9
• Key 2024 stats: 9-3, 2.77 ERA, 36 saves, 1 hold, 59 strikeouts, 10 walks, 1.05 WHIP, .217 opponent average, 65 innings (65 games)

 

STAT TO NOTE

• 4.28 — Suarez’s ERA over 27 appearances (27⅓ innings) after his appearance in the All-Star game, up significantly from his first-half ERA (1.67).

 

TRENDING

• Up — With Josh Hader leaving as a free agent, Suarez entered the second year of his second contract with the Padres as something of an unknown, as he’d followed up an impressive rookie season (2.27 ERA) with an injury-plagued sophomore campaign (4.23 ERA) that included a 10-game, sticky-stuff suspension. In fact, the Padres didn’t even outright name Suarez the closer entering spring training, although they also didn’t stack the box with stiff competition (Yuki Matsui and Woo-Suk Go saved games in Japan and Korea, respectively, but both were embarking on their first season in the States). Suarez, however, took the job and ran with it, converting his first 17 opportunities (0.61 ERA) before suffering his first loss and blown save of the season in mid-June in Philadelphia. Suarez blew just one other save in the first half to earn his first All-Star invite alongside teammates Jurickson Profar, Fernando Tatis Jr., Jackson Merrill and Luis Arraez. However, Suarez’s workload for a half-season (38 games, 37⅔ IP) surpassed the work he put in for all of 2023 and it appeared to catch up to him as his effectiveness sagged after the All-Star break (see stat to note). The Padres, of course, protected against this, acquiring All-Star closer Tanner Scott and reliever Jason Adam to both strengthen the bridge to Suarez and provide avenues to rest him down the stretch. Suarez was just 14-for-18 in save chances after the All-Star break and would have blown the postseason-clincher if it weren’t for Manny Machado starting a game-ending triple play at Dodger Stadium. Suarez went on to throw three scoreless innings in three Padres postseason wins, lowering his career postseason ERA to 2.19 over 12⅓ innings.

 

2025 OUTLOOK

• With Scott leaving as a free agent, Suarez is the unquestioned closer entering the season, although Adam, Matsui and Jeremiah Estrada could get trial runs as they will be on the team in 2026 and Suarez is a strong opt-out candidate. Suarez’s success, however, might hinge on reintroducing a breaking ball as a significant part of his repertoire. He threw 71.4% four-seamers in 2024, 15.6% sinkers, 12.6% changeups and just four total cutters, a mix that became a topic of conversation during his second-half slide. Suarez had morphed his slider into a cutter late in his rookie season, but he had essentially become a fastball-sinker-changeup pitcher during a standout run through the 2022 postseason and remained so through his late-season slide last year. The question is: Will Suarez adapt in 2025?

 

Roster rankings

• 11. INF Jake Cronenworth
• 12. RHP Jason Adam
• 13. RHP Joe Musgrove
• 14. Adrián Morejón
• 15. RHP Jeremiah Estrada
• 16. RHP Matt Waldron
• 17. INF Eguy Rosario
• 18. RHP Randy Vásquez
• 19. RHP Bryan Hoeing
• 20. LHP Yuki Matsui
• 21. RHP Sean Reynolds
• 22. C Luis Campusano
• 23. RHP Alek Jacob
• 24. OF Tirso Ornelas
• 25. RHP Ryan Bergert
• 26. RHP Henry Baez
• 27. LHP Omar Cruz
• 28. OF Brandon Lockridge
• 29. LHP Tom Cosgrove
• 30. RHP Stephen Kolek
• 31. RHP Juan Nuñez
• 32. C Brett Sullivan
• 33. UT Tyler Wade
• 34. LHP Wandy Peralta