Boston Red Sox
Suarez relies on his wide array of pitches, deception, and sharp command.
Just a few days after losing out on Alex Bregman in free agency, the Red Sox landed a legitimate No. 2 starter with their first major-league signing of the offseason.
According to Alex Speier of The Boston Globe, the Red Sox have reportedly signed lefty Ranger Suarez to a five-year contract worth $130 million — with no deferrals or opt-outs.
The 30-year-old southpaw has been one of the more reliable starters in the National League over the last few seasons, and figures to be the next man up in Boston’s rotation after Garrett Crochet.
Suarez’s $130 million deal stands as the largest doled out by Boston since the team signed Trevor Story to a six-year, $140 million contract in March 2022.
Here’s five things to know about Boston’s new starting pitcher:
He’s coming off the best season of his career
Suarez should be a welcome addition to Boston’s rotation as a No. 2 option behind Crochet — especially if he can replicate the season he put together in 2025 with the Phillies.
Suarez’s eighth season in Philadelphia was the best of his career, with the lefty sporting a 12-8 record with a 3.20 ERA, 1.220 WHIP and 151 strikeouts over 157.1 innings of work.
He may not boast swing-and-miss stuff, but Suarez excels at eliciting weak contact at the plate and limiting home runs.
Despite pitching for a majority of his career at the hitter-friendly Citizens Bank Park, the veteran has allowed just 0.8 home runs per nine innings of his career.
That should bode well at Fenway Park moving forward, while he also doesn’t put himself behind the eight-ball due to walks. His 5.8 percent walk rate in 2025 was the best of his career.
Adding Suarez to a rotation already featuring the likes of Crochet, Sonny Gray, Brayan Bello, and Johan Oviedo already gives Boston a strong starting rotation — with the fifth spot in that group still up for grabs between Patrick Sandoval, Kutter Crawford, and a pair of blue-chip prospects in Payton Tolle and Connelly Early.
His game revolves on deception, not speed
Unlike Crochet, Suarez isn’t exactly a flame-thrower on the mound — nor is he a starter who is going to carve through lineups by way of overpowering batters.
In fact, only seven qualified starters in 2025 featured a fastball with an average velocity lower than Suárez’s 90.1 miles per hour.
But what Suarez lacks in high velocity, he more than makes up for in terms of his deep arsenal of pitches, strong command, and keeping his offerings in the infield.
In total, Suarez’s 31.1 hard-hit percentage in 2025 placed him in the 98th percentile among MLB pitchers this past season (per Baseball Savant), while his ground-ball rate of 48 percent is also in the 76th percentile.
Rather than relying on his four-seam fastball, Suarez’s most utilized pitch is a sinker (29 percent usage rate), but he also mixes in a change-up (19 percent), cut fastball (17 percent), curveball (16 percent), four-seamer (15 percent), and slider (four percent).
With so many options to turn to on the mound, Suarez can be a thorn in the side of batters — especially given that he still pounds the strike zone with so many of those pitches.
Suarez’s reliance on his pitching repertoire instead of high velocity also bodes well that he can continue to thrive as a dependable, top-of-the-rotation arm later into his career.
He’s thrived in October
If the Red Sox are looking to build off of their brief playoff appearance in 2025, there’s a lot to like about Suarez’s body of work in October.
In 11 career postseason games with the Phillies, Suarez sports a 4-1 record with a 1.48 ERA (42.2 innings of work).
Since MLB expanded its playoff field in 1995, the only pitchers with a lower postseason ERA in as many innings pitched as Suarez are Mariano Rivera (0.70 ERA in 141 innings), and Stephen Strasburg (1.46 ERA in 55.1 innings).
Suarez made his mark during Philadelphia’s run to the World Series in 2022, getting two outs on two pitches as a reliever to clinch the National League pennant against the Padres.
Suarez also played a hand in the Phillies’ only two wins during the 2022 World Series against Houston — recording two key outs in a Game 1 win before winning Game 3 as Philadelphia’s starting pitcher (5 innings pitched, 3 hits, 0 runs, 4 strikeouts).
He didn’t start pitching until he was 15 years old
Despite his success in the big leagues, Suarez came from humble beginnings.
The son of a farmer in Venezuela, Suarez was signed for $25,000 as a teenager — joining the Phillies’ academy in his native country despite his limited knowledge on the mound.
“He didn’t know how to pitch,” Phillies director of international scouting Sal Agostinelli told Matt Gelb of The Athletic in a feature story in July 2021.
But the Phillies were intrigued by Suarez’s athleticism and “loose arm” when they signed him as an international free agent in 2012.
He didn’t leave the Phillies’ academy in Venezuela until his fourth season of pro ball, but started to rise through the ranks of the organization as a crafty pitcher who could regularly record outs without relying on a blistering fastball.
“To me, signing for $25,000 was really meaningless,” Suarez told Gelb. “That didn’t change my goal or anything. My mindset was to make it to the big leagues one way or another. I didn’t care if I signed for a dollar or $25,000 or a million dollars. My mindset was to make it to the big leagues. It’s pretty cool that I am here now.”
His family has a unique family naming tradition
Much like how Roger Clemens’ four sons — Koby, Kory, Kacy, and Kody — all have names that start with “K” in tribute to his knack for racking up strikeouts, the Suarez family has a similar tradition.
In a story by Jim Salisbury of NBC Sports Philadelphia in July 2018, Suarez noted that all of his siblings’ names also start with “R” — with Ranger having two brothers in Rayner and Rosmer, along with a sister, Rangerlin.
“We have a family tradition that every name starts with the letter R,” he told Salisbury.
Get the latest Boston sports news
Receive updates on your favorite Boston teams, straight from our newsroom to your inbox.
Sports,Baseball,Boston Red Sox,MLB#Red #Sox #pitcher #Ranger #Suarez1768437850
