Three months ago, it was in doubt whether Eugenio Suárez would finish the season with the Diamondbacks. Arizona’s offseason acquisition of the veteran third baseman from the Mariners seemed like a bust. Suárez started the season horribly. He hit .241/.310/.357 through the end of April and fell into an even worse slump over the next two months. From the start of May through the end of June, Suárez posted a .165/.259/.280 line while striking out more than 30% of the time.
By the middle of June, the D-Backs were contemplating a change. On June 9, USA Today’s Bob Nightengale wrote that the D-Backs were willing to consider what would’ve been a salary dump trade. Nightengale indicated that Suárez’s hold on the third base job was tenuous and manager Torey Lovullo said a few days later that the Snakes would give more third base reps to rookie Blaze Alexander. That never really transpired, as Alexander scuffled in the limited playing time he did receive.
At the same time, Suárez began to find his footing. He reached base at a .391 clip between the time of Lovullo’s comments and the end of the month. Once the calendar flipped to July, he transformed into an elite power threat.
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