Washington Nationals Player Profile: Wander Suero

Our latest non-roster invitee profile takes a look at pitcher Wander Suero

We continue our look at the players the Washington Nationals invited to spring training this year on non-roster invitees by looking at one of the 13 pitchers that received an invite. This pitcher has been with the Nats’ organization since 2010 and and made it as far as double-A last year. The pitcher that I am talking about is Wander Suero.

Back in 2013, Suero was 8-1 with a 1.65 ERA and struck out 46 batters in 13 games (three starts) for the Gulf Coast Nationals. This past season, Suero went 7-4 with a 3.90 ERA in 33 games (five starts) and had two saves in three chances with high-A Potomac and double-A Harrisburg. The 24-year-old right-hander began the season with Potomac, where he split time as a starter and reliever

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His first five appearances of the season were all as a starter with the Potomac Nationals. In those five games, he pitched five or more innings in four of them as he went 3-2 with a 4.15 ERA. Suero struck out a mere 15 batters and walked eight over the course of 26 innings.

Once Potomac decided to move Suero to the bullpen, he was dominant in the Carolina League. In 11 relief appearances, he was 3-0 with a 0.90 ERA and converted on both of his save chances. Suero had a sub-two ERA during the months of May and June and he had 24 strikeouts compared to ten walks. Among pitchers who made ten or more appearances in a Potomac uniform last season, Suero was fifth on the team in WHIP (1.20)

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On July 2, the Nationals promoted Suero up to Harrisburg, where he continued his development as a reliever. However, he did not have the same results as he did at high-A. He went 1-2 with a 6.35 ERA in 17 games and converted one of his two save chances. He had 29 strikeouts, 14 walks, and his opponents’ batting average of .307 was 70 points higher than it was at Potomac (.237).

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During the offseason, Suero made two relief appearances down in the Dominican Republic, pitching for Tigres del Licey. He had a 5.40 ERA in those outings and struck out only one batter in 1.2 innings. Down in Viera, it sounds like he is making a good first impression early on in Spring Training:

Even though Suero did not make MLB Pipeline’s list of the top-30 Nats prospects that was updated on Monday, he is still somebody to watch in 2016 as he continues his progression as a reliever at the upper levels of the Washington Nationals’ farm system.