Wander Suero signed a Minor League contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers at the start of 2023, and the veteran reliever spent the rest of the season within the organization, making multiple stops with the Major League club.
Suero joined the Dodgers with MLB experience already on his résumé, having pitched with the Washington Nationals from 2018-2021. With the Nationals, Suero went 14-13 with a 4.61 ERA and 1.41 WHIP over 185 relief appearances.
Following that, he spent the 2022 season pitching for the Los Angeles Angels’ Triple-A Salt Lake affiliate, finishing the year 2-3 with two saves, a 6.08 ERA and 1.86 WHIP in 20 games.
Suero was invited to Dodgers Spring Training and impressed, pitching to a 1.17 ERA in eight relief appearances and had eight strikeouts over 7.2 innings. However, that wasn’t enough for him to make the Opening Day roster as he was reassigned to Triple-A Oklahoma City to start the season.
The right-hander appeared in 47 games for Oklahoma City while posting a 3.26 ERA over 49.2 innings. His stellar numbers in the Pacific Coast League earned Suero a multiple call-ups, twice being added to the Dodgers roster, with the first being on May 5.
It was Suero’s first taste of MLB in two seasons, and over the course of the year he allowed seven runs over eight innings pitched (five appearances). Suero collected nine strikeouts over the limited work, logging his last outing on September 10 against the Nationals.
Suero then suffered lower back tightness, which sidelined him down the stretch, and the 32-year-old spent the remainder of the year on a rehab assignment in OKC.
Following the season, Suero elected free agency after he was outrighted to OKC, ending his time with the Dodgers organization.
Wander Suero 2023 highlight
Suero’s best outing of the 2023 season came on May 10 against the Milwaukee Brewers when he pitched two perfect innings while striking out three hitters.
The outing lowered his ERA from 10.13 to 5.79 due to his limited sample size as he closed out an 8-1 win over the Brewers.
It was Suero’s only MLB appearance of the five he made in 2023 where he did not allow a run.
2024 outlook
Suero ended up signing with the Houston Astros on a Minor League contract in early December. He was assigned to their Triple-A affiliate and should get a chance to make the big league roster.
Suero should end up filling a similar role for the Astros that he has with his other organizations in the past few seasons, providing the team with organizational depth and filling in on the Major League roster when necessary.
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