Friday, July 18, 2025

Yankees: put Ben Rice at third, not Eugenio Suarez (34 today but no Joe DiMaggio).

Happy birthday, Eugenio Suarez.

I've thought for a few months that the Yankees should move Ben Rice to third base to solve their problem there. Rice was a catcher in the minors but he's mostly played first base in his two partial seasons in MLB. That combination of fielding skills means that Rice has at least the basics to play third base: catch grounders and throw across the diamond to first. Rice bats left, throws right. So far in 2025: OPS+ 119.

Instead general manager Brian Cashman is supposedly considering trading prospects to Arizona for third baseman Eugenio Suarez despite the fact that Suarez turns 34 today and has alarming Strike Out to Home Run ratios. So far in 2025: OPS+ 142, which would be a career high. Career OPS+: 113.

If a guy has 200 SO in a season that might be acceptable if he also hit 40 HR for a ratio of 5 SO for each HR. Suarez:

YearAgeTeamLgWARHRSOBBSO/HRBB/SOBAOBPSLGOPSOPS+
201422DETAL0.84672216.750.328.242.316.336.65285
201523CINNL0.81394177.231.181.280.315.446.761106
201624CINNL1.321155517.381.329.248.317.411.72892
201725CINNL3.526147845.654.571.260.367.461.828115
201826CINNL3.834142644.176.451.283.366.526.892136
201927CINNL3.549189703.857.370.271.358.572.930131
202028CINNL0.51567304.467.448.202.312.470.781100
202129CINNL-0.531171565.516.327.198.286.428.71382
202230SEAAL4.131196736.323.372.236.332.459.791129
202331SEAAL2.422214709.727.327.232.323.391.714103
202432ARINL3.130176495.867.278.256.319.469.788115
202533ARINL331105253.387.238.250.320.569.889142
YearAgeTeamLgWARHRSOBBSO/HRBB/SOBAOBPSLGOPSOPS+
Career26.330717236115.612.355.249.330.464.794113

Suarez is having career best SO/HR and OPS+. But he's 34 years old and are these numbers deceptive? Only two years ago Suarez had his career worst SO/HR: horrendous 9.7. That's much more than the limit I set of 5 SO for each HR.

And his 2023 OPS+ of 103 was only 3 percent above league average.

Link with data for all 164 players with at least 300 career Home Runs sorted by HR.

Top 10:

RkPlayerHRSOBBFromToAgeSO/HRBB/SOBAOBPSLGOPSOPS+
1Barry Bonds762153925581986200721-422.0201.662.298.444.6071.051182
2Henry Aaron755138314021954197620-421.8321.014.305.374.555.928155
3Babe Ruth714133020621914193519-401.8631.550.342.474.6901.164206
4Albert Pujols703140413732001202221-421.997.978.296.374.544.918145
5Álex Rodríguez696228713381994201618-403.286.585.295.380.550.930140
6Willie Mays660152614641951197320-422.312.959.302.384.557.941156
7Ken Griffey Jr.630177913121989201019-402.824.737.284.370.538.907136
8Jim Thome612254817471991201220-414.163.686.276.402.554.956147
9Sammy Sosa60923069291989200720-383.787.403.273.344.534.878128

All have much better SO/HR than Suarez 5.6.

Bottom in HR, including Suarez with 307:

151Greg Luzinski30714958451970198419-334.870.565.276.363.478.840130
151Al Simmons3077376151924194422-422.401.834.334.380.535.915133
151Eugenio Suárez30717236112014202522-335.612.355.249.330.464.794113
151Miguel Tejada30710795531997201323-393.515.513.285.336.456.791108
155Fred Lynn30611168571974199022-383.647.768.283.360.484.845129
155Richie Sexson30613135881997200822-334.291.448.261.344.507.851120
155Rubén Sierra30612396101986200620-404.049.492.268.315.450.765105
158Raúl Ibañez30513747131996201424-424.505.519.272.335.465.801111
158David Justice3059999031989200223-363.275.904.279.378.500.878129
158Reggie Sanders30516146741991200723-395.292.418.267.343.487.830115
161Steve Finley30412998441989200724-424.273.650.271.332.442.775104
162Anthony Rizzo30312087812011202421-343.987.647.261.361.467.828123
163Rogers Hornsby30167910381915193719-412.2561.529.358.434.5771.010175
164Chuck Klein3005216011928194423-391.7371.154.320.379.543.922137
RkPlayerHRSOBBFromToAgeSO/HRBB/SOBAOBPSLGOPSOPS+
max76225972558201620256.0652.850.358.482.6901.164206
min300369423191419351.022.275.231.302.421.74195

Only Reggie Sanders approached Suarez in SO/HR. Worst at 6.065:

RkPlayerHRSOBBFromToAgeSO/HRBB/SOBAOBPSLGOPSOPS+

130Justin Upton32519717852007202219-346.065.398.261.342.469.812117

Best:

RkPlayerHRSOBBFromToAgeSO/HRBB/SOBAOBPSLGOPSOPS+

87Joe DiMaggio3613697901936195121-361.0222.141.325.398.579.977155

Joltin' Joe was almost dead even. If he had retired a year earlier, DiMaggio would have had more HR than SO but in that least season he had 36 SO and only 12 HR, a clear sign of his decline.

Most HR by active players:

RkPlayerHRSOBBFromToAgeSO/HRBB/SOBAOBPSLGOPSOPS+

50Giancarlo Stanton43319887842010202520-354.591.394.257.345.524.870136

63Mike Trout395156510282011202519-333.962.657.296.408.576.985171

82Paul Goldschmidt370194010782011202523-375.243.556.289.380.507.887138

89Manny Machado35913716442012202519-323.819.470.280.339.488.827125

97Freddie Freeman353171510432010202520-354.858.608.300.386.510.897142

101Nolan Arenado35110795742013202522-343.074.532.283.340.509.849119

103Aaron Judge35013187622016202524-333.766.578.294.411.6161.027178

106Bryce Harper346159310782012202519-324.604.677.281.388.519.907142

_____________________________________________

BB/SO:

RkPlayerHRSOBBFromToAgeSO/HRBB/SOBAOBPSLGOPSOPS+

20Ted Williams52170920211939196020-411.3612.850.344.482.6341.116191

18Mickey Mantle536171017331951196819-363.1901.013.298.421.557.977172

56Alfonso Soriano41218034961999201423-384.376.275.270.319.500.819112

Suarez:

HRSOBBSO/HRBB/SO
30717236115.612.355


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