5 way-too-early Phillies All-Star predictions

Ranger Suárez

For anyone who hasn’t watched Ranger Suárez closely, this breakout season is surprising. But this has been a long time coming for the 28-year-old lefty. Those who have followed Suárez closely knew this was in him (subscription required). He has been one of the best pitchers in all of baseball, and the league is starting to take notice.

The April NL Pitcher of the Month has been downright filthy on the mound so far in 2024. Through seven starts, he is 6-0 with a 1.72 ERA, 0.72 WHIP and a 1.4 fWAR. His ERA is the sixth-best in the majors and fifth in the NL. He has the lowest WHIP across both leagues, and his fWAR is fourth in the NL and tied for the fifth-highest overall.

As Suárez has done so well in his career, he is inducing ground balls at a 57.8 percent rate which is close to his career high. Combine that with a career-best 27.4 percent hard-hit rate, and that’s a formula for high-quality starts where he is able to go deep into games and limit baserunners.

Suárez is as calm, cool and collected as they come when fielding his position. He has a Cliff Lee-like aura about him that you can’t help but notice. When he fields his position, he is as relaxed as can be and calmly puts out batters like he's taking fielding practice in spring training. Not only is a Cy Young Award within reach, a Gold Glove Award is also his to lose as well.

Suárez is trending toward joining his teammate Wheeler as an NL All-Star starting pitcher. It would be the first of his career.