Brent Suter‘s start on Friday night, the first of his major league career, was not magical.
Although nearly every young player hopes to arrive in the majors and dazzle in their first appearance, Suter did not only not pitch well and also didn’t collect a win.
But that also wasn’t his last chance, as he proved Tuesday night.
Suter, who has been with the Milwaukee Brewers organization since 2012, put together a favorable minor-league career as a starting pitcher. He managed to find success at every level, assembling a 3.38 earned run average from rookie ball through Triple-A, never once in a season watching it balloon over 4.00 – minus five starts in the Arizona Fall League in 2015.
But the tall left-hander has also shown an interesting pattern since hitting rookie ball. After starting three games with the Single-A Wisconsin Timber Rattlers in 2013, he moved up to High-A and averaged the most innings per appearance in his career at 5 2/3 innings.
Since then, he has averaged 1/3 inning less in every year that has followed – 5 1/3 in 2014, 4 2/3 in 2015, and 4 1/3 in 2016. Outside of the impact that Colorado Springs has had this season (3.50 ERA in 110 innings), it seems that Suter’s success is directly proportional to the amount of innings he pitches.
In 2013 he pitched 139 innings with a 3.43 ERA. In 2014 it was 152 innings and a 3.96 ERA. In 2015, he managed a 2.36 ERA in 118 innings between Double-A and Triple-A.
Not only that but the definition of his role has also had a large impact on his pitching performance. As a starter in 2015, Suter pitched to a 2.63 ERA and 1.27 walks plus hits per inning pitched (WHIP) with 65 strikeouts in 95 2/3 innings (17 games).
In contrast, as a reliever, he produced a stellar 1.19 ERA and 1.06 WHIP with 19 strikeouts in 22 2/3 innings (9 games).
The 2016 season seems to confirm this trend as well, as he pitched to a 4.20 ERA and 1.40 WHIP with 52 strikeouts in 85 2/3 innings as a starter and a 2.08 ERA and 1.22 WHIP with 25 strikeouts in 30 1/3 innings as a reliever.
If history wasn’t proof enough, recent results bear a striking resemblance to everything the 26-year-old has already established.
Friday night’s game against the Seattle Mariners perfectly met his 2016 innings average at 4 1/3, although the results left a bit to be desired (8.31 ERA), which can be expected considering the opposition included perennial All-Star Robinson Cano and the power-happy Kyle Seager, who each lifted one out of the park in back-to-back innings.
Despite the sub-par performance, the Brewers brought Suter back in a seventh-inning relief role Tuesday night against the Colorado Rockies.
Although he gave up a pair of singles and a walk, not only did he escape unscathed, but walked away with a win, thanks to a run-scoring double from Jonathan Villar and a two-run triple by Hernan Perez shortly after, taking the Brewers from down-by-two to up-by-one.
Given his history, Suter’s first major league win — although it’s arguably arbitrary considering the timing — may have been collected at just the right time to signify his value in the bullpen over the starting rotation.
Despite being used more frequently as a starter throughout the entirety of his career, the past and present have both shown where his success truly lies.
In a relief core that has seen its ups and downs this season – 17th in team relief ERA in the MLB – especially after losing two of its most powerful players in Will Smith and Jeremy Jeffress, it seems there’s more than enough room for someone who can handle their share of middle relief.
Jonathan Powell is the Managing Editor of Outside Pitch MLB. Follow him on Twitter @JP_OPSN.
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