Former San Francisco Giants Pitcher Back In Majors After Six-Year Break
The Baltimore Orioles are giving Albert Suárez another spin in the Majors after the former Giants pitcher spent several years overseas.
The San Francisco Giants haven’t seen Albert Suárez in the Majors since they lost him in the Rule 5 Draft in late 2017. On Wednesday, that changed.
The Baltimore Orioles called up Suárez from Triple-A Norfolk for Wednesday’s game and designated catcher David Bañuelos for assignment, per MASN Sports.
The move was in response to the Orioles putting Tyler Wells on the 15-day injured list with an elbow injury. Wells was supposed to start on Wednesday.
Suárez, a native of Venezuela, entered professional baseball in 2006 when he was signed as an international free-agent by the Tampa Bay Rays. He played for four different organizations, but he only reached the Majors with the Giants, who acquired him in 2015 on a minor-league deal.
The Giants called up the right-hander in 2016 and made him a part-time starter, as he started 12 games and made 22 appearances overall, going 3-5 with 4.29 ERA. He struck out 54 and walked 26 in 84 innings.
He followed that in 2017 with an 0-3 record and a 5.12 ERA with 34 strikeouts in 18 appearances.
San Francisco non-tendered him after the season and left him unprotected in the Rule 5 Draft, where they lost him to the Diamondbacks.
Things didn’t work out with the D-backs either, and the now 34-year-old pitcher found a home in Japan with Nippon Professional Baseball’s Tokyo Yakult Swallows (2019-21) and the Korean Baseball Organization’s Samsung Lions (2022-23). He posted a respectable ERA of around 3.00 with both teams.
He returned to the states this spring on a non-roster invitation from the Orioles and was assigned to Norfolk to start the season.
