What about Geno?

The good vibes and home run power Eugenio Suárez brings to the table are real and matter. But will the pending free agent return to Seattle?

Ryan Sun / AP Images

We recently discussed pending free agents Josh Naylor and Jorge Polanco. We should now turn our attention to the third regular on the Mariners getting ready to hit the market - Eugenio Suárez. Assuming Suárez demonstrated interest in remaining with the team, would it be wise for Seattle to pursue a deal with him?

As we did with Naylor and Polanco, let’s walk through Suárez’s selling points and any potential concerns with keeping the slugging third baseman in a Mariners uniform beyond this year.

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Selling points: Suárez tied a career best with 49 home runs. Only four players hit more this year: teammate Cal Raleigh (60), Kyle Schwarber (56), Shohei Ohtani (55), and Aaron Judge (53). Over the final two months of the season, the lone Mariner with more round-trippers than Suárez’s 13, was Raleigh (18).

Suárez makes loud, quality contact. Among 108 players with at least 550 plate appearances, his 14.3-percent barrel rate tied with Matt Olson for 18th best. This year, barreled balls produced a .690 AVG, 2.299 SLG, and 87-percent of all home runs.

After a sluggish American League Division Series, Suárez rebounded to post a .308 AVG, .379 OBP, and .577 SLG with two home runs in the American League Championship Series. And who will ever forget the go-ahead grand slam he hit in Game 5?

Since 2022, Suárez has played 629 games. Only Olson (648), Pete Alonso (638), Francisco Lindor (633), Juan Soto (632), and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (631) appeared in more contests than the Venezuelan did. Suárez also logged 5,254.2 innings at third base during the same span - most by anyone at the hot corner. The next closest fielder was Matt Chapman (5,012.1).

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Potential concerns: This isn’t breaking news. Suárez struck out often in 2025, as he’s done for multiple seasons. The right-handed hitter’s strikeout rate has been near 30-percent since 2019.

Suárez’s Strikeout Rates

2014 (24.2%)
2015 (23.6%)
2016 (24.7%)
2017 (23.3%)
2018 (23.4%)
2019 (28.5%)
2020 (29%)
2021 (29.8%)
2022 (31.2%)
2023 (30.8%)
2024 (27.5%)
2025 (29.8%)

With the Mariners this year, Suárez’s strikeout rate was 35.9-percent - the highest mark of his career. Granted, we’re talking about a small sample of just 53 games. But it’s worth noting the two-time All-Star’s strikeout rate was almost 10-percent lower with Arizona.

And it wasn’t just strikeouts where Suárez’s production as a Diamondback outperformed what he did with Seattle.

Honing in on Suárez’s two months with the Mariners led to an unexpected discovery. He was very good on the road, but struggled mightily at home. Other than strikeouts and walks, the 2025 All-Star was significantly worse in every other respect at T-Mobile Park.

I didn’t expect to find Suárez’s home numbers to be so bad since he was productive at T-Mobile Park during his first stint with the Mariners. Even during the 2023 season when his overall numbers suffered, Suárez was better at home than on the road.

Suárez’s Home/Away Splits (2023)

Home: 335 PA, 12 HR, .232 AVG, .331, OBP, .411 SLG
Away: 359 PA, 10 HR, .233 AVG, .315 OBP, .374 SLG

Perhaps it’s just the randomness of baseball, but Suárez struggling so much at T-Mobile Park is an attention-getter for me.

From a defensive standpoint, Outs Above Average (OAA) suggests Suárez’s range may have regressed since he left Seattle. Baseball Savant defines OAA as a range-based metric that quantifies how many outs a defender has saved compared to the average player. League-average is always ZERO.

Suárez’s minus-5 OAA ranked 32nd of 39 qualified third basemen. Am I suggesting the veteran infielder was a liability in the field? No, but the data hints that Suárez may have lost a step at third base.

Suárez’s OAA History at 3B

2021 (0) - CIN
2022 (0) - SEA
2023 (11) - SEA
2024 (3) - ARI
2025 (minus-5) - ARI
2025 (0) - SEA

Perhaps if the Mariners and Suárez agreed to a new contract, being around infield coach Perry Hill on a full-time basis would benefit him. Then again, Father Time waits for no one.

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Thoughts: As much as Suárez struggled to consistently hit after joining the Mariners, his offensive productivity was better than his predecessors at the hot corner - rookie Ben Williamson and Miles Mastrobuoni.

I’m not suggesting Suárez being better than a first-year player and a utility-man is worthy of praise. But knowing this fact could provide a measure of perspective as the offseason approaches and we speculate over who would be a good choice to play third base for the Mariners in 2026.

The issue confronting the Mariners is whether they want to reunite with a very popular player, who will be entering his age-35 season and didn’t deliver with his bat on a regular basis over the final two months of the 2025 campaign.

My suspicion is that Suárez doesn’t re-sign with Seattle. But even if Geno does become a former Mariner for a second time, we’ll always have that game-winning grand slam in the ALCS to keep the Good Vibes beating in our hearts.

“Seattle is shaking!”

My Oh My…