Dodgers News: Veteran RHP Wander Suero Has Made an Impression on Dave Roberts

Clint Pasillas 03/25/2023

0 1 minute read

All the spring training questions are just about answered for the Dodgers. Dave Roberts confirmed the 13 position players that will break camp with the team for opening day and named the first four pitchers in the starting rotation. Most of the bullpen is already accounted for as well. Just one relief spot is left to be claimed and Roberts checked one name off the list of options on Friday.

#Dodgers manager Dave Roberts also had high praise for Wander Suero, who has had a sneaky good camp. Suero isn’t in the mix for Opening Day, but Roberts said he expects the right-hander to make an impact at some point this season.

— Juan Toribio (@juanctoribio) March 24, 2023

Veteran reliever Wander Suero signed a minor league deal with the team at the start of the spring and had himself a nice showing in front of Dave and the front office. The former Washinton National made 8 appearances this Cactus League season, allowing just 1 earned run while striking out 8 and walking none over 7.2 innings. That was enough to make an impression and earn praise from Doc.

As well as he’s pitched this spring, the bullpen needs a long reliever more than another one inning guy. Additionally, it would be nice to have some sort of depth at the minor league level in the event an injury pops up. That would lead us to believe that Andre Jackson will get the final spot in the opening day bullpen.

RHP Andre Jackson's stats this spring for the Dodgers:

7.2 IP
7 H
1 ER
1 BB
10 K
1.17 ERA

The 26-year-old needs to open the season on the Opening Day roster in the bullpen. He could be one of the team's best weapons this year.
— Noah Camras (@noahcamras) March 21, 2023

Back to Suero, the right-hander has had some success at the big league level in the past with his best season coming back in 2018 (3.59 ERA over 40 games). But he struggled in 2021 and was downright bad at Triple-A with the Angels last season. However, these are the Dodgers. And these Dodgers are good at fixing pitchers. So there’s at least some reason to believe Suero could be a quality arm at the big league level again.

So Wander did everything he was supposed to do this spring and should feel good even though he’s heading back down to the minor leagues to start the season. A job with the Dodgers is one injury or one bad Phil Bickford outing away.