Baltimore Orioles player of the week: A surprise appearance steals the show

Coming into the 2024 season, the Baltimore Orioles were expected to have one of the best starting rotations in baseball. Unfortunately, injuries began the moment they arrived at spring training and it's only gotten worse since then, leaving the O's looking for extra arms to fill the void.

Both Kyle Bradish and John Means reported to camp with injuries that they did eventually return from, but only for a short time. Tyler Wells is another starter that ended his season very early with an elbow injury. Dean Kremer and Cole Irvin have under-performed this season while rookies Chayce McDermott and Cade Povich struggled in their debuts.

The top two starters, Corbin Burnes and Grayson Rodriguez, have been great but after them it's been difficult to find a consistently reliable pitcher. But just minutes before GrayRod was set to make his start against the Blue Jays on August 6, he removed himself with right lat/teres discomfort. Enter Albert Suarez.

Albert Suarez stepped up big time for the Orioles this week

Here's a guy who had a cup of coffee with the San Francisco Giants in 2016-17 but hasn't appeared in the majors since then. He gets an invite to the Orioles spring training and impresses everyone. Suarez began the season with the Norfolk Tides but was called up just a couple weeks into the season. He has bounced back and fourth between the starting rotation and the bullpen all season long, and done so seamlessly.

Suarez had a tough month of June but was called upon at the last possible moment to step in for Rodriguez. With next to no time to prepare, Suarez took the mound against a division rival and was dominant. He ended up pitching 5 shutout innings allowing just two hits (both singles) and two walks while striking out six. When Suarez left the game he was in line for the victory but the bullpen wasn't able to keep the Jays off the board.

After his performance against Toronto and Rodriguez officially being placed on the IL, Suarez got another start on Sunday. This time, Suarez took on the Tampa Bay Rays, another divisional opponent and again Suarez was great. He recorded his third quality start of the season, pitching 6.2 shutout innings and allowing four hits and one walk while striking out five. He again left in line for the win but the bullpen wasn't able to hold onto the lead.

It may sound weird to name a pitcher with no wins, holds or saves as the player of the week, but his other numbers show why Suarez is claiming the player of the week for the second time. 11.2 innings with a 0.00 ERA and a 11/3 K/BB ratio are numbers you would hope for from just about any pitcher. When you add in the fact that his first start was on virtually no notice you can see just how valuable Suarez was to the Orioles this week. With GrayRod expected to miss a few weeks the Birds will need Suarez to continue this production as they make their final push to repeat as AL East champions.