Ranger Suárez’s first season as a member of the Boston Red Sox organization is off to a rough start. Over his first two outings, he has given up 2 home runs, along with 13 hits and three walks in 8.1 innings pitched. It has contributed to his earned run average of 8.64 after both starts, during which he has allowed 8 runs.

Ranger Suárez’s Cutter Stats

Ranger Suárez’s struggles are primarily related to one pitch, the cut fastball. He has thrown the cut fastball a total of 42 times over the 8.1 innings pitched, 27.5% of all pitches in the season. The use of the cut fastball has increased significantly since his tenure with the Philadelphia Phillies.

In his first two starts of 2025, he threw the cut fastball 19 times, making up 11.6 percent of his pitches. From 2023 to 2025, he threw 969 cut fastballs, 14.2% of his pitches

Why

Ranger Suárez’s decision to throw the cut fastball at a high frequency is head-scratching for two reasons .
1. A significant number of his cut fastballs missed the strike zone, landing either high, low, inside, or outside. From 2023 to 2025, 458 of his cut fastballs (47.3%) were thrown outside the boundaries of the strike zone.

The percentage improved slightly in his two starts with the Boston Red Sox. Of his cut fastballs, 45.2% (19 total) were thrown outside of the strike zone—either high, low, inside, or outside.

2. He struggles to get hitters  out with the pitch, Opposing hitters had a batting average of320 from 2023 to 2025, with 12 home runs. They have improved the statistics against the Cutter over the first two to start this season, with a batting average of 333 and two home runs. 

Ranger Suárez struggled with the pitch due to low velocity. In 2025, he ranked 20th-slowest among pitchers with a cut fastball, averaging 86.2 mph. It has slightly improved early in 2026 as he is throwing it at 87.6 mph, the 45th lowest cut fastball in the league.

Consequently, opposing teams have a few extra seconds to recognize the pick and prepare a swing. On August 12 2025, Ranger Suárez was facing Miguel Andújar, formerly of the Cincinnati Reds.

With three balls and zero strikes in the fourth inning , he threw a cut fastball similar to a pitch that you would typically see in batting practice over the middle of the plate . Miguel sent the offering over the left field fence for a home run .

If the cut fastball gets reduced or eliminated from the repertoire, he would perform much better. Excluding the cut fastball, opponents had a batting average of 246 from 2023 to 2025, totaling 29 home runs.

Updates

Update on April 12 2026, Ranger Suárez threw 84 pitches across six scoreless innings against the St. Louis Cardinals last night. During the outing, he threw only 9 cut fastballs last night, 10.7% of his total pitches.

The decrease in cut fastballs allowed him to hold the Cardinals to a batting average of .150 giving up three hits and two walks.