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Cincinnati.– Venezuelan third baseman Eugenio Suárez, considered the most impactful hitter remaining available in the free agent market, reached an agreement with the Cincinnati Reds for one season and US$15 million, with a mutual option for 2027 valued at US$16 million, according to a source to Mark Feinsand of MLB.com. The agreement is subject to the usual physical examinations and has not yet been officially confirmed by the club.
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Suárez comes from a solid 2025 campaign, in which he demonstrated that his power remains intact by connecting 49 home runs, a figure that equaled his personal best. The third baseman recorded an offensive line of .228/.298/.526, with an OPS of .824, consolidating himself as one of the most productive power hitters in Major League Baseball. Thirty-six of those home runs were hit in just 106 games with the Arizona Diamondbacks, before being traded to the Seattle Mariners in a multiple-player trade during the Deadline, a move that allowed Arizona to acquire three of the best prospects from the Seattle organization. After arriving at the Mariners, Suárez lowered his production in the regular season, recording an OPS of .682 in 53 games, although he finished strong in the postseason. After starting the 2025 playoffs with just two hits in 21 at-bats, he reacted by adding eight hits in his last seven games, including two home runs in Game 5 of the American League Championship Series, one of them a grand slam that gave Seattle a decisive lead in the eighth inning.Looking ahead to the 2026 season, Suárez will begin his campaign at 34 years old with a total of 325 career home runs, averaging more than 27 home runs per season in his 12 years in the Major Leagues. He has surpassed the 30-home run mark in six of the last seven full seasons (excluding 2020), with the only exception being 2023, when he hit 22.
Although his offensive profile includes a high strikeout rate —29.8% in 2025, one of the highest among qualified hitters—, Suárez continues to be a proven impact bat, capable of immediately strengthening the heart of any lineup.
Defensively, the Venezuelan has shown solidity in recent campaigns, standing out with positive metrics of Outs Above Average (OAA) in 2023 and 2024, although he closed 2025 with negative numbers in the prelude. Suárez thus returns to an organization with which he lived his best years, after having played seven seasons with Cincinnati, where he averaged 27 home runs per season, before going through Seattle and Arizona in later years.
