Last night saw Eugenio Suarez hit his 48th home run of the year. That put him one home run behind Major League leader Pete Alonso, who hit his 49th earlier in the day. But that home run was pretty important for Suarez for several different reasons.
Dugout view of history being made!#BornToBaseball pic.twitter.com/IpnyMOQ9bR
— Cincinnati Reds (@Reds) September 19, 2019
The home run broke a tie with Andres Galarraga for most home runs in a season by a Venezuelan born player. Eugenio Suarez is now atop the list all by himself. There have been 407 Venezuelan’s to have played in Major League Baseball. None of them have ever hit more homers in a season that the Cincinnati Reds third baseman.
That home run also tied him with Edgardo Alfonzo for 14th on the All-Time home run list for Venezuelan born players with 146. He’s got a long way to go to top that one. Miguel Cabrera currently has 475 home runs. Andres Galarraga is second on the list with 399. They are the only two players with more than 300 in their careers.
It wasn’t just the Venezuelan born player record, though. The 48th home run of the year also ties the National League record for most home runs by a third baseman. Mike Schmidt and Adrian Beltre shared the record before Suarez joined them. Schmidt set the record in 1980 with the Phillies. Beltre joined him as a member of the Dodgers when he crushed 48 homers in 2004.
There are nine games remaining this season for the Cincinnati Reds. One more home run would get Eugenio Saurez the National League record for homers by a third baseman all to himself. He’s going to need four more to tie the Major League record. Alex Rodriguez hit 52 as a third baseman back in 2007. That, of course, would also match the Reds organizational record set by George Foster in 1977 when he took home league Most Valuable Player honors.
Doug, great detail in the article. I always appreciate the great writing on this site.
Suarez is having a great year. Someone to build a winning team around.
Still cant believe we traded the bloated corpse of Alfredo Simon for Geno. Also wasn’t he available because they decided to go with Iggy at shortstop.
Yes, that is why they traded Geno
So happy for Geno!
Thoughts on trying to move some players for someone like Jorge Soler? Relatively inexpensive player mashing the ball. Adding him AND Grandal would be insane
@mark
Crazy to think that if he put up a 900 ops with 35 homers and we would all shrug our shoulders.
52 seems attainable, and that sounds crazy to me. He’s going to need some help next season, if the Reds hope to compete. Hopefully with Aquino, Senzel, and a reversal from Winker and Votto the Reds can be competitive.
And perhaps offensive help from Lorenzen in centerfield.
We are lucky to have him even if the juiced ball has left me a little jaded about homerun records.
With all the suffering happening in Venezuela, I hope what Geno is accomplishing this year brings a little joy.