A zen 'bulldog,' Ranger impressing new teammates, coaches already

FORT MYERS, Fla. -- The most lucrative offseason addition for a team usually comes in with a lot to process. A new team, new faces and pressure to live up to the contract.

But in the case of Ranger Suárez, the Red Sox have the perfect player to deal with such a transition.

The lefty, who signed a five-year, $130 million contract to come to Boston in January, is known for a demeanor that is so calm, people can only speculate if his pulse is as low as it seems.

“Consistent,” said Red Sox manager Alex Cora. “I had a chance to talk to Kyle [Schwarber] and Dave [Dombrowski] about him, and this whole thing about him having no pulse in big moments -- you can see it. The way he goes about his business, it’s very relaxed."

The same cannot be said for the city that will be Suárez's new baseball home for the next five years. In Boston, all 162 games are treated like an event. At least he is accustomed to that after spending his entire career with the Phillies prior to this season.

By staying calm in the moments that matter the most, Suárez has proven to be one of MLB’s top pitchers in recent years in postseason play, notching a 4-1 record and 1.48 ERA in 11 outings, eight of them starts.

Where did Suárez get his zen-like demeanor from?

“Got to ask my mom and my dad,” said Suárez. “I’m just calm. I’ve always been like that. There are some people that might say that I don't really care much about what I'm doing, but it's not like that. I like that calmness, it helps me to stay focused. And I feel like that’s just the way I am.”

You could see it at work after Suárez’s Grapefruit League debut against the Pirates in the Red Sox's 16-7 loss on Tuesday, a performance that didn’t go as well as he had hoped (1 2/3 innings, three hits, two runs, no walks and two strikeouts) but served its purpose.

“I was working on the sweeper against righties,” said Suárez. “I think that last year, I wasn’t too sharp with it, and that was my goal today, breaking balls against righties.”

One of those breaking balls was absolutely squashed by MLB Pipeline’s No. 1 prospect Konnor Griffin, who clubbed it over everything in left -- clearing the replica Green Monster by a lot.

That didn’t faze Suárez, either. He had heard about the 19-year-old before facing him for the first time.

“I suppose when you're the top prospect in the game, people expect that from you, and he did it today. No, I wasn’t surprised,” Suárez said. “I fell down in the count and threw a breaking ball in a fastball count and he was able to hit it. I heard very good things about him -- great ballplayer, a very good hitter, and you can see that.”

One thing you should never misinterpret from Suárez’s unflappable nature is how much he cares about his craft.

“When he's on the mound, he's a bulldog,” said Cora. “He knows what he wants to do. He's a competitor.”

Suárez’s demeanor befits his pitching style, which doesn’t include high-octane velocity that is so prevalent in today’s game. Instead, he is a master craftsman -- one who distributed his six-pitch mix almost equally over a 33-pitch outing.

“Obviously, his command is off the charts and he's got some really good pitch ability,” said Red Sox pitching coach Andrew Bailey. “He can do a lot of things with the baseball.”

On Sunday, Suárez will face the Orioles. His next start after that will be for Team Venezuela during the World Baseball Classic. That seems to be just the type of stage Suárez will thrive on.

“I started working out earlier this offseason, obviously, to allow me to be ready for the tournament,” Suárez said. “We know that the tournament has very high expectations and you have to be 100 percent healthy and 100 percent ready to perform.”

The Red Sox plan on having even bigger games for their new lefty to pitch in during October.

“He's pitched in a big market before and he’s been to the [World Series], where we're trying to get to,” said Bailey. “He’s pitched in long playoff runs and in big playoff games, and that experience is going to lend very valuable to our team, our staff. And watching him start playoff games for us is the ultimate goal.”