Miguel Suárez

Miguel Suárez Lopez (Mr. Hit)

• Bats Left, Throws Left
• Height 5' 7", Weight 121 lb.

• Born September 29, 1951 in Guasave, Sinaloa Mexico
• Died November 22, 2017 in Guasave, Sinaloa Mexico

BR Minors page

Biographical Information

One of the shortest baseball stars in any country, diminutive Miguel Suárez is the only player in the history of the Mexican League to lead the league in hits three times. Suárez began his professional career with the Tampico Algodoneros of the Mexican Center League in 1969, hitting .314/~.373/.476; he struggled in the field (20 errors, a league-worst .909 fielding for a regular outfielder) and on the bases (1 steal in 9 tries, a trend of poor baserunning that would follow throughout his career) but was 9th in the league in average. In 1970 he hit .393 and slugged .583, leading the league in doubles (37), hits, total bases (268) and leading all of Organized Baseball in batting average; it was the second-highest OB-leading total of the 1970s. He hit a career-high 14 homers and drove in a career-high 101 runs. He would never hit more than 3 homers after moving up to the Mexican League. In one of his few successful seasons as a base-stealer, he swiped 15 in 19 attempts.

That earned Miguel a starting role with the Mexico City Red Devils in 1971, where he would stay for the next eight years. In 1971 he batted .372/~.413/.477 and led the Liga with 188 hits at the age of 19. He was named the Rookie of the Year and was second to Teo Acosta in batting average. Suárez hit .337/~.392/.419 in 1972 and in 1973 batted .323/~.380/.416 with a league-high 13 triples. A .338/~.391/.421 campaign followed and then in 1975 Suárez hit .360/~.413/.418 and was fourth in average, 12 points behind leader Pat Bourque. The 1976 campaign saw Miguel collect 171 hits to tie Mike Walseth for the Liga lead. At .348/~.382/.411 he was third in average, 7 points behind leader Larry Fritz. Suárez was gunned down 13 times in 14 steal attempts that season as he had still faield to have even a break-even season in the Liga.

Suárez captured his third hit total in 1977, when he had a Liga-record 227 hits. He batted .370/~.397/.440 that year and again was third in average, 14 points behind leader Vic Davalillo. Suárez finished his time with the Red Devils in 1978 by hitting .313/~.353/.397.

In 1979 Miguel moved to the Cordoba Coffee Dealers and batted .315/~.365/.394 with 12 triples, his fourth and final time to reach double digits in that category. In decline, he would never have more than 3 again - and would never have 20 extra-base hits after routinely topping 30 earlier in his career. He fell under .300 in the pre-strike Liga in 1980 with the Reynosa Broncos and Mexico City Tigers but improved to .321 after the strike for an overall line of .297/~.341/.340 as he finished under .300 for the first time in his career after 11 seasons over .300. On the other hand he actually topped .500 in steal percentage, pilfering 8 bases in 14 tries. He would go over .500 one more time, taking 11 of 19 bases in 1984. Overall he was gunned down 96 times in 159 tries in the Mexican League.

Suárez went over .300 again, albeit barely, in 1981 with the Tigers. Still just 29 years old most of the season, he hit .303/~.335/.345; his contact hitting was about all he had left. With the Tigers and Veracruz Eagle in 1982 even that was fading as he hit .271/~.308/.322. In 1983 he bounced back with the Plataneros de Tabasco, hitting .320/~.374/.349. A year later he hit .332/~.387/.378 for Tabasco and Veracruz but he faded quickly after that. In 1985 with the Eagle and Monterrey Sultans he managed just a .258/~.347/.313 line, then in the Liga's offensive explosion in 1986 he was among the worst players around at .237/~.287/.259 for Veracruz. He played just 8 games for the Puebla Black Angels in 1987, going 2 for 14, before retiring at the relatively young age of 35.

Overall Miguel Suárez hit .323/~.370/.389 in the Mexican League. While a great contact hitter, he had shown poor base-stealing abilities and minimal power. Unlike many short players, he did not draw many walks, never reaching 50 in any year in his career in the Liga; he also rarely struck out, never fanning even 35 times in a season. As of 2000 he was 18th in Mexican League history in runs (1,009), 5th in hits (2,444), 6th in triples (86), a surprising 15th in total bases (2,947) and sixth in batting average among players with over 4,600 AB (trailing Matias Carrillo, Hector Espino, Juan Navarette, Oscar Rodriguez and Chico Garcia). He was voted into the Salon de la Fama in 1994.

Salon de la Fama page for Suárez

Main sources: The Mexican League: Comprehensive Player Statistics by Pedro Treto Cisneros, Viva Beisbol newsletter by Bruce Baskin (10/1/05 issue), 1970 and 1971 Baseball Guides, Total Baseball