Caracas.- To begin with, it is SUISbel, not SuisBEL; and his destiny was to anchor in the hot corner of the Navegantes during the 2024-2025 season of Venezuelan professional baseball. Luis Suisbel, Valencian, 21 years old, from Magellan by birth and with a superior intelligence to play ball, has enthralled the ship’s admiralty and ratified the inclination of manager Eduardo Pérez, who days ago suspected the ownership of the Carabobeño as soon as he entered the roster.
“I want to see Suisbel,” Pérez commented two weeks ago. “What they say about him, and the reports received, make me think of that boy as my main third baseman.”
Seeing it was buying it. He made the roster this week and immediately lined up.
“I liked his calmness when executing,” the former Major League catcher and Corsairs helmsman explains his predilection. “His first game was Caracas-Magallanes and at first I was hesitant about whether to bring him into the lineup with a crowd in the stadium and the tension surrounding that rivalry. But he handled himself very well, without rushing. It fulfilled my expectations. He looks ready for this league.”
The shipowners of the Carabobeño galleon envisioned a preponderant role for whistle long before his entry to the roster. Héctor Arias, president of the Administrative Board, announced ambitious plans with the apprentice third baseman without having started the 2024-2025 tournament. Due to his physical size and cacun, Suisbel has never gone unnoticed on a baseball field.
Luis Suisbel is a solid defender of the hot corner
AN INJURY AT A CRUCIAL MOMENT
Félix Olivo, a player developer, noticed the potential of the teenager Suisbel and, after starting conversations with his parents, began to prepare him to go professional.
“That boy did not receive a two million dollar bonus because he was injured in his first year of signing and missed two months of scout checks,” explains Olivo. “He was called to something great because of his physique, power and intelligence. “He is intelligent to the point that his Major League Baseball organization sees potential in him to work in management, if he does not make it to the majors as a player.”
Suisbel attended multiple demonstrations in front of scouts before persuading the Seattle Mariners. The young man’s good head ended up convincing the boaters to write him a check for 350 thousand dollars.
“I was well ranked in my first signing process,” Suisbel confirms. “Unfortunately the elbow injury occurred, but the possibility remained. It was something crazy, I never went to a try out with the Mariners and from one moment to the next my dad calls me and tells me that we signed with them.” In reality, they tracked him insistently, from Los Guayos to Aruba.
“Our Minor League director was new to the position and when he saw him he liked him immediately, as much as I had liked him since the first time I saw him playing in Los Guayos, Carabobo state,” recalls David Brito, to the talent scout season of the sailors. “He has a lot of instincts for baseball and he is ahead of the game, he controls it. Furthermore, he knows how to adapt to any role, adapt to different situations. That’s why it has gone from less to more. All of this is a product of his intelligence.”
Luis Suisbel signed with the Seattle Mariners for a bonus of $350,000
APPLIED INTELLIGENCE
What good does Suisbel’s brain do to be a better baseball player? “I try to visualize the play before it happens, plan what I’m going to do,” answers the ambidextrous shoveler while contemplating the wet terrain of the Caracas University Stadium. “It is important to know what I will do if they hit me to the left, how I should react when they hit me to the other side. My defense is one of my strengths, but I would like to use my feet better and make better shots.”
Suisbel applies his intelligence to defend and also to attack. “The most important thing is that he knows how to play baseball and plays it without fear,” emphasizes Ender Chávez, Magallanes hitting coach. “He takes very good at-bats and every time he steps up to the plate you expect something good from him. Even though it’s his first year in the league, I feel like he belongs here, like he’s been playing for a while.”
Luis Suisbel is a student of the game
CONFIDENCE IN WHAT YOU DO
Chávez uses an anecdote to illustrate Suisbel’s poise in wielding the wood. “We were in the game and he told me: ‘if the guy throws the curve ball at me I’m going to take it out of centerfield.’ The pitcher threw the curve and it hit centerfield, but it was a caught fly ball. He came and commented: ‘He was saved because the curve did not break as I expected.’ He knows what pitch he’s going for, he attacks it and most of the time he doesn’t miss it.”
SAILOR HERE, SAILOR THERE
All these gifts satisfied Luis Blasini to recruit him for Magallanes. “He projected very well,” says the filibusters sports manager. “He shows maturity for his age, he understands game situations, he knows what he is doing.”
Félix Olivo, Suisbel’s trainer, worked for a time with Magallanes, so Blasini had first-hand information about the candidate. “Now he is getting his opportunity,” says the sports manager of the electric team.
His numbers this season in class A warranted giving it to him.
Luis Suisbel tries to take advantage of the valuable opportunity he receives in Magallanes
THE FORCE ACCOMPANIES HIM
Suisbel hit 23 doubles, 15 home runs and drove in 90 runs, a top figure among all Venezuelans in the minors. He also struck out 144 times, although, in Eduardo Pérez’s opinion, he was far from a one-dimensional slugger.
“His discipline at home is incredible,” says the strategist. “Just look for a pitch, just look for strikes. If you look for pitching, it gives you. He doesn’t swing at bad balls. That’s why he can perform both in the middle of the lineup and at the top.”
Luis Suisbel has always been praised for his strength with the club. “In the first days I didn’t see that power that they talked about in his case,” admits the ship’s gunners trainer, Ender Chávez. “But as he has played he has hit the ball more forcefully.”
Suisbel is a force of nature. “I have been great since I was little. The power has always been there,” proclaims the Valencian striker. “I consider myself a power hitter who can do damage, but always focused on putting the ball in play.”
Luis Suisbel can hit with both hands, with a good dose of power
It is an energy distributed on both sides of the pentagon.
At Félix Olivo’s academy they usually teach prospects to bat with both hands. They did it this way with Anthony Santander, Héctor Sánchez, José Lobatón and José Herrera. They all became big leaguers.
With Luis Suisbel the process was made easier because he was a natural ambidextrous player. “In that case we just need to put more emphasis and work with professionalism. At first he felt more comfortable on the right and ended up being a better left-handed slugger than a right-handed one.”
“I feel more comfortable left-handed and that is common among us ambidextrous ones,” confirms Suisbel, “When you face more right-handers than left-handers, you take more turns on the left.”
In the opinion of Ender Chávez, the Turks’ hitting instructor, Suisbel still needs to perfect his swing path when he stands right-handed. It must achieve more consistency in that aspect,” he diagnoses.
ENJOY THE MOMENT
Suisbel is amazed by playing third every day with Magallanes. “I have always been a fan of this team and being able to be with them now makes me feel proud,” the infielder explains. “I grew up admiring players like Endy Chávez and Mario Lisson. Since I arrived I have been playing every day and I feel happy for the opportunities.”
Suisbel has rowed upriver and has the vigor to reach his destination. “This boy has the talent, he has the poise, he has the size, he has the strength, he has the intelligence, he has what is required to be a Major League player,” says Félix Olivo. “It reminds me of the case of Luis Arráez, underestimated at the beginning and look where he goes. I hope they keep him as a third baseman and not as a first baseman, where they have used him in the United States. If he stays at third, suddenly he will surprise us by debuting in the Major Leagues next year.”
The future is uncertain. While he arrives, Luis Suisbel lives the day, enjoys the moment. “For now, I have no limit to playing with Magallanes. I hope to be there as much as possible to help the championship,” says the intelligence officer on board.
Luis Suisbel takes advantage of his stay with Magallanes to polish his game
