SARASOTA, Fla. — In the clubhouse at the Ed Smith Stadium complex, Albert Suárez is no longer a mystery man. When he arrived last spring, having last pitched in the major leagues in 2017, the right-handed pitcher was a wild card — an interesting, low-risk acquisition.

Suárez emerged from years abroad playing in Japan, Korea and Venezuela to become one of Baltimore’s most valuable pitchers in 2024. His appearances out of the bullpen or from the starting rotation covered for an injury-plagued staff, and Suárez was more than a warm body eating innings: He finished with a 3.70 ERA.

As such, Suárez enters spring training this year as a favorite to make the opening day roster. He’ll most likely feature in a bullpen role, but Suárez said “being available” for anything is the most important thing he can bring to the Orioles.

Building on the success of last season means adaptation. Hitters around the league now know the 35-year-old and his big fastball. With that in mind, Suárez spent the offseason mastering a new pitch.

Call that pitch whatever you want. Suárez said it’s a combination of his cutter and curveball, so he initially described it as a “slurve.” But maybe, he thought, it’s a sweeper. Or even just a standard slider. The name matters less than the movement, however, and its horizontal run away from right-handed hitters should generate more swing and miss in Suárez’s game.

By expanding his pitch mix, Suárez hopes to stay one step ahead of batters — and remain firmly in the Orioles’ plans.

“The way I think, there’s always room for improvement,” Suárez said. “And to learn. If I’m learning something, it’s going to help me improve my arsenal and my time in the big leagues. For me, I’m always open minded. What do I need to do to get better? If it’s learning a new pitch to get better, that’s what I’m going to do.”

The Orioles’ pitch development team, including pitching coach Drew French, first approached Suárez about the possibility of adding a slurve midway through last season (for consistency’s sake, we’re calling Suárez’s new pitch a slurve, because that’s what he initially called it).

Adding an offering in the middle of the year is a challenge, though, so Suárez used it mainly as a training tool for his curveball, French said. Suárez threw it while playing catch on flat ground, but he waited until this winter to fully invest in making it the fifth offering at his disposal.

The early showings have been strong. Suárez said he wanted to add the extra horizontal run to his mix because most of his offerings have short breaks. His cutter averaged three inches of run, while his changeup and four-seamer have arm-side break. Suárez’s curveball has some glove-side movement, but it’s more of a north-south offering.

None of those pitches induced many swings and misses, either. Suárez finished in the 19th percentile in strikeout rate (19.1%) and in the 42nd percentile in whiff rate (24.6%).

That’s where the slurve comes in. If Suárez uses it effectively, it will come out of a similar arm slot as the cutter and curveball and then force hitters to guess late as to which of the three movement profiles is coming.

“I think it’s going to help get more swing and miss,” Suárez said. “If you can execute the pitch, the hitters are going to think, ‘OK, he has an extra one.’ So, it’s another thing they have to think about, which is good for the pitcher.”

Suárez used the slurve against his teammates Monday during a live batting practice session to good effect, although in a right-on-left matchup, catcher Adley Rutschman launched one of Suárez’s fastball’s out of the park.

Suárez joked that he’s getting any home runs out of his system during practice so he can avoid allowing them in a real game. And once those real games arrive, the slurve may be an infrequent but valuable change of pace to make those long balls even more infrequent.

“I’m really impressed with how he looks and the work he put in this offseason,” manager Brandon Hyde said. “He’s throwing the ball really, really well right now. He’s a smart guy who’s been around. Pitched everywhere. So, making adjustments and continuing to improve isn’t something that’s new for him. I know he’s looking to build off last year, but he’s as ready to go as anybody out here right now.”