Phillies Target Ranger

On May 12, 2006, I sat in a bar watching a heralded 22-year-old southpaw make his Phillies debut in Cincinnati.

Cole Hamels was known for two things to that point in his baseball life: breaking his hand in a Clearwater beer brawl, and, a bit over a year later, dazzling Triple A with an 0.39 ERA in 23 innings.

Then he flew to Cincinnati and surrendered one hit to the Reds over five innings. He was not dazzling, however, allowing five walks.

About all I remember was thinking that Hamels just looked like a Major League star. Of course, he was a first round pick and was a highly rated prospect for three years prior to Cincinnati.

On Thursday, another 22-year-old lefty will make his Phillies' debut in Cincinnati. While perhaps not as heralded, Ranger Suarez shares some parallels with Hamels.

Cole made three AAA starts and allowed one run. Suarez has made three AAA starts and allowed one run (0.57 ERA).

Both rocketed to the top rung after dominating at lower levels -- Suarez with a 2.76 ERA in 12 starts at hitter-friendly Reading.

I don't know if this Suarez fellow can match Hamels' career. For sure, the Carora, Venezuala native kind of sneaked up on us. Signed in 2012, Suarez first caught attention last year and is the No. 9 Phillies' prospect at MLB Pipeline.

A couple interesting factoids, one you surely heard about and one you likely didn't:

* Suarez will be the first left-handed starter for the big Phils in 267 games. I grew up watching Lefty Carlton dominate with the slider. Terry Muholland threw the first no-hitter I've ever seen. And, of course, Hamels went on to be a World Series MVP.

This has been a long portside dry spell and it will be good to see a lefty toe it up again, even for just one day.

* Suarez will be the first player named "Ranger" to ever appear in a Major League game. Baseball Reference tells me the forgettable Rudolph Ranger appeared in 35 games for Albuquerque in 1961. Alas, that Ranger, a first baseman, was not very good (.215 batting average).

So you might say Suarez will be the lone Ranger. If he doesn't choose either the "William Tell Overture" or "South Bound Suarez" as his music, I will be disappointed.