Heading into the top of the eighth inning of a scoreless contest between the Syracuse Chiefs and the host Indianapolis Indians at Victory Field on April 23, Jerrick Suiter trotted out to left field.  Appearing in just his sixth game at the Triple-A level, Suiter entered the game as part of a double switch with reliever Dovydas Neverauskas taking the mound.  

After Neverauskas worked his way out of a bases-loaded jam, Suiter led off the bottom of the frame.  “I saw two heaters,” he said.  “The first one was up and out, and I felt myself kind of lunging at the ball a little bit.  I told myself, ‘Just stay back, steady your legs and hammer it!’” 

Suiter drilled that second fastball toward the left-center field gap for a triple and rode home when Kevin Newman followed with a single. Indianapolis added another run, and Neverauskas pitched a one-two-three ninth.  The game ended on a fly ball that Suiter hauled in.  

“It’s something we practice in spring training, coming into the game late and being ready to play,” said Suiter, a 25-year-old Hobart, Ind., native and a graduate of Valparaiso High School.  “Espo [Indianapolis manager Brian Esposito] told me I was coming in, in a double switch. 

“I don’t hit many of those,” Suiter said of his three-base hit.  “Coming off the bench in the eighth inning, I probably wasn’t as loose as I should have been.  It’s something I’ve got to get used to doing.  It’s part of my role on this team, and I’ll make sure that happens next time.” 

Suiter had no problem staying limber in the next day’s game with Syracuse.  He started at first base and slashed a two-run double in the bottom of the second that sparked a 4-0 Indians victory.  

Playing in his home state “has been cool,” said Suiter.  “I’ve got a couple of high school buddies that live here in Indy.  They’ve come out to a few games.  A couple of my friends from Valpo came down this past weekend.  Both my parents have come to see me play.”  

Suiter comes from an athletic family.  His father Eric played basketball for Homer Drew at Valparaiso High.  His mom, Jeanette Borzych, was a basketball and softball player at Chesterton High School.  Danielle Suiter, Jerrick’s younger sister, is a member of the Duquesne University volleyball team.  “I’ve had a lot of basketball on my dad’s side of the family,” he said.  “I’ve got a little bit of everything – a couple of boxers.”    

Jerrick said he started playing baseball when he was four or five.   “I grew up a Cubs fan,” he confided.  “Probably not smart to say, playing for the Pirates.  But growing up an hour out of Chicago, I did.”   He also played football, soccer, wrestled, and dabbled in YMCA roller hockey.  

His favorite sport, however, was the Great Hoosier Pastime.  “I love basketball,” said Jerrick, who was on hand for Game Four of the Cleveland Cavaliers-Indiana Pacers playoff series at Bankers Life Fieldhouse.  “That was my true love, until I took a visit down to IU and played in an open gym against Victor Oladipo.  He made me look really bad.  That was kind of when I realized, ‘Maybe baseball is my best choice here.' 

At Valparaiso High School, Suiter earned 11 letters in baseball, basketball and football.  “We did really well in basketball,” he said.  “We got one sectional basketball title I think, and won conference titles a couple of years, too.”   

During Suiter’s senior year in 2010, the Vikings’ football squad went undefeated until semi-states.  “I was a safety, and then a receiver towards the second half of the season,” he said. 

For his first three years in high school, Suiter’s baseball coach was former major league infielder Mickey Morandini.  After the 2010 season, Morandini left for a minor league managerial post in the Philadelphia Phillies organization.  He was replaced by Dave Coyle, who was Suiter’s coach in football.  Catching and playing the outfield for the Vikings in 2011, Jerrick hit .461.  As a pitcher, he went 4-2 with a 2.93 earned run average, racking up 69 strikeouts in 57.1 innings.  

In 2011, Suiter was named Male Athlete of the Year by the Northwest Indiana Times.  The Toronto Blue Jays selected him in the 35^th round of the 2011 draft, but he decided against signing.  Instead, he spent that summer playing travel ball for the Indiana Bulls.  “The money looked really good,” he explained.  “But I knew getting at least some of my education would be much more beneficial.”  

Several colleges were offering baseball scholarships, and Suiter said he “visited every school I could drive to, for the most part.”  He eventually narrowed down the list to four schools:  Texas Christian University, Vanderbilt, South Carolina and Alabama.  He eventually enrolled at TCU. “Honestly, I don't know what it was,” Jerrick said of his decision.  “I went down to Fort Worth and I just fell in love with it.”     

Suiter spent three years at TCU, majoring in habilitation of the deaf and hard of hearing.  “I had a little bit of a leg up on the sign language,” he explained.  “My dad's side of the family is all deaf.  He's hearing, but both of his parents, a couple of my cousins, aunts, uncles – they're all deaf. And I always wanted to teach and coach, so I thought that just kind of fit in petty well.” 

Playing in the Mountain West Conference in 2012, Suiter’s freshman year, the Horned Frogs went 40-22.  He batted .310 and proved to be one of coach Jim Schlossnagle’s most versatile players.  “I was all over the place,” he said.  “I pitched and caught, played first and all outfield positions.”  

TCU switched conferences in 2013 and fell to 29-28.  Jerrick’s average plummeted to .186.  “The level of competition in the Big 12, it was a step up,” he said.  “And I wasn't ready for it at the time.”  

After his freshman and sophomore seasons, Suiter played in the high-powered Northwoods League, which attracts many of the top college players for summer competition.  He played for the Thunder Bay Border Cats in 2012 and spent 2013 with the Lakeshore Chinooks.  “They play every day,” he said.  “It really got me prepared for pro ball.” 

Rebounding in 2014, TCU went 48-18 and won titles in the Big 12 Tournament and the NCAA Regional at Fort Worth.  The Horned Frogs added a Super Regional title, beating Pepperdine 2-1 at Fort Worth to advance to the College World Series.  

Suiter went 5-for-13 in the Super Regional and scored the winning run in the championship game on a suicide squeeze.  “It was unbelievable,” he recalled.  “It's one of my favorite pictures.  I'm all fired up, I'm flexing, you can see all the fans going crazy in the background.” 

In the CWS at Omaha, TCU won its first game and lost the next two.  Suiter finished his junior year with a .273 average, and the Pittsburgh Pirates drafted him in the 26^th round.  Jerrick signed and reported to the Bristol, Va., Pirates of the rookie Appalachian League.  

The move from the Mountain West League to the Big 12 Conference had been difficult.  The switch to professional baseball was even tougher. “Schedule-wise, it’s completely different,” said Suiter.  “You're playing every day, getting one or two days off a month in pro ball.  You're seeing younger guys with a lot of talent.  It makes you look within yourself and say, ‘I really gotta step it up here.’” 

Suiter held his own at Bristol.  Playing right field and first base, he batted .279 with one home run in 55 contests.  “It went pretty well,” he said of his pro debut.  “I didn't show any power in college, and I didn't show too much there.  But I thought I adjusted really well to the scheduling and the time management of pro ball.” 

In 2015 Suiter moved up a notch to the West Virginia Power of the low-A South Atlantic League.  Consistently among the league’s top batters all season, he batted .299 and helped the Power to an 87-52 record and first place in the league’s Northern Division.  “That was the first time we got ‘The Shower,’” he said.  “It wasn't champagne.  I think we had sparkling grape juice or something like that.”  

Bristol’s manager that season was Brian Esposito, the current Indianapolis skipper.  Along with Suiter, five more players from that Bristol squad are on this year’s Tribe roster:  pitchers Dovydas Neverauskas and Alex McRae, infielders Pablo Reyes and Kevin Newman, plus outfielder Jordan Luplow.   “A lot of those same guys I played with the next couple of years,” said Jerrick.  “It brought everybody together.” 

Promoted to Bradenton of the high-A Florida State League in 2016, Suiter played first base and batted .265.  The Marauders finished with a 70-66 record and won the league title.  “There's ups and downs in every season,” he said.  “We had a lot of ups that year, pretty much playing with the same team we had in West Virginia, plus or minus a few guys.  We won the first half, and then played really well all the way up to the playoffs. Kind of had a little scuffle towards the end, and then as soon as the playoffs started, we went off.” 

In 2017 Suiter suffered a thumb injury in spring training and started the season back in Bradenton.  After ten games, he made the jump to the Class AA Eastern League with the Altoona, Pa., Curve.  He batted .285 that season with 10 homers.  “Going from high-A to Double-A, the guys really start learning how to pitch,” Jerrick said.  “It's not guys with a lot of talent that just throw it.  You get pitchers up there.” 

After finishing first in their division, the Curve went on to win the league title in the playoffs.  Suiter continued to play after the season, joining the Venados de Mazatlan in the Mexican Pacific Coast Winter League.  “That was the most fun I've had in my entire life in baseball,” Suiter said. “Playing in front of 15- to 20,000 people every night and just the culture there.  They love their baseball.  I didn't play really well, but I had a great time.  I met some really cool people.  I brushed up on my Spanish a little bit, which is still pretty bad.  But it was a really cool experience.” 

Assigned to Indianapolis this year after spring training, Suiter was reunited with Brian Esposito.  ‘He’s awesome,” said Jerrick.  “He expects you to play the game the right way, as any manager should.  He makes you bring it every day.” 

Suiter still hadn’t made it back to Valparaiso through the season’s first three weeks.  “We haven’t had too much time,” he said.  “We had one off day, but that was spent doing laundry and getting ready for our road trip.” 

At 6-4, 255, Suiter has packed on 20 pounds of muscle since his college days.  The Indianapolis roster lists him as a first baseman, but he’s also seen duty in the outfield.  “I think I’ve gotten the most reps at first base,” he said.  “I probably feel the most comfortable there.  There are times when I feel like I’m a pretty good outfielder, too.  It depends on the day.  Regardless where I’m playing, I’m gonna do everything I can to make every play.” 

In the International League, Suiter is just a step away from The Show.  He understands that’s still quite a leap.  “It kind of makes you realize how close you are,” he said.  “And then at the same, how much more you have to work to get there.” 

Pete Cava is the author of “Tales From the Cubs Dugout” and “Indiana-Born Major League Baseball Players:  A Biographical Dictionary, 1871-2014.”