Joseany Cabello has known Ranger Suárez since they were kids. They went to elementary school and high school together. She’s watched her partner go from a 15-year-old lefty who signed with the Phillies for $25,000 in 2012, to a National League Cy Young Award candidate in 2024.
But she had never seen him pitch in person, until Wednesday at Citizens Bank Park in the finale of the Phillies’ series against the Padres. Cabello, who is from Suárez’s home city of Pie de Cuesta, Venezuela, was unable to come to the United States because she didn’t have a visa. That changed this offseason, when she and Suárez got married.
Now, as of this week, Suárez, Cabello and their children, Sofía, 6, and Dominick, 3, are living together in Philadelphia. His wife and children plan to go to as many home games as they can.
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“I’m super emotional,” Cabello said. “It’s an incredible experience. I can’t put it into words. Normally I am watching him on a TV screen in Venezuela. This isn’t the same. I’m seeing him in person. It’s an amazing feeling.”
Many players spend their offseason playing winter ball, either in Venezuela or the Dominican Republic, but Suárez, 28, has never done that. Cabello couldn’t see him pitch in the minor leagues, because of her visa issues.
So, for the past seven years, she has watched him from afar. She hasn’t missed a start. She watched every pitch of the postseason, and would ask Suárez about it, with excitement. Cabello grew up a baseball fan, because her father and her brothers played it growing up.
“I would ask him how was it? And he would always tell me the energy is incredible,” she said. “That the fans are just different here compared to other teams. And now I can feel it in person. That’s why I was so excited to come here. I wanted to feel that energy.”
Cabello said her kids don’t have a complete understanding of what their father does yet, but she wants them to spend as much time at the ballpark as they can, so they can familiarize themselves.
They are going to stay with Suárez throughout the season, and return to Venezuela in the winter. If he makes the All-Star Game, they plan to accompany him to Arlington, Texas in July.
For now, they just want to soak it all in. The three sat in the sun close to home plate, and watched as Suárez held the Padres to just one run in six innings with four strikeouts. They watched as he deftly mixed all of his pitches — his sinker, change-up, fastball, curveball and cutter — with ease.
And for the next few months, they look forward to watching more.
“He’s throwing his pitches exactly where he wants them,” Cabello said. “And he’s so calm out there, just like he is at home. I think that is what helps him the most. His focus on what he’s doing. He has worked very hard, and I am so proud in him. He looks great.”
Added Sofía: “He looks great.”
