What should Angels fans make of José Suarez's late season success?

José Suarez is dealing as of late, and Angels fans are awfully perplexed.

Suarez's three outings since his promotion are stellar. In 12 September innings, Suarez has a 14:3 K:BB, has yet to let up an earned run, and has only allowed 8 hits. Two of those appearances were as a bulk reliever and his latest outing was a start. The most impressive part of his numbers are they came against two playoff teams (as of now), in the Minnesota Twins and the Houston Astros. The Angels are 3-7 against Houston this season, and Suarez is their most effective pitcher against their dreaded division rival.

José Suarez is dealing again, and is once again teasing Angels fans

Since August 1st, Suarez is one of the Angels' most dominant pitchers...if not the most dominant. While it's a small sample size, Suarez is atop most of the Angels pitchers' leaderboards the past couple of months. The left-hander's 1.59 FIP and 2.60 xFIP are the best marks for the pitching staff in that date range. His 0.4 fWAR ranks second, behind José Soriano. His 2.25 BB/9 ranks third, trailing only Jack Kochanowicz and Ryan Zeferjahn. His 90.9% left on base percentage also ranks third (his defense committed three errors in his last start against Houston too), trailing only Guillo Zuñiga and José Quijada. Suarez is missing a ton of barrels, as his whiff% is in the 74th percentile of baseball this season.

Suarez's stuff has always been there, and its persisted despite the constant role changes and demotions. His 4-seam fastball has always set up his off-speed well, given it's high ride and low-mid 90s velocity. His 4-seam's 111 stuff+ since August 1st ranks 3rd on the team, behind dearly departed Mike Baumann and Ben Joyce. In short, Suarez has the highest graded fastball of the pitchers on the current roster. Changeup metrics are difficult to evaluate, but Suarez's changeup has always been his go to off-speed due to his elite arm action and conviction when throwing them. Suarez's slider has gone through many evolutions, but he might have unlocked the optimal version of his breaking ball. Suarez mixes in both small, tight, cutter-like sliders, and big sweepers.

Perhaps Angels fans will simply chock up Suarez's positive performances to a small sample size late in a lost season. Angels fans and staffers have been tantalized by Suarez's talent before and been let down, so nobody will blame them if they ignore his newfound success. However, the numbers are the numbers and the results against good teams are the results against good teams.