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Kenneth Raymond Suarez (April 12, 1943 – July 29, 2023) was an American professional baseball player. He played as a catcher in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Kansas City Athletics, Cleveland Indians, and Texas Rangers from 1966 to 1973.
After his college baseball career with Florida State University, Suarez signed with the Athletics. He later played for the Indians and the Rangers. When he attempted to negotiate a raise with the Rangers, he filed for salary arbitration. The Rangers traded him and he retired.
Suarez attended Florida State University, and took over catching duties for the Seminoles baseball team as a sophomore in 1963. After leading his team to the College World Series in 1963, Suarez erupted his junior year. He batted .404 with 44 hits, six home runs, thirty runs batted in, 25 runs scored and 21 walks, all tops on his team. He was named a 1964 First Team All-American by the American Baseball Coaches Association. He represented the United States in baseball at the 1964 Summer Olympics as a demonstration sport in Tokyo.
The Athletics invited Suarez to spring training in 1966. He won the starting job out of camp, but lost the job to Phil Roof after batting .185 with two RBIs through May. He remained in the major leagues through the All-Star break before being optioned to the Double-A Mobile A's.
An injury to Roof early in the 1967 season resulted in Suarez again becoming the starting catcher. He hit his first major league home run in his first start of the season against Mickey Lolich of the Detroit Tigers. He batted .235 with two home runs and four RBI in eight games filling in for Roof. Once Roof returned, Suarez remained with the club as a back-up catcher. After the season, he was drafted by the Cleveland Indians in the 1967 Rule 5 draft. Alvin Dark, who had been his manager with Kansas City, was now the Indians' manager and wanted the player on his new team.
Suarez earned $20,000 in 1973 for the Rangers, and felt he was due for a raise. On February 7, 1974, he met with Rangers general manager Dan O'Brien Sr. to negotiate a new contract. Failing to reach an agreement, he became the first player on the team to submit a contract to arbitration. Five days later, he was traded back to the Cleveland Indians for shortstop Leo Cárdenas. Suarez chose to retire instead of go to camp with the Indians.
The Indians traded Suarez on September 12, 1974, to the California Angels with Rusty Torres for Frank Robinson.
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