Can Cleveland Guardians’ Bullpen Lead The Way To A Division Title?
Closer Emmanuel Clase and his pen pals are dominating The Cleveland Guardians' bullpen, led by Emmanuel Clase, is considered the best in baseball, with a combined earned run average of 1.69 and a 20-save total. The team's strength has been tested by injuries to key players, including Steven Kwan and Jose Ramirez. Kwan leads the American League in hitting and on-base percentage, while Ramirez is tied for the league lead with 62 RBI, home runs, and extra base hits, fifth in runs scored, and seventh in slugging. The bullpen is a six-man unit with remarkable consistency and eye-catching stats. Despite being in the American Division for 13 days this season, the team has been able to keep afloat.
Published : 3 weeks ago by Jim Ingraham in Sports
Let’s put aside for the moment that if Steven Kwan did not miss most of the month of May with a hamstring strain, he would be leading the American League in hitting (.380) and on-base percentage (.446). Only Aaron Judge and Juan Soto would have a higher OPS than Kwan’s .984, and Kwan would be the hardest hitter in the league to strikeout (once every 12.7 plate appearances).
Since Kwan does not have enough plate appearances to qualify as the league’s hardest-to-strike out hitter, his Cleveland Guardians teammate Jose Ramirez leads the league in that category. Ramirez is also fifth in the league in fewest at bats per home run (14.2).
In addition to that, Ramirez is tied for the league lead with 62 RBI, he is fourth in home runs, and extra base hits, fifth in runs scored, and seventh in slugging.
Kwan and Ramirez hit first and third respectively in the Cleveland Guardians’ lineup, and to this point in the season both have the potential to be in the running for this year’s Most Valuable Player award.
However, to this point in the season, the Guardians’ MVP is not a “he” at all. It is a “them.” It is Cleveland’s bullpen which, top to bottom, might be the best in baseball.
Led by uber closer Emmanuel Clase, who leads the league with 20 saves, Cleveland’s relief corps comes at opposing teams in waves. Over the last two years Clase has 86 saves, leading the league in both years.
The Guardians’ bullish pen was on display Tuesday night in their 5-3 win at Cincinnati. Starter Triston McKenzie ran out of gas in the sixth inning, so manager Stephen Vogt fired up the bullpen shuttle.
The relievers, and their earned run averages, that Vogt brought into the game to lead the way to victory were, in order: Tim Herrin (1.03), Sam Hentges (2.70), Cade Smith (1.78), and Clase (0.84).
The Guardians this year have a stacked and loaded bullpen, built to meet, and defeat any late-inning emergency. The depth and quality of that bullpen, with a nice mix of right-handers and left-handers, gives Vogt the flexibility and options needed to put out all fires.
It is a bullpen with staggering diversity and no weaknesses, plus a manager and pitching coach (Carl Willis) who know how to strategically deploy it. It is core is a six-man unit, with remarkable consistency, and eye-catching stats.
In addition to Clase, there are right-handers Hunter Gaddis (1.72 ERA), Nick Sandlin (2.63), Cade Smith (1.78), left-handers Tim Herrin (1.03), and Sam Hentges (2.70).
To this point in the season, those six relievers have a combined earned run average of 1.69. But wait, there is more. If any of the big six need a day off, or if the injury bug bites, the cupboard is still not bare.
Right-hander Scott Barlow has a 3.81 ERA and averages 12.5 strikeouts per nine innings. Right-hander Tyler Beede, another understudy, averages 11.6 strikeouts per nine innings, and right-hander Pedro Aliva has a 3.09 ERA and averages 10.8 strikeouts per nine innings.
Right-hander Eli Morgan, who averaged 10 strikeouts per nine innings out of the bullpen last year, had a 1.64 ERA in 10 appearances this year before going on the injured list.
It is a deep and talented group of relievers, which should not be surprising. The Guardians have a long and successful history of finding, drafting, or trading for young pitchers and then developing them into useful contributors to their staff. The team’s ability to do so was severely tested near the end of spring training this year, when a rash of injuries struck some key pitchers.
While the front office was dealing with that, it was blindsided when former Cy Young Award winner Shane Bieber, after his second start of the season, underwent season-ending Tommy John surgery.
Despite missing some key pitchers, the team has been able to not just keep the ship afloat, but it is flourishing. A patchwork starting rotation supported by a stout bullpen and some timely hitting has been able to keep the Guardians’ season alive.
Cleveland has been in first place in the American League’s Central Division for all but six days this season. The last time the Guardians were not in first place was April 13. They will go into their game in Cincinnati tonight with a record of 43-22, and a 5.5 game lead over second place Kansas City.
Given all their injuries, all the youth on their major league roster, and playing under a rookie manager, few expected the Guardians, at this point in the season, to have the fifth-best record in the major leagues and the third best record in the American League.
But few expected Cleveland to have a bullpen this good.