Cleveland Guardians closer Emmanuel Klase had the most prolific relief season in Major League history. He came the closest any relief pitcher has come to winning the Cy Young Award in 15 years.
That is, he didn’t come close at all.
Detroit Tigers ace Tarik Skubal was a unanimous and well-deserved winner on Wednesday. Class finished in a distant third place. But even a figurative bronze is a notable achievement for a reliever when voting for an award that has increasingly become the exclusive domain of starting pitchers. Clase is the first reliever to reach the top three since Francisco Rodríguez in 2008. No reliever has finished in the top five since Kenley Jansen in 2017. And, of course, no reliever has won the award since Eric Gagne in 2003. The latest reliever of the American League to win the Cy Young Award was Dennis Eckersley in 1992.
Just in case, Clase joined Eckersley on a very short list of the best relief seasons ever. Clase had a 0.61 ERA in 74 games. He led the American League with 47 saves. He walked only 10. Their Baseball Savant page looks like standardized test scores for whiz kids: It ranks the value of pitching runs (98th), the value of fastball runs (99th), expected ERA (99th), Slugging percentage (98th) ranked at least in the 97th percentile. Walk percentage (98th), slugging percentage (97th), and hard hit percentage (98th). He was the main reason the Guards led 82-0 after eight innings.
He even made a save in the All-Star Game.
There are three relievers in history who have pitched at least 70 innings and had an ERA of 0.61 or less: Klase, Eckersley in 1990 (0.61) and Fernando Rodney in 2012 (0.60).
But Clase had no chance of joining Eckersley as a Cy Young winner. That’s because there has been a clear shift among Baseball Writers’ Association voters in determining Cy Young nominees. The award has become a valuable proposition. And when it comes to a statistic like bWAR, not even a relief pitcher with a truly transcendent season is up to par.
Class produced 4.5 bWAR, which was impressive. It was the most by a relief pitcher since Jonathan Papelbon in 2006. But nine starting pitchers produced more in 2024.
I’ve been thinking about writing this article for a while, and before the 2024 CLA season, I planned to give an example of how Félix Bautista ended up in the 2023 American League Cy Young voting. Baltimore’s Bautista was the best reliever in the American League in 2023. He achieved an ERA of 1.48, an ERA + of 277 and 33 saves. He was on only three of 30 votes (all fifth-place votes) and finished with three points. Obviously Bautista had no chance of winning the prize. But that wasn’t the part that caught my attention. Notably, Bautista couldn’t even beat out starting pitchers who could be considered fringe candidates. Minnesota’s Pablo López had a great season in the Twins’ rotation, going 11-8 with a 3.66 ERA. He finished with 11 points in the vote.
Bautista produced a bWAR of 3.0. Lopez created 3.3.
It’s gotten to the point where it’s become foolish to even bother putting relievers on the Cy Young ballot. They are apples in an orange orchard.
Félix Bautista received few votes for the Cy Young Award last year. (Orlando Ramírez/Imagn Images)
Another recent example from last season: Ryan Helsley set a St. Louis Cardinals single-season record with a major league-leading 49 saves, a feat few Cardinals (Lee Smith, Bruce Sutter) have accomplished considering he was in the hallway. Fame. Halsley was easily the most valuable reliever in the National League. It was mentioned in only three of the 30 votes (one fourth vote, two fifth votes).
But like Klaas, Halsley never stood a chance. Even in recent years of voting, relievers have not been able to compete for the honor, even though there have been no clear candidates or the votes have been split between several starting pitchers.
Based on voting trends, it’s pretty safe to assume that no relief pitcher will win the Cy Young Award again.
None of this is bad. There’s no injustice when relief pitchers don’t rank high on Cy Young ballots. Why no relief pitcher has received a first-place Cy Young vote since 2016 (Zach Britton) or why a reliever has a truly transcendent season and barely deserves anything more than a fifth-place vote. It is not oversight or faulty logic that explains the possible.
The Cy Young Award has always been an honor reserved for starting pitchers. The only thing that has changed is that the principles are now almost inviolable.
Maybe the BBWAA should do something about this. Maybe it’s time to create a new award to honor the best relief pitcher in each league.
That’s right, the MLB already has annual awards for the league’s best relievers: Mariano Rivera AL “Reliever of the Year” and Trevor Hoffman “Reliever of the Year” were awarded for the first time in 2014 and “Reliever of the Year” “supplier” replaced the prize. It began in 2005. The Rolaids Relief Man award, in addition to generating a lot of brand awareness for the antacid medication, was awarded between 1976 and 2012.
But current MLB awards are voted on by retired relief pitchers. They do not include participation by BBWAA voting members. And the BBWAA awards (MVP, Cy Young, Player of the Year, Manager of the Year) remain the gold standard among the league’s postseason awards. As problematic as it is, BBWAA awards now serve as a basis for enticements as a prospect promotion incentive that could net a team an extra draft pick. Paul Skenes, who was named National League Rookie of the Year earlier this week, received an extra year of service as a result.
The BBWAA awards are postseason awards. They are the most historical. And they are closer to being above insults.
Evaluating relief pitchers has always been a tough proposition for BBWAA members who are eligible to vote for the Hall of Fame, and seeing if Billy Wagner can pull it off in his final year on the ballot next month is interesting. But clearly, the association has shown that relief pitchers deserve the honor. Ken Griffey Jr. is the only voting member in Hall of Fame history. not a transcendent, charismatic center fielder like Nolan Ryan or a solid member of the generational rotation like Nolan Ryan. This is veteran New York Yankees closer Mariano Rivera.
Here’s the thing: Rivera has never won a BBWAA award. And the lack of a BBWAA award for these relievers seems like something that can and should be addressed.
(Rivera finished second in Cy Young voting in 2005, when he earned eight of 30 first-place finishes. Bartolo Colón, who finished 21-8 with a 3.48 ERA in 33 starts, had 17 first-place finishes and Colón’s ERA is fourth-best highest for a Cy Young winner in the history of the award).
Here’s another thing to keep in mind: Relief pitchers have never been more important in today’s game. They are hitting more innings than ever. They changed the Major League roster so drastically that the rules had to be changed to limit the number of pitchers a team could carry. Despite these limitations, one-third of the typical major league team is made up of relievers. And for a third of the league, there is no legitimate chance to win the BBWAA award.
Even a dominant rookie has no chance of winning. Take a look at this year’s American League voting process. A’s closer Mason Miller has struck out 104 in 65 innings (the most of any major league player in at least 50 innings) and has a 2.49 ERA and recorded 28 saves. Miller appeared on only eight of ROY’s 30 ballots, receiving one first-place vote and finishing fourth with 16 points. Yankees starting pitcher Luis Gil, who went 15-7 with a 3.50 ERA, received 15 first-place votes, narrowly edging out Orioles outfielder Colton Kouser to win the award.
Gil produced a bWAR of 3.1. Miller created 2.4.
Another bright apple among the citrus.
my colleague “Atlético”Jason Stark suggested adding a BBWAA award for relievers a few years ago. His presentation was not interesting. The main argument against it was concern that there were not enough BBWAA members to fill the voting committees for the additional award. But the association has since opened membership to MLB.com reporters. There are more international media members with active card games and covers. There are more “non-traditional media” that employ full-time writers and reporters. In some markets, the problem is that there are not enough voting allocations to go around.
The BBWAA awards are so valuable that Major League Baseball has offered to grant a certain amount of access to the association’s members (minor leagues, coaching staff, etc.) in exchange for the right to turn the awards into the annual Oscars. Like a show in Las Vegas. A vote of members rejected the league’s proposal. But the exercise showed just how important the BBWAA awards are.
So let’s expand them. It’s time for the American League and National League Reliever of the Year.
Close the deal.
(Emmanuel Claes Best photo: Jason Miller/Getty Images)
