The relief pitcher’s role in Major League Baseball is far and away the most volatile position. Relievers come and go due to inconsistent performance and usually high walk rates. One reliever may have an outstanding season but then fall apart the following year, which is why it is hard to predict how good they’ll be from season to season. This is why the top five relief pitchers heading into the 2024 season all have a track record of success for a sustainable period.
Top 5 Relief Pitchers Heading Into 2024
5. Clay Holmes
Clay Holmes sometimes gives Yankees fans heart attacks with his ability to close out games. However, since joining the Yankees in 2021, he’s been one of the best relief pitchers in baseball. Since becoming a Yankee, his ERA has been 2.50 with one of the lowest home run rates at 0.3, making him a late-innings specialist. Holmes’s job is to come late into games and not give up any big hits. He has been able to do this at an elite level because of his sinker, which induces a ton of groundballs.
Holmes’s biggest weakness has been his occasional inability to avoid walks while closing. This is why many Yankee fans see him as a reliever and not a closer. The walk is what kills you late in games and adds stress to what could be an already depleted bullpen. Holmes has to work on keeping command in save situations if he wants to move up higher on the list.
4. Jordan Romano
Blue Jays closer Jordan Romano has been one of the best relief pitchers in all of baseball since 2021, posting a 2.37 ERA over that time. He has also maintained a high strikeout rate of 11.1 while collecting 95 saves and compiling a 7.4 WAR in that period. Romano is also extremely reliable, being able to take the ball consistently and close out wins for the Blue Jays. The reason why he is not in the top 3 on the list has more to do with the fact he does not have a borderline all-time great wipeout pitch as the other guys on this list do. The players in front of him also have had at least one season where they had a sub-2 ERA. It may seem like nit-picking, but at the upper echelons of an extremely close list, they are decided by the finest of margins.
However, if Romano continues to impress and lower his ERA further, then he could emerge towards the top end of this list.
3. Devin Williams
Devin Williams has become one of the toughest at-bats in the MLB, thanks to his borderline unhittable changeup. In fact, Williams could arguably be number one on this list, but the reason he is not is that he is going into his second season as the Milwaukee Brewers’ full-time closer. The two guys ahead of him have been full-time closers for multiple seasons. So why is Williams such an effective relief pitcher? Since 2021 he has an ERA of 1.97, an outrageous strikeout rate of 14.0, and a home run rate of 0.6. This means he strikes out around half the batters he faces and keeps the flyballs in the ballpark.
As long as Devin Williams continues to succeed the way he has already in the closer role, then do not be shocked if he finishes as the game’s best relief pitcher.
2. Josh Hader
Before 2022, Josh Hader was the undisputed best relief pitcher in baseball. His numbers were far and away the best of anyone in the position. In 2023, Hader returned to form and had an elite season, which helped him sign a huge deal with the Houston Astros in free agency. His stats were as follows: a 1.28 ERA with 33 saves and a strikeout rate of 13.6. These are remarkable numbers, but shockingly, 2023 was not even his best season in recent memory. That would be 2021, where Hader ended the season with a 1.23 ERA, a WHIP of 0.835, and a strikeout rate of 15.6.
Josh Hader at spring training.
He stops to look at the footage with pitching coach Bill Miller and then implements what they discussed.
Video from the Astros pic.twitter.com/tlsGLAB4Xi
— Michael Schwab (@michaelschwab13) February 17, 2024
If Hader were to have had a respectable 2022 instead of a season where he finished with a 5.22 ERA, then he would be the number-one reliever in baseball.
1. Emmanuel Clase
Emmanuel Clase surpasses all other relief pitchers heading into 2024. He has one of the most devastating cutters in MLB as well as the ability to pitch almost every other game. Even though Clase had a bit of a down year in 2023, his numbers were great regardless. He ended the season with a 3.22 ERA, led the league in saves with 44, and appeared in 75 games. Clase’s numbers from 2021-2022 were even more incredible, as he had a 1.33 ERA with 148 games pitched and 66 saves. Simply put, Clase is the most valuable reliever in baseball not only because of his ability to close out games but also because he can pitch every day.
As long as Emmanuel Clase keeps doing what he is doing and avoids any more steroid suspensions, then Cleveland Guardians fans could be watching an all-time great.
Photo Credit: © Michael McLoone-USA TODAY Sports
