Guardians Closer: Relievers are Worthy of Cy Young…
Emmanuel Clase is fresh off the most dominant season we’ve seen from a reliever in recent history. The Cleveland Guardians closer finished the 2024 regular season with a 0.61 ERA, 0.66 WHIP, and a 2.23 FIP.
Because of these unreal stats, Clase was named a 2024 Cy Young Award finalist. However, fans have discussed whether relievers should be eligible to win the Cy Young or if it should be an accolade designated solely for starting pitchers.
Clase was asked this question in an interview with MLB Network, and unsurprisingly, Cleveland’s closer believes that any pitcher should be qualified to win the award, especially if they’re putting up record-breaking stats.
“He said yes, definitely. He thinks that when you put up historic numbers, if you earn the spot to be mentioned, then he would love to have the opportunity to like other relievers, other closers to have the chance to win the Cy Young,” said Kelvin Nova while translating for Clase.
It’s incredibly rare for a reliever to even be in contention to win the Cy Young.
Before Clase in 2024, the last relief pitcher to finish in the top three in the Cy Young voting was Francisco Rodriguez in 2008. We have to go back to 1992 to find the last time a reliever actually won the award. This was Oakland Athletic closer Dennis Eckersley.
Will Clase snap the 32-year streak of starting pitchers winning the Cy Young Award? We’ll get the answer to that question on November 20, when the winner is announced.
