The Cleveland Guardians needed someone to step up, and Cade Smith did.
The right-handed reliever has been on a roll since they lost All-Star closer Emmanuel Clase, and the job now looks his to lose.
That’s why Joel Reuter of Bleacher Report listed him as the No. 12 closer in baseball.
“One of the most dominant setup relievers in baseball, Smith has been thrust into the closer’s role in Cleveland after Emmanuel Clase was placed on leave amid MLB’s investigation into his ties to sports betting. Smith, 26, has two wins and two saves over 6.1 scoreless innings in August, but his lack of experience closing games makes it hard to rank him any higher,” Reuter wrote.
With Clase out for the foreseeable future, Smith gets the call when the stakes are the highest.
In his second MLB season, he has a 2.23 career ERA with a 1.10 WHIP in 129.0 innings.
He had taken things up a notch this season, with 19 holds and three saves while Clase was the closer.
Notably, things didn’t start well for Smith in his new role.
He gave up four runs against the Colorado Rockies in one-third of an inning and blew his first save attempt without Clase.
Fortunately, he’s been lights out ever since.
The Guardians are still alive in the playoff race, and they keep inching closer to the New York Yankees for an AL Wild Card and the Detroit Tigers in the AL Central.
They will need a reliable closer to get to the postseason, and it looks like they didn’t need to dig deep to find a worthy successor.
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