Cade Smith burst onto the scene for the Cleveland Guardians in 2024 and unexpectedly posted a 1.91 ERA and 103 strikeouts in 75.1 innings as a rookie. His emergence helped propel an already strong bullpen into the best bullpen in baseball and a trip to the ALCS.
His follow-up campaign in 2025 was nearly as good, even though he was thrown a major curveball. With star closer Emmanuel Clase’s career likely over due to alleged gambling violations, Smith was thrust into the closer role halfway through last season and will remain in that role for the foreseeable future.
During a recent episode of Foul Territory, Smith was asked by A.J. Pierzynski how he handled the mental aspect of being thrown into the closer role in such an unconventional way. He credited his faith for keeping him level-headed.
“My identity is not in how I perform or what I do. That’s temporary, and it’s going to be taken from me at some point,” Smith said.
Cade Smith credits his faith in keeping him level-headed after being thrown into the closer role.
"My identity is not in how I perform or what I do. That's temporary, and it's going to be taken from me at some point." pic.twitter.com/RZcIhrxNKh
— Foul Territory (@FoulTerritoryTV) February 18, 2026
The tough part with Smith being the closer is figuring out who is going to fill his old role as the setup man. Transitioning from Clase to Smith at closer was mostly a seamless one, but the bridge getting to Smith to finish games was certainly rockier in 2025 than it was the previous year.
That’s where this bullpen has work to do, because a great closer doesn’t mean as much if you can’t hand them leads to close out. Hunter Gaddis and Tim Herrin both saw their ERAs double from one year to the next, and if this bullpen is going to be as effective as it was two years ago, those two are the ones under the most pressure to deliver.
Losing Clase could have derailed this team’s momentum, but Smith’s consistency and reliability has been a blessing that has enabled the Guardians to avoid missing a beat. Hopefully, he can keep churning out years like he did in his first two seasons in the league, because if he does, he’ll immediately put himself in the mix among the best closers in baseball.
NEXT: Guardians Receive Harsh Grade for Offseason
