Cade Smith has been one of the best closers in baseball for the Cleveland Guardians so far this season, but there is still a long, long way to go. Relief pitchers traditionally experience multiple ups and downs during a 162-game campaign, and it is usually a good idea to ride the best times as long as you can.
But doing so could come back to haunt the pitcher and his team later on. That’s especially true when the closer is going through his first full season in the role.
After Smith earned a four-out save against the Milwaukee Brewers on Thursday, insider Dan Labbe of Cleveland.com issued a warning to the Guardians about Smith, saying they are running the risk of wearing him out.
“You don’t want Cade Smith making up-down appearances, with four outs to get and throwing that many pitches for too long. You’re going to burn him out before the end of the season,” Noga said.
Smith was needed for the extra duty as the Guardians were trying to avoid being swept by the Brewers. It would have been Cleveland’s third straight loss and ninth in their past 12 outings.
With the Guardians holding a 4-2 lead, the Brewers put runners on first and second in the bottom of the eighth against reliever Hunter Gaddis. Smith came in and walked the first batter he faced to load the bases before striking out Christian Yelich to escape the jam.
Smith then retired the side in the ninth with one walk to record his 24th save of the year, which leads the majors. It was the third time in his past four appearances that Smith had pitched more than one inning.
He has thrown 99 pitches over 6.1 innings in five outings this month. For the season, Smith has just two other appearances of more than three outs, with the last before this stretch having been on May 12.
The recent extended outings may have been seen as necessary as the Guardians struggled and fell out of first place in the AL Central. As a sign of possible fatigue, Smith has walked three batters in his past two appearances, after issuing just one since April 21.
It is hard to resist using a closer who has been as successful as Smith has been this season, but manager Stephen Vogt may be better served by being a bit more prudent with him going forward.
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