Emmanuel Clase Has Reached A New Gear In 2024

The Cleveland Guardians have MLB’s best record at 17-6 as of Wednesday afternoon.

Seven of those victories have been saved by closer Emmanuel Clase.

That’s a little over 41 percent of the Guards’ wins, for those keeping score.

It means that Clase has had a direct influence in over 40 percent of Cleveland’s victories to this point.

The guy was already one of the best relievers in baseball, even if his 3.22 ERA last year is considered a step back from what he did in 2021 (1.29 ERA) and 2022 (1.36 ERA).

Now, however, he appears to have hit a whole new level of dominance.

“Emmanuel Clase 2024: 7 Saves, 0.75 ERA (1 ER over 12.0 IP), 13 K, 10 H, 1 BB. Career: 118 Saves, 1.94 ERA (54 ER over 250.1 IP), 249 K, 192 H, 49 BB,” Cleveland Stats tweeted.

Emmanuel Clase

2024:
7 Saves
0.75 ERA (1 ER over 12.0 IP)
13 K
10 H
1 BB

Career:
118 Saves
1.94 ERA (54 ER over 250.1 IP)
249 K
192 H
49 BBpic.twitter.com/JI07cg1u3S

— Cleveland Stats (@CLE_STATS) April 24, 2024

The season is still very young, and a bad outing (say, two or three earned runs in 0.1 innings) can really ruin a reliever’s ERA.

Still, we would be remiss if we didn’t recognize and applaud what Clase is doing at the moment.

The guy has conceded just a single earned run all year, as we get closer to the end of the first month.

12 innings and one run is very impressive, especially when they come with such an elite SO/BB ratio of 13/1.

Of course, the world expects greatness from a talented pitcher like Clase, who is the owner of a really nasty triple-digits cutter and impeccable command.

He has delivered greatness this year, and then some, and has helped the surging Guardians take over the AL Central in truly impressive fashion.

With him in the back of the bullpen, teams virtually have eight innings to score, and win, against the Guardians.

He is that good.