Clubhouse dynamics, in MLB, are a fascinating thing.
You often see guys who look incredibly focused when on the field or on the mound, and you just don’t imagine they have such an outgoing, contagious personality when around teammates.
This is, evidently, the case with Cleveland Guardians closer Emmanuel Clase.
When his team has a lead in the ninth inning and it’s time to call his number, you can see the intensity and the focus in his eyes.
Off the field, he is “a joy to be around,” as his teammates describe him.
“Emmanuel Clase is serious stuff on the mound, with a terrifying triple-digit cutter and a super-intimidating demeanor. But to the @CleGuardians teammates he pumps up, he’s an absolute joy to be around,” Bally Sports Cleveland tweeted with quotes from Hunter Gaddis, Andres Gimenez, and some other teammates.
Emmanuel Clase is serious stuff on the mound, with a terrifying triple-digit cutter and a super-intimidating demeanor.
But to the @CleGuardians teammates he pumps up, he's an absolute joy to be around.#ForTheLand pic.twitter.com/k92PyneIlx
— Bally Sports Cleveland (@BallySportsCLE) May 24, 2024
Most people, particularly his teammates, use the word “intimidating” or “terrifying” when they refer to Clase.
Of course, with that 100-mph cutter, pinpoint command, and 0.36 ERA in 25.1 innings this season, you can see he is both spectacular and surgical on the mound.
But he is actually a fun-loving person and brings joy to the Guardians bullpen.
He likes to scream and yell, and pump everybody up in a way that only he can.
That’s why he is of vital importance on the field, but also off of it.
He is the glue that keeps them all together, and his teammates recognize that.
All things considered, Clase is in a class of his own.
It’s hard to think about a more dominant reliever in baseball at the moment outside of Mason Miller.
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