Cade Smith Draws Major Praise For Impressive 2025 Season

Last season, the Cleveland Guardians faced a devastating setback that most teams would not have been able to overcome. In July, pitchers Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz were placed on leave by MLB as part of a gambling investigation.

Not only were the accusations significant off the field, but they also had a major effect on the Guardians’ pitching staff. Fortunately, Cade Smith was there to help them overcome it.

Now, Smith is drawing major praise for his impressive 2025 season, being named by analyst Tony Blengino as his Reliever of the Year.

“Typically, I write this piece around this time of year to honor my MLB Closer of the Year. My methodology is the same as ever, but it might be more accurate to call the Guardians’ Cade Smith the High Leverage Reliever of the Year rather than the top closer. After a brilliant 2024 rookie campaign serving as setup man for Emmanuel Clase, who had one of the best seasons a closer has ever had, he was there to pick up the pieces when Clase was indefinitely suspended for suspected violation of MLB’s anti-gambling rules. He was absolute nails for a second consecutive season, and this time around closed out his share of Guardian victories,” Blengino wrote.

Clase was considered one of the best closers in baseball, a three-time All-Star who won his second AL Relief Pitcher of the Year Award in 2024. Smith played a major role in that as his primary setup man.

As a rookie, Smith made 74 appearances and had a 1.91 ERA, but he finished only two games and had one save. So it wasn’t obvious he would be able to take over for Clase if the need arose.

Then, essentially out of nowhere, it did, and Smith was able to thrive. Over the final two months of the season, he posted 13 saves in 16 opportunities and had a 6-1 record.

To make that even more impressive, all of those games were pressure-packed. Without Smith, it’s unlikely the Guardians would have been able to rally from 11 games behind in September to overtake the Detroit Tigers and win the AL Central.

With Clase facing charges and unlikely to play in the majors again, Smith will enter the 2026 season knowing he is the Guardians’ closer, and he and the team should have the utmost confidence that he can continue to get the job done.