It’s been well-established at this point that the Cleveland Guardians have the league’s best bullpen.
It’s a deep group of talented pitchers such as Tim Herrin, Nick Sandlin, Scott Barlow, Hunter Gaddis, Cade Smith, Pedro Avila, and probably the best and most consistent reliever in baseball: Emmanuel Clase.
Clase is having an incredible campaign with a 0.61 ERA in 59.1 innings pitched.
He has conceded just four earned runs in 2024, the last one of them coming on July 7.
His workload to this point, however, has some fans a bit concerned because he is closing in on his career-high in innings pitched (72.2 in both 2022 and 2023) with more than a month left to play and the postseason.
Guardians analyst Jensen Lewis is not as worried, though, and he has his reasons to feel that way.
“Will Emmanuel Clase be rested enough for a serious division race & playoff push? #ForTheLand. “It’s been relatively easy on the pitch count side. It’s not like he’s going into the low 20s when he’s out there.” – @JLEWFifty,” BIGPLAY Cleveland Show tweeted.
Will Emmanuel Clase be rested enough for a serious division race & playoff push? #ForTheLand
"It's been relatively easy on the pitch count side. It's not like he's going into the low 20s when he's out there."
–@JLEWFifty is confident Clase will be 🔥
presented by @NEFDirect pic.twitter.com/YirFDurBy2
— BIGPLAY Cleveland Show (@BIGPLAYCLEshow) August 23, 2024
Manager Stephen Vogt, believe it or not, is very careful in the way he uses Clase.
All but one of his 2024 pitching appearances have been one inning or less.
The only time Vogt used Clase for more than one frame this year was on Tuesday, when he trusted him to keep the New York Yankees offense at bay for two innings and he succeeded, eventually resulting in a much-needed Guardians win.
The skipper understood the fact he used Clase more than he usually does, and he hasn’t pitched since that game.
The other thing working on the Guardians favor is that Clase works quickly and is very efficient.
He threw 20 pitches on Tuesday’s two-inning appearance, but before then, the last time he reached 20 pitches was on July 6.
Clase gets innings out of the way so efficiently that he often fails to reach even 10 pitches.
Weak contact, sometimes, is more desirable than strikeouts.
NEXT: Jose Ramirez Enters Exclusive Club In MLB History
