Former Angels Pitcher on Brink of Major League History

Maren Angus-Coombs | Aug 15, 2024

Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports

Former Los Angeles Angels bullpen arm Kirby Yates, the current closer for the Texas Rangers, is having the best season of his career.

Yates entered Tuesday night’s contest against the Boston Red Sox with an earned run average of 1.04, the second-best ERA in Major League Baseball.

This is the second season for Yates to have a microscopic ERA. Back in 2019, he posted a 1.19 ERA in 60.2 innings.

If Yates continues to perform with this low of an ERA, he is going to make some history.

There have been 41 individual instances of a reliever posting an ERA of 1.25 or better in a season of 40 appearances or more. Three of those are still in progress.

Because Yates has already accomplished a sub-1.25 ERA season before, this would be his second. Who else has had two seasons with these numbers?

There are three.

Yates would join Craig Kimbrel and Wade Davis as the only three relievers with multiple seasons under 1.25. Kimbrel and Davis did it in back-to-back season but Yates has been a more intriguing closer. He reached the threshold in 2019 and didn't throw more than 10 innings again until 2023. Among the three, he would become the first to not record 1.25 or less in back-to-back seasons.

David Laurila of FanGraphs informed Yates about his historic pace in Boston. The closer responded by saying he doesn't like to know his numbers during the year.

“If it happens, it happens. It’s great…But the hard part is that there are six weeks left in the season," Yates told Laurila. "Being a bullpen guy, a lot can happen in six weeks.”

Yates has been absolutely incredible for the Rangers this season. He has only allowed five earned runs in 43.1 innings. If he wants to stay around his previous career-best ERA and reach 60 innings, then he can only allow 2.9 more earned runs.

Yates' first half earned him an All-Star nod. He became the first Texas relief pitcher selected since Joe Nathan in 2013 and the fifth different Rangers pitcher to make the team in the past five All-Star Games, after Mike Minor (2019), Kyle Gibson (2021), Martín Pérez (2022), and Nathan Eovaldi (2023).

“I think this gives it a little bit of validation that it was pretty good in the first half,” Yates said. “The last five years have been weird. Look, if you would have asked me in April or May last year if I thought this was possible, I probably would have said no. But I did feel like this was attainable this offseason. There were some adjustments that I would have had to make and I made them. Thankfully they've all paid off.”