Emmanuel Clase Becomes First Closer In Baseball To Do This In 2023

Cleveland Guardians closer, Emmanuel Clase, leads baseball in saves with 20.

The Cleveland Guardians handed out a number of contract extensions before the start of the 2022 season. One of those was signing Emmanuel Clase to a five-year deal worth $20 million. 

Clase followed this up with one of the best performances by a closer in all of MLB. He even went on to win the American League Reliever of the Year award along with closing out the All-Star Game.

That takes us to 2023. 

Clase continues to be Cleveland's closer, but he hasn't looked as sharp or dominant as he did last season. After last night's appearance against the Boston Red Sox, Clase owns an ERA of 3.00, 1.200 WHIP, and 7.8 strikeouts per nine innings on the season. 

Even in what appears to be a down year for Clase, he's still managed to do something that no other closer in baseball has done so far.

His save on Wednesday gave him his 20th of the season which is the most by anyone in MLB. The leaderboard currently looks like this:

1. Emmanuel Clase - 20 
2. Jordan Romano - 16
3. Felix Bautista - 15
4. Camilo Doval - 15
5. Carlos Estevez - 15

We do have to take this with a grain of salt though. Clase leads baseball in saves, while also leading in appearances (31) and games finished (28). He's really getting his work in. Clase also has five blown saves under his belt, another league-leading stat.

Emmanuel Clase, Unhittable Sliders. 😯 pic.twitter.com/8zleh9WKyO

— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) May 31, 2023

Hopefully, this exceptionally high usage doesn't have negative impacts in terms of injury or fatigue. If the Guardians hope to climb their way back to the top of the AL Central they'll need Clase to be there to shut it down late in games!

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