Emmanuel Clase is not struggling for the Cleveland Guardians in 2023

The Cleveland Guardians closer Emmanuel Clase is having himself one heck of a year.

It feels weird to say that Emmanuel Clase is not having the same type of season for the Cleveland Guardians as he did last year, considering he’s leading the league in saves. Yes, Clase had better stats last year to close the year, posting a 1.36 ERA, compared to his 3.00 ERA this year but that’s a very deceptive stat for relievers.

Giving up just 11 runs in 72.2 innings is a lunatic stat line and isn’t really something you should expect a closer to give you on a yearly basis. Eventually, he’s going to have bad days. For comparison, Mariano Rivera is arguably the greatest closer of all time and even he had eight seasons out of 18 where he had a 2.00 ERA or higher. Clase’s ERA will drop as the season goes on, so keep things in perspective.

His slightly elevated ERA should not detour fans from realizing he’s on pace to have nearly 50 saves this year. He’s still hurling and getting outs. He had a rough start to the year, like the rest of the squad, but he’s still out where wheeling and dealing.

That said, he, like the lineup, has no more room to struggle if this team is going to win the AL Central.

The Cleveland Guardians need Emmanuel Clase to keep his current pace

It’s fair to say that the Clase we saw in Mid-May wasn’t his best form. It’s also fair to say that the Clase we’re seeing right now is pitching far better. As of June 7, the Guardians are 6-1 over the last seven games where he’s come in to pitch.

Clearly the Clase from last year isn’t gone, he was just late to show up for the season. When you’re the leader in the Majors in saves, and the only one currently with 20 at this point in the season, it’s baffling to still say that Clase is “struggling”.