Ranking MLB’s 2023 Closers, Part II

 Ranking MLB’s Closers, Part II

If you remember, last time I eliminated four NL closers to get to the top ten. Here I am to narrow it down to the top five. Let’s get down to it.

10: Paul Sewald

Once again, as I have said, all of these closers are very good. However, I have chosen to cut Sewald for a number of reasons. He is already 33, and the sidearmer only throws about 93 with his fastball. However, throwing sidearm probably helps him out, because it is harder to pick up the ball on account of the different arm slot. His career ERA is 4.11, although his FIP is 3.74, a bit better. Even so, hitters are batting only .217 against him in his career. However, the OBP of said batters is .287, 70 points higher than the batting average. He is still a solid pitcher, but because of the pitchers that will be competing for the best closer role, I have to pull him (no pun intended).

9: Craig Kimbrel

Craig Kimbrel probably has the best career out of all the NL closers being discussed, as he sports 415 saves and a 2.38 ERA through his 14 years of work. Hitters are batting only .165 against him in his whole career! However, he has regressed a bit. In the last five seasons his ERA is 3.57. Granted, he was injured for some time in that span. I don’t really have anything bad to say about him, although he is getting older with every fleeting second. The only stats that aren’t very good are his EV, which is over 90 MPH, with the average being 88.4 MPH, his HardH%, which is 42.2%, with the average being 38.8 (as of 2015, because these stats weren’t kept for the first five seasons of his career), and his walk rate, which, at 10.1%, is 2% higher than the average. Still a wickedly good pitcher, and I’m sure that he’ll have a place in the Hall of Fame.

8: David Bednar

Although Bednar hasn’t been a closer most of his career (although a lot of them haven’t), he is still an effective pitcher, sporting a 2.74 ERA in his 5 MLB seasons. He has been the closer the last two seasons, and has a combined 47 saves in that time. Every single one of his stats is good, as he walks less than three batters per nine innings, and is striking out over 11 (in his career). He is an extremely good pitcher, and definitely the right choice as the closer.

7: Ryan Helsley

There are a couple key reasons for ranking Helsley so high. One of them is his velocity, because Ryan is consistently throwing 100+. Another reason is that hitters have a batting average of .192 against him in his career. Last season, Helsley went 9-1 with a 1.25 ERA and 19 saves. Opposing batters had an average of just .128 and an OPS of .438 against him. Because of this, Helsley was 12th in Cy Young voting while throwing under 70 innings. He is injured as of right now, but was the closer before his injury and will be when he soon makes his return. The one downside to Helsley is his walk rate, as his career BB/9 is 3.8. Even so, if you take the walk rate for last year and what he has so far this year, it is only 3.1, so he has been getting better at that too. I think it's safe to say that Helsley is a dominant pitcher and will be in the seasons to come.

6: Raisel Iglesias

Iglesias has been pitching for 9 seasons, and the 33-year-old has a career ERA of 2.98. But he has been even better lately. Since the end of the 2020 season, Raisel has 77 saves and a 2.58 ERA. Another good quality about him is his walk rate. It is lower than most of the pitchers I’ve talked about, with his BB/9 ratio at a solid 2.6 in his career. In those three seasons (2021-2023), his walk rate is an amazing 1.9 per 9 innings! He is also striking people out, with a career SO/9 of 11. As I have mentioned with almost every other pitcher I’ve talked about, Raisel’s batting average against is only .214, with a mark of .217 this year and .185 last year. It seems that he just gets better as he gets older.

So, that leaves 5 closers left; Evan Phillips, Camilo Doval, Josh Hader, Devin Williams, and Alexis Diaz. Which one will be the top closer in the NL? That post will be out in a few days.

Thank you for reading.