Ranking MLB’s 2023 Closers, Part I

Ranking MLB’s Closers

Not all MLB teams have closers, but the ones that do have real closers are going to be ranked. If a closer has been traded to another team and has become that team’s closer (like David Robertson), they still count.

First off, let’s see who our closers are:

NL:

Evan Phillips (Dodgers)

Camilo Doval (Giants)

Paul Sewald (Diamondbacks)

Josh Hader (Padres)

Justin Lawrence (Rockies)

Devin Williams (Brewers)

Adbert Alzolay (Cubs)

Alexis Diaz (Reds)

David Bednar (Pirates)

Ryan Helsely, IL (Cardinals)

Raisel Iglesias (Braves)

Craig Kimbrel (Phillies)

David Robertson (Marlins)

Kyle Finnegan (Nationals)

It would seem that the Mets are the only team without a closer, since they traded away David Robertson. It seems that Adam Ottavino will be getting the saves for them, although I am unsure, and It doesn’t really matter since they aren’t winning any games anyway. Also, the Rockies are a bit cheap because they traded away former closer Pierce Johnson, who hadn’t been very good at all, and Justin Lawrence only has 10 saves because of that.

Now, I will move on to the way my grading will work. I am not deciding just based on saves and such this season. Not all of these players have been closers their whole careers, so I am just determining how good they are and were at other places. This will not penalize rookies or newer players, because I like looking a lot at advanced statistics like FIP, BAA, and others. (I also like walk and strikeout rate)

Seeing as how this post will be broken up into multiple parts, I will now deduct the last four closers so as to get to the top ten for the next post.

The four I have chosen to deduct are:

14: Justin Lawrence:

I personally call Justin Lawrence the worst out of all of the NL closers  for multiple reasons. He is certainly not a bad pitcher this season, but doesn’t jump out at you like Josh Hader, Devin Williams, or Craig Kimbrel (Not saying that these are the top three yet). To start, he has a 3.75 ERA this season, bringing his career ERA down to 5.10. Granted, he has only pitched in just over 120 innings, so his sample size is small. Pitching at Coors doesn’t help him very much either. Anyway, he is walking 4 people per nine innings this season, and 5 in his career. However, hitters are batting just .211 against him with a .630 OPS in 2023. But hitters have a .346 OBP against him in his career, and with such a small sample size, and not even an impressive one, Justin Lawrence ranks last on the list.

13: Kyle Finnegan: 

Finnegan has actually been very good this season, sporting 24 saves and a 2.81 ERA. Hitters are hitting below league average against him at .233 with a .678 OPS. However, he has a career BB/9 of 3.6, which is pretty high, but all in all, I don’t really have anything else to say about him. He is a solid pitcher. There are just better closers out there. Not bad at all, and definitely the right choice for the Nats closer.

12: Adbert Alzolay:

Alzolay has been amazing this season, with 21 saves and a 2.64 ERA. He has been very good, and has walked only 1.4 batters per nine innings. He has been great, as hitters are batting less than .230 against him. However, his career ERA is 4.02, and that is enough to kick him out of the top 10.

11: David Robertson:

Somehow I feel like I would get backlash for deciding to cut Robertson, but I have 2 reasons for doing so. First, he is old at 38, and second, he doesn’t throw hard. Let me give you an example of the latter. Camilo Doval throws 104, while Robertson’s fastball is low 90s. I see him throwing 91 and 92 all the time. Robertson is definitely a good strikeout pitcher, however, as his career strikeouts per nine is 11.7. That is a really good mark for a pitcher who probably won’t blow a fastball by many players. Now, I’m sure that he had thrown harder when he was younger, also helping with his K numbers. But, although his strikeout numbers are good, Robertson also walks people. He has walked over 5 batters per 9 innings this season, and 3.7 for his career. Robertson has been good, but not so much with the Marlins this season, who he got traded to, as he is posting a 7.20 ERA with them. He is definitely a good pitcher, but with younger guys coming up, he is starting to lag as a closer.

So, this leaves Evan Phillips, Camilo Doval, Paul Sewald, Josh Hader, Devin Williams, Alexis Diaz, David Bednar, Ryan Helsely, Raisel Iglesias, and Craig Kimbrel left to battle it out for the role of best closer. 

Thank you for reading, and be on the lookout for the next post, where I will narrow it down to the top 5 closers.