Ranking MLB’s 2023 Closers, Part IV

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 Ranking MLB’s Closers, Part IV


Now that we have finished ranking the NL’s closers, I am ready to rank the closers of the AL. Here they are:


Andres Munoz (Mariners)

Will Smith (Rangers)

Ryan Pressly (Astros)

Carlos Estevez (Angels)

Trevor May (Athletics)

Jhoan Duran (Twins)

Emmanuel Clase (Indians)

Alex Lange (Tigers)

Felix Bautista (Orioles)

Pete Fairbanks (Rays)

Jordan Romano (Blue Jays)

Kenley Jansen (Red Sox)

Clay Holmes (Yankees)


I say that the AL has only 13 closers, even though it seems that Gregory Santos and Carlos Hernandez will be getting the saves for the White Sox, and Royals. However, they only have 4 and 3 saves respectively, and, if you look at their teams, they won’t have many games to save. Also, Jason Adam has 12 saves for the Rays, but seeing as how Fairbanks has more, I chose him as the closer. I only need to eliminate three this time, and they are fairly easy.


13: Trevor May

Besides being on the worst team in the MLB, Trevor May just isn’t closer material anyway. This season he has 17 saves, a 3.99 ERA, a FIP of 5.32 and a BB/9 of 6.6! He has a career 4.32 ERA and 1.32 WHIP. This suffices for the A’s, but he is not closer material and thus ranks last on the list of AL closers.


12: Alex Lange

Lange has 21 saves and a 3.79 ERA this season for the not so good Tigers. Though those stats don’t stink, he has a BB/9 ratio of 6.9 this season, making his SO/BB only 1.57, and a career BB/9 of 5.2. Opponents are batting .175 against him this season (a very good mark) but have a .333 OBP against him. And thus, he is eliminated at number 12.


11: Carlos Estevez

Carlos Estevez has 29 saves and a 3.33 ERA this season, and these are both solid numbers. However, his BB/9 is 4.5, and his WHIP is 1.43. Though his career BB/9 is much better than this season at 3.7, his ERA is worse at 4.40 and his WHIP about the same at 1.41. Opponents have an OBP of .340 against him this season, and a .333 OBP in his career to go with a .258 batting average. His HardH% is also 3% over the major league average in his career. So, he’s done well this year, but I’m not sure how likely he’ll be to keep it up.


And that wraps up the 13-11 closer ranks for the AL. In my next post I will narrow it down to the top 5. Thanks for reading.

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