Cleveland Indians: Karinchak, Clase, Shaw best bullpen trio in baseball?

Emmanuel Clase

Up to this point in the season, Emmanuel Clase has finished up 15 games for the Cleveland Indians, a mark that leads the American League. While only seven have been saves for the 23-year old flame-thrower, his presence on the mound out of the bullpen has been hard to ignore.

Totaling 19 innings for the Tribe so far in 2021, Clase has allowed just two earned runs. Now six runs have touched the plate when he’s been on the mound, but between extra innings runners and errors only two have been earned. He’s also struck out 19 batters, averaging one per inning pitched, while maintaining a 0.95 ERA that is eighth in baseball among pitchers with five or more saves, as previously mentioned.

Where Clase could show improvement is his walks. He’s walked nine batters which may not seem like a lot, but for a closer any walk isn’t great. Those walks, paired with 19 hits allowed, has is WHIP at 1.47, another mark that you would like to see a bit lower.

However in the overall picture, Clase has been rather impressive. Considering he missed the entire 2020 season and only pitched 23.1 major league innings in 2019, this has been quite the season so far for him and one that has his name among some of the best rookies in the game this year.