Yes, Emmanuel Clase deserves to be in the Cy Young conversation

What a difference a year makes. Last year, Cleveland Guardians closer Emmanuel Clase was not quite himself, and this resulted in conversations about him potentially being moved during this past offseason. The good news is the Guardians remained confident in their closer and hung on to him, with the returns being of the incredibly positive variety. So much so that Clase is forcing himself into the American League Cy Young Award conversation.

With 0.64 ERA, 0.657 WHIP, and 7.8 strikeouts per nine, Clase is having an absolutely dominant season at the back end of Cleveland's bullpen. Clase leads all of baseball in saves (37), and games finished (52) while shutting the door for the Guardians on what seems like an almost nightly basis. The 26-year-old flamethrower is somehow pitching even better than his first two years in Cleveland, which saw him sport a 1.33 ERA and 0.843 WHIP in 148 games while saving 66 games and finishing 118. This is a more than welcome development, considering his numbers took a step back last season (3.22 ERA, 1.156 WHIP, and blowing 12 saves, the most in baseball). This return to form has taken what was a rocky 9th-inning experience back to the relatively easy affairs occurring in the two years before 2023.

It is going to be incredibly difficult for those voting on end-of-season awards to exclude someone who is pitching like prime Mariano Rivera from the Cy Young conversation. Clase has been the living embodiment of Peak-Sandman right now, and anyone who has the guts to exclude him from potentially winning the award would have a ton of explaining to do.

While it is an uphill battle for Clase to win the award, considering no reliever has won it since Eric Gagne did so in 2003 for the Los Angeles Dodgers, while Dennis Eckersley's campaign in 1992 for the Oakland Athletics, is the last American League winner. But that does not mean that Clase does not deserve to at least be in the conversation and get some recognition for what has been an absolutely dominant season closing games for the Guardians.