Which Team in the AL Central Has the Best Closer for 2025?
Great bullpens were at the forefront of several AL Central teams' success in 2024, but which team holds the division's best closer heading into 2025?
The American League Central was often considered to be the “bottom-feeder” of divisions this time last year.
However, Major League Baseball was put on notice when they squared up against a majority of AL Central squads, realizing very quickly that this was a division not to be trifled with.
The AL Central shocked the world, as four teams finished with records above .500, and three of those squads not only made the postseason but won a series in October.
Some spectacular pitching was a major reason for such success, especially out the bullpen with some of the league’s most prolific closers calling the AL Central home.
Now as we head into the 2025 campaign, let’s dive into which organization sports the best closer in AL Central.
5. The Closing Committee, Chicago White Sox
The Chicago White Sox are the clear No. 5 team on this list of AL Central closers, thanks to the absence of a definitive anchoring arm.
Not setting a closer seems to be the approach that manager Will Venable will take this season, as he said he’s going to rely on multiple back-end arms, according to our Elijah Evans.
When looking at things from that angle, there are a few names that could stand out from the relief corps in the South Side.
Former starter Mike Clevinger is turning heads in spring training, after he was brought back on a minor league deal this winter.
The plan with him seems to be similar to the one that Chicago eventually embarked on with Michael Soroka last year: to test his stuff out in a relief role.
According to Bruce Levine of 670 The Score, Venable reportedly views Clevinger as near the top of the list for closing opportunities.
So far this spring, things have looked good for him in his new role. In his first three outings he’s only surrendered one baserunner and is sporting a K/9 of 12.00. While it’s a small sample size, it’s encouraging to see such a noticeable uptick in strikeout material from his previous seasons.
Other names that Sam Connon of Sports Illustrated lists as candidates for the closer role are Justin Anderson, Fraser Ellard and Jordan Leasure.
The 32-year-old Anderson joins Clevinger as the other veteran of this late-inning quartet. He boasted some respectable underlying metrics in 2024, including an 86th percentile average exit velocity, 78th percentile hard-hit rate, 78th percentile chase rate, and an 81st percentile whiff rate.
In 25 appearances last season, Ellard, the lone lefty of this group, sported a very impressive four-seamer/slider combo which adequately held hitters at bay, with his four-seamer holding a .188 BAA and his slider a .077 BAA.
Then there’s the 26-year-old Leasure, who sports a fastball that averages above 96 mph that limited hitters to a .169 BAA and .308 SLG. Overall, he surrendered hard contact just 35.1% of the time in 2024.
Regardless of who closes the ninth, there’s a sense of uncertainty and a lack of high leverage experience amongst this closing committee, making it a clear pick to occupy the bottom of this list.
4. Jason Foley, Detroit Tigers
2024 Stats: 69 G, 60.0 IP, 28 SV, 4 BS, 3.15 ERA, 1.18 WHIP, 3.82 FIP, 6.90 K/9, 3.00 BB/9
After closing out seven games in 70 appearances in 2023, Foley put together a respectable campaign in his first season as the Tigers’ primary closer.
His 28 saves were the fifth most in the American League and tied for the ninth-best mark in all of baseball.
From a pitch-mix standpoint, his average fastball velocity, which included his primary sinker and his complimentary four-seamer, was ranked in the 91st percentile last season. Moreover, his top two secondary offerings of his slider and four-seamer both held hitters below a .115 BAA.
Looking at the caveats though, there’s a few reasons as to why Foley falls lower than many of his AL Central closing counterparts.
He’s a groundball-oriented pitcher, sitting amongst the top quarter of league arms in GB% and below the 15th percentile mark in strikeout rate last season.
This isn’t necessarily a bad thing as another prominent name on this list thrives on keeping the ball on the ground. However, the issue with Foley here is that his primary sinker, which he throws over 55% of the time, registered at near .300 BAA (.295) in 2024.
Being a groundball pitcher can work, but when hitters are finding ways to get to your main offering at a high enough clip, it’s suddenly a less appealing makeup.
While it may be a more volatile makeup than other top closers, the numbers don’t lie, as a low-3.00s ERA and sub-1.20 WHIP are respectable totals in our game today.
The Tigers were well known for their chaotic approach to the ‘pen last season, and based off the latest FanGraphs ZiPS projection model, they could lean into the same philosophy in 2024. Several arms are projected to register saves in 2025 outside of Foley, including Beau Brieske (10), Tyler Holton (6), Will Vest (2) and Tommy Kahnle (2).
Still, given A.J. Hinch’s trust in Foley to cover the ninth last season, and Foley’s ability to deliver on that trust, he seems like the clear option to continue to close out games for the Gritty Tigs in 2025.
3. Lucas Erceg, Kansas City Royals
2024 Stats: 61 G, 61.2 IP, 14 SV, 5 BS, 3.36 ERA, 1.05 WHIP, 2.53 FIP, 10.51 K/9, 2.34 BB/9
After playing Robin to Mason Miller’s Batman during his time in Oakland, Erceg was entrusted with the closing duties in Kansas City after being dealt there at last summer’s trade deadline.
He elevated his numbers fairly substantially after his arrival in the Midwest, posting a 2.88 ERA, 1.17 FIP, 0.84 WHIP, .194 BAA, 11.16 K/9, and 1.08 BB/9 with 11 saves in 25.0 innings of work.
Erceg certainly has an appealing arsenal at his disposal. His primary four-seam fastball is electrifying, sitting in the upper-90s. He then matches that with three secondary offerings, and the main two — his slider and sinker — posted a BAA under .240, as did his primary four-seamer.
He doesn’t give up hard contact often, posting just an 87th percentile clip of 33.3% last season and holds hitters at bay with great strikeout numbers, sporting an 85th percentile K-rate and 86th percentile whiff rate.
With such great numbers to his name, it’s his lack of experience in the ninth that plays a major role in why Erceg falls lower on this list, as the two names ahead of him have been some of the MLB’s most fierce relievers to face for several seasons now.
This also comes into play when looking at his closing competition in Kansas City, with an experienced closer in Carlos Estévez now in the fold.
While Estévez may have the edge in closing experience, securing back-to-back 25-plus save seasons, from an underlying metrics standpoint he only has the clear advantage over Erceg in walk rate.
Whether or not he’s the clear closer or he splits the role with his veteran counterpart in Estévez is yet to be seen, but it’s clear that Erceg is the Royals’ best closing option and is deserving of being in the conversation amongst the division’s top ninth inning arms.
2. Jhoan Durán, Minnesota Twins
2024 Stats: 58 G, 54.1 IP, 23 SV, 2 BS, 3.64 ERA, 1.16 WHIP, 2.85 FIP, 10.93 K/9, 2.48 BB/9
Now we move to Durán, one of MLB’s most prolific fireball specialists and the anchor of a very strong Twins bullpen for multiple seasons now.
While 2024 may have seen a bump in his ERA and WHIP, along with a drop in his K/9 tally, Durán still sported some of the strongest underlying metrics amongst big league relievers, demonstrating the multiple ways he’s capable of leaving opposing hitters dumbfounded.
His four-seam fastball still sat in the 100th percentile of league arms with an average velocity of 100.5 mph last season.
Durán also managed to strike out hitters at a strong 28.7% clip and catch them whiffing at an even stronger 32.9% rate.
He’s also a bit of a batted-ball merchant; Hitters only barreled up his pitches 3.5% of the time, which resulted in a strong 87.0 mph average exit velocity and a 61.7% groundball rate.
Durán could also be considered as somewhat unlucky in 2024. His 3.64 ERA was accompanied by a 2.85 FIP, and his renowned four-seam heater (his primary offering) held an xBA of .205 compared to the .296 BAA it actually sported.
While Griffin Jax cut into Durán’s save opportunities, racking up 10 himself in 2024, there seems to be a clear preference from Rocco Baldelli and company to turn to Durán for the lion’s share of ninth inning opportunities. There’s no indication on why that shouldn’t continue to be the case in 2025.
With such great numbers from a guy like Durán, the fact he falls to No. 2 on this list is a testament to just how dominant the name that tops this list is.
1. Emmanuel Clase, Cleveland Guardians
2024 Stats: 74 G, 74.1 IP, 47 SV, 3 BS, 0.61 ERA, 0.66 WHIP, 2.22 FIP, 7.99 K/9, 1.21 BB/9
It should come as no surprise that the reliever who finished third in AL Cy Young voting in 2024 and sits No. 1 overall in our top reliever rankings for 2025 leads this list of the best closers in the AL Central.
The soon-to-be 27-year-old lead all qualified major league relief pitchers in ERA and WHIP. He also sat top five in saves (second), fWAR (fifth), BAA (third) and BB% (fourth), while also finishing top 10 in FIP (sixth).
He’s not a strikeout-oriented pitcher by any means, but he accounts for that by being arguably the best major league arm at limiting quality contact and baserunners in general.
Last season, Clase sat above the 90th percentile in hard-hit rate (98th), barrel rate (97th), average exit velocity (92nd), groundball rate (95th), and walk rate (98th).
This was in large part due to arguably the best 1-2 pitch combination in all of baseball with his primary cutter and secondary slider. His cutter averaged out at 99 mph with a .150 BAA and .209 SLG. His slider saw hitters even more overmatched with a .145 BAA and a .161 SLG.
Looking at Clase’s dominance from a more macro lens, he’s been a sub-1.50 ERA, sub-3.00 FIP, sub-1.00 WHIP, and sub-.200 BAA arm for three of the past four seasons.
Other names like Cade Smith and Hunter Gaddis, who also cracked our top relievers list for this season, will undoubtedly play crucial roles for this top-ranked Guardians bullpen in 2025. However, it’s not an exaggeration by any means to say that there is no closer in the baseball whose job is as safe as Clase’s this season.
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