Ranking the Best Reliever on Every Contending Team

As the postseason field began to settle last year, I endeavored to rank the best reliever on every contending team.

First, that meant singling out the number one arm in every team’s bullpen. Then, I took on the even harder task of comparing those back-end weapons to one another.

I quickly realized that ranking isn’t easy when you’re working with the best pitchers on the best teams.

As difficult as the ranking was, it was also highly informative – and fun! It was a great way to learn a little bit more about the bullpens I would soon be watching in October.

So, I decided to subject myself to the same challenge all over again in 2024.

Setting the Ground Rules

Before we dive in, I’d like to clarify a couple of things.

First things first, not all of these pitchers are their team’s closer. More often than not, the best pitcher in a given bullpen is tasked with shutting the door in the ninth inning. But in this day and age, that’s not always the case. For example, I chose Jeff Hoffman, not Carlos Estévez, to represent the Phillies.

Second of all, I’m not ranking these pitchers based solely on their 2024 performance. Using all the information at my disposal – past performance, advanced metrics, splits, leverage index, pitch models, the good old eye test, etc. – I’m ranking each of these pitchers based on how good I expect them to be in the 2024 postseason.

In other words, who are the best pitchers on the best teams right now?

That means the pitcher I ranked number one is the guy I’d trust the most with the 2024 World Series on the line.

That’s why Josh Hader ranks higher than you might expect, or why Tyler Holton is still lower than you might have thought.

Related: Watch Jack and Peter draft the best postseason bullpens on the Just Baseball Show

As for the definition of a contending team, I really just went with my gut. Let’s just say the definition is “teams within less than two games of a playoff spot.” In other words, I included the Tigers but left off the Mariners.

Finally, I want to stress how hard it was to put this list together. If you disagree about who I picked as each team’s best reliever or how I ranked the guys I chose, just keep in mind that there were a lot of close calls.

Like I said, ranking the best of the best is pretty damn hard.

Power Ranking the Best Reliever on Every Contending Team

14. Lucas Erceg, Kansas City Royals

2024 Stats: 57.0 IP, 11 SV, 3.47 ERA, 3.18 xERA, 28.1% K%, 6.4% BB%, 46.6% GB%, 1.4 fWAR

Lucas Erceg has blossomed into a reliable late-inning arm and has proven to be a huge midseason acquisition for the Royals. Still, he’s a tier below every other name on this list.

Erceg is a great reliever, but the fact that he is the Royals’ best reliever is precisely why Kansas City has one of the worst bullpens among this year’s crop of postseason contenders.

13. Tyler Holton, Detroit Tigers

2024 Stats: 87.0 IP, 8 SV, 2.17 ERA, 2.91 xERA, 20.7% K%, 4.6% BB%, 46.0% GB%, 1.4 fWAR

Tyler Holton quietly put up one of the best reliever seasons in the AL last year (2.11 ERA in 85.1 IP). He has followed that up with an even better performance in 2024.

The underlying numbers still aren’t convinced the slow-throwing control artist is genuinely this good – and neither am I – but it’s impossible to ignore Holton’s 2.14 ERA over 172.1 IP between 2023 and ’24.

12. Evan Phillips, Los Angeles Dodgers

2024 Stats: 50.0 IP, 18 SV, 3.78 ERA, 3.40 xERA, 27.6% K%, 7.6% BB%, 40.0% GB%, 0.7 fWAR

Alex Vesia, Blake Treinen, and even Michael Kopech are having stronger seasons in 2024, but Evan Phillips gets the nod for the Dodgers thanks to his dominant performances in 2022 and ’23.

He was one of the best relievers in baseball during those two seasons, and his stuff looks just as good in 2024. His poor numbers this year explain why he’s only number 12 on this list, but as far as I’m concerned, he is still this team’s best option with the game on the line.

11. Yennier Cano, Baltimore Orioles

2024 Stats: 55.0 IP, 5 SV, 2.78 ERA, 3.50 xERA, 26.0% K%, 9.3% BB%, 64.4% GB%, 0.5 fWAR

Yennier Cano hasn’t looked quite as sharp as he did last year – his walk and home run rates have essentially doubled – but he’s getting more strikeouts and groundballs, and his numbers have improved across the board in the second half of the season.

What’s more, I can’t just ignore how dominant he was in 2023. Out of 32 relievers who have thrown at least 120 innings over the past two years, his 2.40 ERA ranks fifth and his 2.1 fWAR ranks eighth.

This has to be the only kind of power ranking where you’ll ever see a pitcher this good this close to the bottom.

Editor’s note: Cano has been unavailable to pitch for the past few days due to soreness in an unspecified area. The Orioles will have to hope this doesn’t turn into anything more serious.

10. A.J. Puk, Arizona Diamondbacks

2024 Stats (as a reliever): 52.1 IP, 2 SV, 1.38 ERA, .199 xwOBA, 34.4% K%, 5.1% BB%, 40.0% GB%, 2.0 fWAR

I’ll be the first to tell you not to put too much stock in a handful of games, but what A.J. Puk has done since the trade deadline is too incredible to ignore.

Over 24 games with his new club, the lefty has given up only one earned run. He has struck out 34 batters while walking just four.

Puk will need to keep this up a lot longer to convince me he belongs among the game’s elite relievers, but even in such a small sample size, a performance like this shouldn’t go unrecognized. Puk narrowly beat out veteran Kevin Ginkel and rookie stud Justin Martinez for his place on this list.

9. Clay Holmes, New York Yankees

2024 Stats: 58.1 IP, 29 SV, 3.24 ERA, 3.09 xERA, 25.5% K%, 7.6% BB%, 64.2% GB%, 1.4 fWAR

Don’t let all the blown saves cloud your judgment too much: Clay Holmes is still an excellent pitcher.

According to just about every metric, Holmes has been one of the better relievers in the game over the past four years. Even this season – the year in which his league-worst 12th blown save cost him his job as the Yankees’ closer – he still has a 3.24 ERA.

There’s no doubt that Holmes has his problems, but he’s throwing as hard as ever in his age-31 season, and he remains one of the best groundball pitchers of his generation

8. Edwin Díaz, New York Mets

2024 Stats: 46.2 IP, 18 SV, 3.66 ERA, 2.47 xERA, 38.0% K%, 8.6% BB%, 43.3% GB%, 0.8 fWAR

In 2022, Edwin Díaz was the best reliever in baseball. Unfortunately, he hasn’t looked like that same guy since making his return from the knee surgery that cost him the entire 2023 campaign.

On the bright side for Díaz and the Mets, he has looked significantly better since returning from a shoulder injury in mid-June (2.36 ERA in 29 games).

My gut tells me I’m way too low on Díaz at number 8, but I just don’t have enough proof that he’s back to full strength.

7. Tanner Scott, San Diego Padres

2024 Stats: 67.0 IP, 20 SV, 1.61 ERA, 2.86 xERA, 28.7% K%, 12.5% BB%, 50.3% GB%, 1.5 fWAR

The surface-level numbers will tell you Tanner Scott hasn’t been as good since he joined the Padres at the trade deadline this summer. His ERA rose from 1.18 with Miami to 2.53 in San Diego.

However, almost all of Scott’s underlying numbers have gotten even better, largely because he has nearly cut his walk rate in half. His 7.8% walk rate with San Diego is identical to his 7.8% walk rate from 2023, when he was indisputably one of the best relievers in baseball.

Scott doesn’t have the same closer pedigree as some of the guys ranked above him on this list, but over the past two years, only two qualified relievers have a lower ERA and none has a higher FanGraphs WAR.

6. Devin Williams, Milwaukee Brewers

2024 Stats: 17.2 IP, 12 SV, 1.53 ERA, 2.13 xERA, 43.8% K%, 12.3% BB%, 43.3% GB%, 0.7 fWAR

As much as I want to rank Devin Williams even higher, I’m forcing myself to hold back.

Entering the season, I chose Williams as the best relief pitcher in baseball. And since his return from a back injury that cost him the first half of the season, he has looked every bit as good as he did from 2020-23.

Still, 17.2 innings is a tiny sample size, and the five guys I’ve ranked ahead of Williams have been healthy and dominant all year long.

5. Jeff Hoffman, Philadelphia Phillies

2024 Stats: 61.1 IP, 10 SV, 1.76 ERA, 2.95 xERA, 33.1% K%, 6.1% BB%, 37.0% GB%, 2.0 fWAR

I think we were all a little skeptical when Jeff Hoffman came out of the gate looking like one of the best relievers in baseball in 2023. After two seasons of sheer dominance, however, the right-hander has put all of his skeptics in their place.

There’s nothing not to like about Hoffman, who made his first All-Star team this summer and will be looking to cash in big as a free agent this winter.

Arguably his only flaw last season was a slightly above-average 9.1% walk rate (38th percentile). He has cut that number down to 6.1% (78th percentile) in 2024.

4. Raisel Iglesias, Atlanta Braves

2024 Stats: 62.2 IP, 31 SV, 1.87 ERA, 2.20 xERA, 27.4% K%, 5.1% BB%, 44.4% GB%, 1.6 fWAR

Raisel Iglesias might be the most underrated closer in baseball. Since he became a full-time closer in 2017, he has a 2.67 ERA and 215 saves in 468 games.

At 34 years old, Iglesias looks as reliable as ever. I happen to be writing this ranking two days after the worst appearance of his career (5 ER in 0.2 IP), and he still has a 1.87 ERA on the season.

Iglesias isn’t quite as dominating as the three names ahead of him on this list, but considering his long track record of success, one could make a strong case that he is the most consistent reliever in baseball.

3. Josh Hader, Houston Astros

2024 Stats: 65.0 IP, 31 SV, 3.32 ERA, 2.63 xERA, 38.1% K%, 8.7% BB%, 31.1% GB%, 0.7 fWAR

Josh Hader hasn’t looked as impressive as Iglesias, Hoffman, or even Scott in 2024, but it’s critical to look beyond one season’s worth of data to evaluate a reliever.

The three-time Trevor Hoffman Award winner is only one year removed from a season with a 1.28 ERA. What’s more, several of his underlying metrics are actually better in 2024 than they were the year before.

Hader might have earned the number three spot largely due to past performance, but I stand by my decision. The five-time All-Star is putting up numbers that only seem disappointing because they’re coming from a five-time All-Star.

2. Griffin Jax, Minnesota Twins

2024 Stats: 66.0 IP, 8 SV, 2.18 ERA, 2.41 xERA, 33.7% K%, 5.8% BB%, 50.3% GB%, 2.3 fWAR

It feels absurd to rank the relatively unknown Griffin Jax ahead of $95 million man Josh Hader. It feels absurd that the 100-mph-throwing Jhoan Duran isn’t the Twins’ representative on this list. But Jax has forced my hand.

Jax throws what might be the nastiest sweeper in baseball, alongside a 97-mph four-seam fastball and one the hardest changeups in the league. Thanks to those three pitches, in addition to a sinker and a curve, he ranks in the 97th percentile in whiff rate, the 97th percentile in strikeout rate, and the 99th percentile in expected ERA.

Furthermore, Jax was quietly fantastic in 2022 and ’23, as well, which makes me much more confident his 2024 breakout is legit.

1. Emmanuel Clase, Cleveland Guardians

2024 Stats: 69.1 IP, 46 SV, 0.65 ERA, 2.41 xERA, 25.0% K%, 3.2% BB%, 59.3% GB%, 2.2 fWAR

Throughout this piece, I’ve touched on numerous factors that played a role in my rankings: surface-level numbers, underlying metrics, recent dominance, track record, consistency, health, etc.

This list includes 14 of the best relievers in baseball right now, but only one of them scores a 10 across the board in every one of those categories: Emmanuel Clase.

Clase leads qualified relievers in 2024 with a 0.65 ERA. He ranks among the top 10 in FIP, xFIP, xERA, and SIERA. He also leads all MLB players with 6.06 Win Probability Added, a reflection of his success in higher-leverage spots.

Dating back to his rookie season in 2021 (when he finished fifth in ROY voting), Clase leads all relievers in saves, ERA, and fWAR. He also leads the league in appearances in that time, and he has never gone on the injured list.

I had to make a lot of difficult decisions to put this ranking together. But putting Emmanuel Clase at the top wasn’t one of them.