5) Aroldis Chapman, New York Yankees
Chapman’s stock seems to have fallen a bit over the past few years, in part due to a domestic violence incident and in part because he just doesn’t seem like he’s as dominant as he used to be. Yes, his 3.55 ERA is higher than it has been in any year since 2011, but all the underlying numbers reflective of one of baseball’s elite relievers are still very much there.
Chapman is still striking guys out at an absurdly high rate — 21 in 12.2 innings, to be exact. It’s a very small sample size, and that accounts for some of his struggles, as his BABIP is .414. Four of his five runs allowed came in his last two outings before a shoulder-induced DL stint, which may explain his struggles. He’s still great, and there are few more dominant arms in the sport.
The 29-year-old southpaw with the triple-digit fastball has 189 career saves, a 2.12 career ERA, and a whopping 657 strikeouts in 389.2 career innings.
Wade Davis is so good that it’s almost boring at this point. He’s had an ERA under 2 every season since he was converted to a full-time reliever, and 2017 is no exception, as he’s all the way down at 0.89. He’s already given up a home run this year — he didn’t in 2014 or 2016 — but the fact that that’s even noteworthy just illustrates how amazing he has been.
The rest of Davis’s stats are typical of him.
Very few hits, low walks, high strikeouts, a WHIP of 0.74. He’s every bit as good as he had been for Kansas City prior to his arrival in Chicago, and the Cubs made one of the smartest moves of the offseason to get him in the fold.
For all the problems the Cubs have been dealing with lately, the closer role is absolutely not going to be one of them.
3) Kenley Jansen, Los Angeles Dodgers
Jansen has thrown 23 innings this season and has yet to issue a walk. He has, instead, allowed just 15 hits and struck out 40. It is difficult to get more dominant than that.
The Dodgers gave Jansen big money during the offseason because he’s just that good. He hasn’t been called on a ton in 2017 and his teammates know it, but he’s been automatic when he has been, converting all nine of his save opportunities. His WHIP is a microscopic 0.65.
He even had an immaculate inning this season:
Kenley Jansen posted an immaculate inning (9 pitches, 9 strikes, 3 strikeouts) last night. So, I had to put it to some GLORIOUS music. pic.twitter.com/90gDTi27Zd
— Justin Russo (@FlyByKnite) May 20, 2017
Jansen’s cutter is so good it invites the Mariano Rivera comparisons, and frankly, they aren’t really off the mark. Jansen is just smothering.
2) Zach Britton, Baltimore Orioles
Forearm issues have limited Britton in 2016, but that shouldn’t make any difference in how he is assessed. He’s a slight anomaly on this list in terms of how he achieves his success.
Britton isn’t going to post the gaudy strikeouts of some of his colleagues, but what he will do is get ground balls around 60 percent of the time, limit hard contact, and keep opponents from getting on base against him.
Britton’s strategy has worked very well. He has, after all, converted 54 consecutive saves, a mark that ties him for the second-longest such streak in MLB history. He only has nine innings to his credit in 2017, but this is a guy who, like Davis, has never seen his ERA rise above 2 since becoming a full-time reliever. Britton leaves the strikeouts and flashiness to other closers, and instead just uses his fastball to dominate.
1) Craig Kimbrel, Boston Red Sox
Kimbrel is having an all-time relief season at this early juncture. In 25.1 innings, he has allowed 13 baserunners. They came on eight hits, four walks, and one hit by pitch. He has faced 90 batters in total and struck out 48 of them. That is good for a rate of 17.05 strikeouts per nine innings. He does somehow have one blown save in his 17 opportunities, but it hardly matters. No one has been more dominant than Kimbrel in 2017.
It’s hard to imagine it keeping up at this rate, but Kimbrel is certainly capable of it.
His previous two seasons with San Diego and Boston had been underwhelming and had not matched the heights he’d reached in his days with the Atlanta Braves. He’s apparently harnessed it again. His WHIP is 0.47. He has, in essence, made it nearly impossible to reach base against him. Not only does this make him the most dominant closer in the game today, but he’s currently on pace to put together one of the finest relief seasons of all time.
