Clase living up to fiery closer entrance

This story was excerpted from Mandy Bell’s Guardians Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

CLEVELAND -- The same thunderous roar happens in the ninth inning of a close game at Progressive Field night after night.

It starts with a drum beat that blasts over the PA system at Progressive Field. Then, after the siren is sounded, the video boards that line the bottom of the second and third decks in the ballpark change to display fire. At that time, everyone knows to look to the scoreboard to get a glimpse of closer Emmanuel Clase walking down the steps. He fixes his hat, passes the camera and the lens slowly focuses on the No. 48 on the back of his uniform.

Clase enters the field through the bullpen door in right-center. He takes a couple slow steps on the warning track, soaking in the screams from the fans in the stands. When his foot hits the outfield grass, he hops into a trot until he reaches the mound. And once he picks up the baseball, Guardians fans (plus players and coaches) suddenly relax, knowing that there’s a 99 percent chance the game is minutes away from ending.

“It’s so nice to be able to hand him the ball in the ninth and just kind of sit back and watch,” Guardians manager Stephen Vogt said. “He’s done everything that we’ve asked and more, and it’s so fun to watch him out there just smiling.”

This has been Clase’s reputation for the last three seasons. It was 2022 when the flamethrower emerged on the scene as one of baseball’s most dominant closers. He led the Majors in saves (42) and appearances (77) while owning a 1.36 ERA. Clase topped his saves total in ’23 with 44 in 75 appearances, but that year, he also led the league in blown saves (12). That, he wasn’t satisfied with. He went back to the drawing board last winter and honed in on the things he could change to come back better in ’24.

So far, so good.

Clase has pitched to a 0.36 ERA with 24 strikeouts and just two walks in 25 1/3 innings over 26 appearances. Of his 18 save opportunities, he’s converted 15 -- once again leading the Majors in saves. But this time, he has two fewer blown saves than he had at this point last season.

“It's just focusing even more every single pitch, every single game compared to last year,” Clase said through team interpreter Agustin Rivero. “So I think the only difference is just the focus.”

Clase had thrown his cutter approximately 60 percent of the time in previous seasons. But so far this season, more than 80 percent of his pitches have been cutters. It’s working too, considering he entered Wednesday tied for 13th in lowest batting average against a specific pitch (.134 against his cutter) among all MLB hurlers who have had 50 plate appearances against them.

So far this year, Clase’s whiff rate is up 3.7 percent on his cutter from ’23. The .134 batting average against it is down from last year’s .267.

“I just take a look at the numbers and I realize I've been a little more successful with the cutter executing it properly,” Clase said. “So that's the logic behind [throwing it more].”

Once again, Clase took the ball on Tuesday night and picked up his 125th save with the Guardians, moving into sole possession of fourth place on Cleveland’s all-time saves leaderboard.

Racking up saves has become second nature to Clase. He knows that when the bullpen phone rings in the ninth inning, a cameraman will be waiting to meet him at the outfield door to pump up the crowd that’s expecting nothing but sheer dominance. He jogs to the mound and picks up the ball, ready to attack. He instantly locks in on the batter and doesn’t come back to reality until the final out is made -- a method that’s led to tremendous success for the 26-year-old reliever.

“I got to confess, when I'm in those situations, I don't even recognize myself,” Clase said. “I just only think about pitching and trying to get an out.”