The Baseball Scholar

2017’s Best Relief Pitchers

Dave Franks
2–3 minutes

I may sound like a broken record but there are dozens of ways to evaluate a pitchers ability. I prefer using advanced metrics because, while the math may be biased towards a skill or set of skills it removes individual preferences (I stubbornly like Dennis Eckersely over Mariano Rivera or vice versa, regardless of what numbers tell me). Below is a list of the best relief pitchers from the 2017 season based on RE24. Often times relievers are brought into situations where the other team is threatening to score. Stats like ERA aren’t good at telling us how well he did his job: stop the other team from scoring or minimize the scoring. RE24 is a good measure of how well a pitcher prevented runs from scoring, whether he is “responsible” (in terms of ERA) for them or not. Relievers are broken down into two categories: non-closers and closers. A pitcher with 10 or fewer saves is considered a non-closer and a player with more than 10 is considered a closer. Take a look at the names and the numbers and see if you agree.


Non-Closers


Closers

  • 5. Brad Hand

    • Brad Hand
    RE24 G W L ERA IP SV R ER BB SO SO/9 WHIP
    23.28 72 3 4 2.16 79.1 21 20 19 20 104 11.8 0.933

  • 4. Corey Knebel

    • Corey Knebel
    RE24 G W L ERA IP SV R ER BB SO SO/9 WHIP
    23.73 76 1 4 1.78 76 39 15 15 40 126 14.9 1.158

  • 3. David Robertson

    • David Robertson
    RE24 G W L ERA IP SV R ER BB SO SO/9 WHIP
    21.04 61 9 2 1.84 68.1 14 14 14 23 98 12.9 0.849

  • 2. Kenley Jansen

    • Kenley Jansen
    RE24 G W L ERA IP SV R ER BB SO SO/9 WHIP
    22.87 65 5 0 1.32 68.1 41 11 10 7 109 14.4 0.746

  • 1. Craig Kimbrel

    • Craig Kimbrel
    RE24 G W L ERA IP SV R ER BB SO SO/9 WHIP
    28.08 67 5 0 1.43 69 35 11 11 14 126 16.4 0.681

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