“To Beast Or Not To Beast”
“Emmanuel Clase is a beast,” said Bobby DiBiasio, Guardians SVP of Public Relations, in an email. Agreed, everything about the soon-to-be 27-year-old says “beast.” His 6-foot, 2-inch frame, the power of his right arm, and his durability.
Bobby also said what impressed him most about Clase: “Most eye-popping is Emmanuel’s 1.67 ERA, the lowest in Major League Baseball history for pitchers with at least 250 innings pitched.” His importance to the team throughout the 2024 season is duly noted. His 47 saves were an all-time single-season high for the Guardians franchise.
THEN THERE’S THIS: To end last season, Clase got rocked in late innings by both the Tigers in the ALDS, and, by the Yankees in the ALCS. That’s when both Judge and Stanton went back-to-back, in a game the Guardians ultimately won. Of all teams, the Yankees. Of all places, at home in Progressive Field.
In the 2022 post season Clase appeared in 6 games, pitching 7 innings. His lone blemish came in Game 3, where he allowed a walk-off single to Oswaldo Cabrera in the 9th inning, giving up 1 earned run in 1 inning, which resulted in a loss. This was the only run he allowed all postseason.
Naturally, what concerns me about the anchor of the Guardians bullpen now, becomes a question of his mental toughness. No player ever excelled through the ranks of MLB without having strong control over their body, mind, and emotions. It’s certain that Emmanuel possesses the basic skills to overcome adversity. But this is new territory for this All-Star. He’s now dealing with a new set of emotions and mental adversity that he must overcome—postseason setback.
Bobby added, “I maintain the closer’s role is the toughest job in all of professional sports. And Emmanuel is one of the elite closers in our game today. The dominant force of our team last season was our bullpen. He is the leader of that group.” We can all agree with this statement, the closers job is a “high stress” occupation, and Clase has handled his role well.
As fans we have long memories, professional athletes don’t have that onerous luxury. But in this case, I will share DiBiasio’s optimism, and I will look forward to more of the same of what we saw last year from the Guardians bullpen—dominance.
In the upcoming season, when the time arrives, may we see Emmanuel Clase “bring out the beast”!
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