Edwin Diaz is the Real Deal

Apr 30, 2018
4 min read

The Mariners have jumped out to a pretty solid start this season, behind a number of impressive performances up and down the roster. But Edwin Diaz, for my money, has performed better than any of his teammates thus far. His role as the team’s closer should make it difficult for him to stand out on the roster from a WAR measurement – but as of Saturday, Diaz was one of three 1.0 WAR players on the Ners, joining Mitch Haniger and Robinson Cano.

For a team to have a 1.0 WAR closer after just one month is extremely impressive. For perspective: Diaz is currently just outside the top 10 for American League pitcher WAR, and is the reliever with the highest. (All pitchers worth more WAR are starters).

His traditional statistics are also robust. As of Sunday, he’s the Major League leader in saves with 11 – and the next most prolific closer in the American League has seven saves. That’s Craig Kimbrel (right), who closes for the best team in baseball.

After one month of play, Diaz has been tagged for only one earned run in 13 appearances, only one of which went longer than three outs (it went four). That’s earned him a 0.60 ERA, to go along with the 27 strikeouts he’s recorded (almost two per inning) and just seven walks he’s allowed.

Maybe the most impressive traditional stat is his two hits allowed. He’s faced 56 batters, and two of them have hits. TWO OF THEM.

That’s astounding, but analytics and statistics typed onto a computer screen really don’t capture just how dominant Diaz has been. He has been an absolute terror.

Eddy is a fire-breathing dragon on the mound, demeanor-wise. He throws his head back and screams after strikeouts. He pounds his glove with authority after strikeouts. That’s the type of attitude you want ending games. Even when he looked decidedly mortal on April 21 vs. Texas, he still screamed and pointed to the sky when he got the final bases-loaded out in an appearance where he threw 40 pitches and 18 strikes.

He’s a maniac, and the 98-100 mph he reaches with his fastball (coupled with his wipeout slider) make it visually clear that batters are not enjoying facing him.

And I haven’t even mentioned the best part yet; Diaz turned 24 in late March, is making just $570,000, and isn’t due for an arbitration raise until the end of NEXT season. The Mariners could choose to extend him before then, and given his performance over parts of three seasons, that decision would likely be met with praise locally and around the league.

The terrifying part of all of this, at least as far as other teams are concerned, is that Diaz’s ceiling seems limitless, given the sheer quality of his stuff. And while the Ners may wish they could use him more to expand his value beyond ninth innings of games they’re winning, they’ve also been winning a ton of games by just one run lately. The 11 saves are far outpacing the American League because the team is playing an unusual amount of tight contests. So in short, having Eddy as a closer as opposed to a starter is wonderful right now.

What’s obvious is the Mariners have a truly special closer, which is not something they’ve had much across the history of the franchise. The two closers generally regarded as the best in franchise history are Norm Charlton and Kaz Sasaki, who were the closers on the Mariners two best teams in 1995 and 2001, respectively. I’ll throw in JJ Putz too, who at the height of his powers in 2007 was an all star with 40 saves in 42 appearances.

Diaz, if he can maintain just 85 to 90 percent of the form he’s showed in April, is better and more intimidating than all of them. Sasaki, who gets the legendary treatment for his role in the 116-win season, threw 90 mph on average with his fastball and relied on a splitter, sometimes called a forkball (I love this name for a pitch), to get batters out. Charlton was a largely inconsistent high-leverage reliever, and had about as many good seasons with the Mariners as he did bad ones. “The Sheriff” was a great nickname though. Putz is an interesting comparison. Although Diaz throws a good deal harder than JJ ever did, Putz had the same fastball-slider repertoire. But JJ’s All-Star season with the Mariners came at age 27. Diaz is doing this well ahead of schedule.

Truly, Edwin Diaz is unlike anything the Mariners have ever had at the back of their bullpen…and he’s 24. The possibilities are limitless for Sugar, and he’s an indispensable part of a team with a rotation that will struggle to bridge the game to him at times.

That being said, Eddy definitely doesn’t get the national spotlight of high-powered relief arms as those that come from bigger cities do. (Guys like Kimbrel, Aroldis Chapman, and Kenley Jansen). However, there’s a sign that may change.

Here's a list of the fastest pitchers to 200 K’s in MLB history:

Kimbrel – 117.2 innings
Jansen – 119.2 IP
Chapman – 123.1 IP
Dellin Betances – 129.0 IP
Diaz – 130.0 IP

If Edwin can keep going this year, he’ll start getting included in this elite tier, especially if the Ners continue to hit and win games. He’s absolutely dominant, and it’s about time people started talking about him.