The Difficult First Month for MLB Star Relievers in 2025
The start of the 2025 MLB season has presented challenges for some of baseball’s most prominent relievers.
The [Cleveland Guardians](https://www.mlb.com/guardians) closer, Emmanuel Clase, got off to a bad start on Opening Day, allowing three hits and the tying run in the ninth inning against the Kansas City Royals. The situation didn’t improve the following week, where he conceded runs, including a home run, in a non-save situation. The rest of April followed a similar line: Clase admitted 23 hits and 10 earned runs in 13⅓ innings in 14 games, recording an ERA of 6.75.
Although he seems to be regaining his form, with a win and four saves in his last five appearances, allowing only one clean run, what happened in March and April?
This is not the same Clase who had one of the best closer seasons of all time in 2024, where he went 4-2 with 47 saves in 50 opportunities and an ERA of 0.61. In that season, he allowed only 10 runs, and five of them were unearned. Hitters batted only .154 against him and he allowed only two home runs.
But Clase is not the only closer who has had problems in 2025. Devin Williams, a two-time All-Star, was traded from the Milwaukee Brewers to the New York Yankees in the offseason and has recorded an ERA of 9.24, losing his position. The Chicago Cubs acquired Ryan Pressly from the Houston Astros for the closer role, and he had a historic collapse, allowing nine runs in one inning without retiring any batter. Atlanta Braves closer Raisel Iglesias has already given up five home runs in just 14 innings, one more than he allowed in all of 2024. Edwin Díaz, closer for the New York Mets, although he has not blown any saves, has shown instability and has allowed seven runs, two fewer than during his outstanding 2022 season.
As the Guardians host the Philadelphia Phillies this weekend, let’s analyze the challenges for each of these pitchers and how they might bounce back.
Emmanuel Clase, Cleveland Guardians
After a few bad outings in mid-April, Clase commented: “A couple of days ago I was thinking, ‘Hey, I’m human.’ I can make mistakes.” Guardians manager Stephen Vogt admitted he wasn’t sure what was going on with his closer: “It’s too early to say… Emmanuel just needs to regain confidence.”
Class’s velocity has been maintained, averaging 99 mph on his cutter, which he throws 71% of the time. However, he has allowed 25 hits in 16⅓ innings, after allowing only 39 in 74⅓ innings in 2024.
Analyzing the 25 hits, two things are evident: Clase has left some pitches in the middle of the plate, and some of those were cutters without much movement. He has also had bad luck.
In the game against the Pittsburgh Pirates on April 20, Clase allowed four hits and three runs. Although Tommy Pham started the rally with a double, the next three hits had exit velocities of 76.1 mph, 79.1 mph, and 80.4 mph. There were also some hard-hit balls. Logan O’Hoppe, of the Los Angeles Angels, hit a 99 mph cutter over the fence. Jo Adell hit a good slider for a double.
In general, Clase should be fine. He went through a similar season in 2023, where he had a 3-9 record with an ERA of 3.22 and allowed 68 hits in 72⅔ innings. This year, the problem has been more the location. The talent is still there, so it’s likely that Clase will improve in the remainder of the season.
Devin Williams, New York Yankees
Williams also struggled in the postseason. In Game 3 of the Brewers’ wild-card series against the Mets, he entered with a 2-0 lead in the ninth inning and gave up a three-run homer to Pete Alonso. His first month with the Yankees has been a disaster: he has allowed 15 runs in 12⅔ innings, giving up 13 hits, 11 walks, and hitting two batters. He lost his closer role after allowing seven runs in two outings.
The reasons for Williams’ problems are more obvious. From 2020 to 2024, Williams, also a two-pitch pitcher, with his four-seam fastball and changeup, induced a whiff rate of almost 48% on his changeup and 41% on his fastball. In 2025, those figures have dropped to 35% and 27%, respectively. He has always given up a lot of walks, averaging 4.5 walks per nine innings in the previous four seasons, but in 2025 it has risen to 7.8.
The solution seems simple, but the execution has not been correct. For now, Williams will need a series of good performances before it is possible to fully believe that Alonso did not break his confidence.
Ryan Pressly, Chicago Cubs
The Cubs’ bullpen ranked 25th in terms of wins added in 2024, so adding more depth and establishing a closer was an offseason goal. Pressly had been the Astros’ closer from 2020 to 2023 before taking on a setup role last season. But in Pressly, the Cubs acquired a pitcher who, while still effective, was also in decline in terms of results.
His four-seam fastball velocity peaked in 2021 at 95.7 mph, but dropped to 93.8 in 2024 and is holding at 93.3 mph in 2025. His strikeout rate stayed above 30% from 2018 to 2022, but fell to 23.8% in 2024. This season? A minuscule 8.1%. That’s the second-lowest of 370 pitchers with at least 10 innings pitched.
The culmination of all this was shown in Tuesday’s game, when Pressly entered in the top of the eleventh inning. He faced eight batters, threw 26 pitches, and allowed a double, a single, a fielder’s choice/sacrifice bunt, a hit by pitch, a single, a single, and another single before manager Craig Counsell finally pulled him. Three of the five hits were classified as hard-hit balls, while the other two were line drives. Pressly induced no swing-and-misses and became the eighth reliever in MLB history to face at least eight batters without recording an out.
The Cubs say he will remain in a high-pressure role. He has also been battling an unstable knee that was drained on April 22 to alleviate discomfort. Tuesday’s game was only his third appearance since then, and he had pitched seven consecutive scoreless appearances before that.
Even so, the lack of strikeouts and swing-and-miss is alarming. The rest of the Chicago bullpen hasn’t exactly been locking down games either, ranking 28th in win probability, but, at this point, it’s hard to imagine Pressly remaining the closer unless he can improve his strikeout rate.
Raisel Iglesias, Atlanta Braves
Iglesias has five seasons with 30 saves, including the last two with the Braves. The 2024 season was his best: 6-2, 1.95 ERA, 34 saves in 38 opportunities, and a .160 batting average against. In fact, take away a five-run explosion in September and the numbers look even better.
Iglesias has always been more of a fly ball pitcher, and was prone to home runs early in his career, but this season his fly ball rate is higher than ever, with 77% of his pitches in play going in the air compared to 55% last season. That has led to six home runs already. On April 2, Shohei Ohtani beat him with a good changeup, giving the Dodgers a 6-5 victory with his hit. Four of the other five home runs were off sliders, three of which were hanging in the middle of the plate. Eugenio Suárez took a 97 mph fastball and sent it to left field.
Other than that, everything else seems to be fine: Iglesias’ strikeout rate is up a bit from last year and his walk rate is down. His fastball velocity is down one mph, but it’s the slider that’s been the early problem: he’s thrown 43 and hitters are 5-for-9 with four home runs. He had a 42% whiff rate on the slider last year, allowing just one home run, so it was a key asset along with his fastball, sinker, and changeup.
While Iglesias should be fine, it’s worth noting that he was likely lucky last year. He allowed just a 4.8% home run rate on fly balls compared to his career mark of 9.0%. Luck appears to be leveling out on the wrong side this year.
