Major League Baseball’s season lasts incredibly long, and encompasses an astonishing number of games. The NFL Season infamously consists of only 17 games, and with a bye week lasts 18 weeks (about four and a half months). The NBA & NHL seasons also last forever, but their regular seasons comprise only 82 games. Baseball is a grind, it lasts from late March to early October, over six months of games, and consists of 162 individual contests. Easily the most sluggish professional season in the world. So finding exciting individual performances can be difficult since we see similar performances day in and day out.

But what if your success cannot be defined by any one game? What if your success rests in the ability to make the extraordinary feel banal? What if your job is to calm the waters and soothe the senses over a long season. That job is handed to the closer, and that performance is Emmanuel Clase’s.

It’s difficult to pick an individual performance from Clase which stands out because if he does his job right he acts more like a rainbow, catch it fast or you will miss it, than a strike of lightning (something so obvious you cannot possibly ignore it). But that’s the magic of a closer: when done right the performance seeps into the background.

It is only fitting that Clase was named AL Reliever of the Month in May. He gave up one (1) run in 13 games, notching 9 saves and walking only one batter all month. Clase leads the league in saves, and is posting a 0.30 ERA on the season.

Cleveland Players Who Wore 48: 24

Player Who Wore 48 the Longest: Travis Hafner (9 seasons)

There are perhaps no two different players you could write about that Clase and Hafner. Hafner’s greatness smacked you in the face. With every home run, every RBI hit, the MLB Grand Slam record in 2006, and his imposing presence in the box, especially when he reared back right as the pitch came towards him (with that seemingly tiny bat just slightly waving behind his head).

Travis Hafner’s nickname was ‘Pronk’ because he was "part project, part donkey" which, in hindsight, feels a little harsh. Sure, Haftner was a project. He couldn’t play the field, and he looked awkward running around the bases, but damn Travis could hit the ball. It is a point of praise for me to say that during Hafner’s brief reign as the best DH in the American League: he effectively replicated Jim Thome-esque offensive performance. Alas for Hafner, and for us all, it didn’t last: Pronk’s career was a lightning strike across the bow.

Travis Hafner occupies a triumphant and tragic chapter in Cleveland history. On the one hand: Hafner was a Hall of Fame hitter from 2004-2006 and was the heir to Jim Thome. Here is Hafner from 2004-2006 compared to Jim Thome’s time in Cleveland:

Travis Hafner:

.308/.419/.611 (OPS+ 170) Averaging 38 Homers, 111 RBI a year

Jim Thome:

.293/.426/.588 (OPS+ 159) Averaging 38 Homers, 104 RBI a year

At his best: Hafner mashed, and for a brief period of time he was arguably the best hitter in baseball. If we use wRC+ (the Fangraphs version of OPS+ I typically use) here are the top 3 hitters in baseball from 2004-06:

Barry Bonds 193

Albert Pujols 171

Travis Hafner 167

In 2006 Hafner could have been the MVP in the American League (the award went to Justin Morneau). Hafner was a better hitter than Morneau, and while Hafner was a DH, it’s not like Morneau was much of a fielder or base runner either. Hafner finished 8th in the voting despite leading the league in OPS, Slugging and OPS+ (of course, Cleveland’s MVP woes are well established). What a hitter, that’s all you can say.

But the numbers fail to capture the awe Pronk left you in: the bat he waved above his head felt too small for his body, and when he reared back as the pitch approached it felt like the inevitable release of a massive spring. Despite his size: his swing was compact, and unleashed ferociously resulting in incredible force. We do not have batted ball data from when Hafner played, but I imagine we would find he hit the ball as hard as anyone, and he hit ruthian home runs like this 482’ blast.

Travis Hafner also loved Cleveland, and he signed a team friendly extension during the 2007 season to stick around; I remember reading about it at school during break period and feeling giddy: Cleveland would actually keep one of its stars around!

Alas, this brings me to the other side of Pronk: his extension hamstrung the club financially, and he never lived up to it. 2007 heralded the beginning of the end: Travis only hit .266 that year (his first full season under .300) and his power was sapped by shoulder injuries. A dreadful 2008 followed, and Hafner only played even 100 games once before he retired. $57M Cleveland could ill afford went to Hafner, and he spent the years on a rebuilding club.

I still love Hafner, a truly down to earth man who spent most of the year in Cleveland, and now spends a lot of time coaching his three sons in Tampa (and, apparently, also still works for the Guardians in a development role).

Other Cleveland Greats

The other famous Cleveland great to wear 48 is Sam McDowell. I find myself thinking a lot about Sam; he is one among a long list of superb Cleveland starters stretching back to Bob Feller, and like Feller: McDowell was wild. McDowell led the league in strikeouts five times, he threw a blazing fastball, and was good at limiting contact. He also led the league in walks five times.

But because Sudden Sam played for Cleveland: he got overlooked; he only once won 20 games and even occasionally posted losing records, and only received Cy Young votes once. A shame, because Sam was arguably the best pitcher in baseball in 1965 and 1970. Few noticed, and he retired in relative obscurity.

Emmanuel Clase

Emmanuel Clase came to Cleveland from Texas in the Corey Kluber trade, and at the time I hated the trade. Loathed it. Kluber was my favorite player on the team at that time, he won the Cy Young Award two years in a row, and I had convinced myself: Corey would be fine. Despite his age and injury struggles I felt Kluber had more in the tank and he didn’t need to replicate the greatness from 2014-2018 to remain an immensely valuable player, and in fairness: Kluber did find some success out of Cleveland. Kluber only pitched 80 innings for New York, but they were darned good innings, and he even worked in a no-hitter for his trouble. Kluber was a generally useful pitcher for Tampa Bay in 2022. But the magic departed; Father Time remains undefeated.

But more importantly, in my mind, was the return. I could see Clase’s talent, but I was skeptical a reliever could ever come close to the value even a diminished Kluber could bring to Cleveland. In my mind: only a Mariano Rivera-esque reliever could be worth it.

Well, it’s insanely early to call Clase a Rivera-esque reliever: but he’s been about as good as a reliever can be since coming over. What made Rivera great was his remarkable consistency. Of course Mariano was great: his career ERA+ is 202, not only the best mark in baseball, it’s 50 points ahead of the runner up (Pedro Martinez). But Rivera replicated it year in, and year out, from age 27 to 43. When Mariano retired in 2013 (at age 43) he was posting yet another superb season: a 2.11 ERA in 64 innings, 44 saves, and that same impossible cutter. I am confident had Rivera wanted to keep pitching, he’d conceivably still be closing games for the Yankees today. He was that good, for 17 years.

Clase’s only in year four, but the comparison to me is Craig Kimbrel. Kimbrel also debuted at 22, and in his first four seasons he led the league in Saves, and posted a 1.51 ERA, with a blazing fastball and striking out nearly 40% of the batters he faced. Kimbrel was simply untouchable for the Braves as a young reliever: and that’s exactly what Clase is doing in Cleveland.

The crazy thing about Clase is he basically throws two pitches, and he almost never throws them in the zone. And yet, batters keep swinging at them. Usually they miss, but even when they don’t they aren’t doing anything with the ball. Clase forces teams to play small ball: string together some bloop singles (if you can get it past Cleveland’s elite defense), and hope they come around to score. Clase returns teams to what baseball was in the Deadball Era, and then laughs when they can’t figure him out.

I will leave with one more word on Clase: it’s 100% clear to me Clase could pitch more aggressively. He could go more than an inning if he wanted; he’s so incredibly efficient and averages only 13 pitches an appearance (of usually one inning). There’s no reason he could not stretch out to work more if he wished, and we have proof: the 2022 postseason. Clase dominated the Rays and the Yankees, and three of his four appearances lasted more than an inning, including a superb 2 and a ⅓ inning performance in Game 2 which lasted into extras. When his contract extension ends: he will already be the greatest closer in Cleveland history.