Top 10 Cleveland Indians Relief Pitching Seasons

ati - All Time Indians

The top 10 lists for the 2016-2017 off-season have featured some of the best single seasons in Indians history broken down into specific categories. For pitchers, these were the best seasons by efficiency, power and in this particular list, by relief pitchers. All players who pitched primarily in relief since 1901 were considered this list, although it is heavily off balance with the majority of pitchers coming from recent seasons after the bullpen revolution of the 1980’s and 1990’s.

Closers and late inning specialists were given a slight advantage if numbers were similar, but all relievers were considered, even if they were miscast as long men or used in low leverage situations.

10. Jim Kern – 1976

Year G ERA Hld Sv SVO Con% IP H/9 BB/9 K/9
1976 48 2.21 3 15 16 95% 105.2 6.5 3.9 8.3

With the vast spans that the Indians have went through without a decent bullpen, it’s surprising that three separate seasons have two players within the top 15 relievers considered. The first of those is 1976, the earliest season in the top 10 and Kern was the worse of the two great relievers from that year. He blew just one of 19 save or hold opportunities and when you remove his two starts, his minuscule 2.38 ERA drops to a 2.21.

9. Vinnie Pestano – 2012

Year G ERA Hld Sv SVO Con% IP H/9 BB/9 K/9
2012 70 2.57 36 2 5 93% 70 6.8 3.1 9.8

It really only lasted two years, from 2011 through 2012, but the Bullpen Mafia was a huge point of pride for the Indians when they were just beginning the construction of the current team. Pestano and Joe Smith each had great seasons in 2011 which lead to more prominence in 2012 when they combined for 59 saves and holds to go with closer Chris Perez‘s 39 saves. All this in a year that the Indians only won 68 games total.

Pestano’s 36 holds remain the Indians franchise single season mark and his conversion rate of 93% is also among the best ever. While he struggled some lately in the season, at one point he had a streak of 19 straight games without allowing a run (21 IP) which lowered his ERA to 1.24 on August 9th.

8. Rafael Perez – 2007

Year G ERA Hld Sv SVO Con% IP H/9 BB/9 K/9
2007 44 1.78 12 1 2 93% 60.2 6.1 2.2 9.3

The first lefty on the list, Perez wasn’t a true LOOGY although he would be used over his partner (who is coming up later on the list) when the opposition had a left handed heavy order coming up. Left handers essentially found it impossible to hit for average or power against Perez, but his impeccable control kept him K’ing batters regularly from either side without walking many.

7. Dave LaRoche – 1976

Year G ERA Hld Sv SVO Con% IP H/9 BB/9 K/9
1976 61 2.25 4 21 24 89% 96.1 5.3 4.6 9.7

The second half of the Indians closer by committee in 1976 shows how advanced Frank Robinson was with his bullpen. The left handed LaRoche had the more dominant season with a 9.7 K/9 and 5.3 H/9 and was more regularly used in save situations, although he did blow a couple more. LaRoche was also used in more of a specialized fashion than the right handed Kern, pitching in more games, but less total innings. Stan Thomas also deserves credit as the third part of a dominant bullpen trio that provided the only light of an otherwise terrible pitching staff.

6. Bob Wickman – 2001

Year G ERA Hld Sv SVO Con% IP H/9 BB/9 K/9
2001 70 2.39 4 32 35 92% 67.2 8.2 1.9 8.8

Wickman has a real claim on greatest closer in Indians history given his two good seasons pre-injury and one good season after, but there’s no question that his first full year with the team was his best. He had good set up men in Steve Karsay, Ricardo Rincon and Danys Baez and a contending team despite a dreadful starting rotation. When given a chance, he didn’t let it go, saving or holding 36 of 39 opportunities and he did this by posting the lowest walk rate in his 15 year career, nearly two walks less per nine than his career average.

It’s no surprise that his ERA dropped to a very impressive 2.39 when you see his increase in strike outs and his decrease in walks and hits. Although he would go to the All-Star game and somehow earn an MVP vote in 2005, this was the superior season by all measures and it would be his last full season for three years as an injury in 2002 cost him all of 2003 and most of 2004.

5. Doug Jones – 1988

Year G ERA Hld Sv SVO Con% IP H/9 BB/9 K/9
1988 51 2.27 0 37 43 86% 83.1 7.5 1.7 7.8

It’s sad when a team’s only All-Star representative is a reliever, but it made slightly better when that reliever deserves it as much as Jones did in 1988. According to fWAR, this was the best relief season in Indians history and, while I don’t have it quite so high, it was certainly a great one. Even more so than a starting pitcher, walks and strike outs are magnified when a pitcher is trying to retire just one to three hitters in a game and, while Jones didn’t have the K’s, he kept his walk numbers microscopic.

The first great closer in Indians history, he only saved 86% of chances in 1988, which along with his ERA keep him out of the top spots. His next two seasons were also excellent (1989 came in 11th) and he would have two more great seasons in Houston (1992 and 1994) after leaving in free agency after 1991.

4. Cody Allen – 2014

Year G ERA Hld Sv SVO Con% IP H/9 BB/9 K/9
2014 76 2.07 9 24 28 89% 69.2 6.2 3.4 11.8

Allen is the current king of K in Indians history, striking out more batters per nine than any pitcher with at least 300 IP in franchise history and Terry Francona‘s usage of the pitcher over the past three seasons has essentially guaranteed him a spot on this list (or two if you count his 2015 that snuck in at #15). There’s little question that 2014 has been his best year to this point with a 2.07 ERA that ranks sixth among the 15 players ranked while pitching in more games than any other pitcher listed (in fact, fourth most in Indians history behind Bob Howry, Bryan Shaw and himself).

Allen was still moving into the official closer role in 2014, so he only saved 24 games, but combined with his nine holds, it turns into an impressive 89% conversion rate. He accomplished this and his low ERA by striking out the third most hitters per nine in Indians history behind Pestano (2011) and himself (2015).

3. Michael Jackson – 1998

Year G ERA Hld Sv SVO Con% IP H/9 BB/9 K/9
1998 69 1.55 1 40 45 89% 64 6.0 1.8 7.7

After the number one man on this list, Indians fans likely never thought they’d see a pitcher as dominant in relief, but Jackson’s 1998 season neared it. After 11 seasons without being a team’s primary closer, he took over the job during the 1997 season in Cleveland and flourished in 1998 with the second best season of his career (after 1994 in San Francisco). He walked just 13 and allowed 11 runs while saving 40 including his last 13 (plus one hold) of the season. From his last blown save (August 1st) through the end of the year he posted a 0.00 ERA, .131 AVG and struck out 15 in 19.1 innings.

This would be the swan song for Jackson at 34 years old as he would pitch just four of the next six seasons and never return to dominance.

2. Rafael Betancourt – 2007

Year G ERA Hld Sv SVO Con% IP H/9 BB/9 K/9
2007 68 1.47 31 3 6 92% 79.1 5.8 1.0 9.1

Combined with Perez, the two Rafaels made up the greatest duo in Indians relief history since LaRoche and Kerns in 1976, but unfortunately, Eric Wedge was not as forward thinking as Robinson was 30 years earlier. Because he was a “closer” Joe Borowski was often used in the most pivotal moments in games. As it was, the two did everything they could with their opportunities, combining to save or hold 47 of 51 chances. Perez didn’t walk many, but Betancourt nearly didn’t walk any (9 all season, three of which were intentional), possibly because he stood and thought about each pitch for a couple minutes before he threw.

1. Jose Mesa – 1995

Year G ERA Hld Sv SVO Con% IP H/9 BB/9 K/9
1995 62 1.13 0 46 48 96% 64 6.9 2.4 8.2

There is a definite argument over who the best closer in Indians history is, but there’s no argument who had the best season as a reliever of any kind. Mesa won the only Relief Pitcher of the year award in franchise history for his 1995 performance of a 1.13 ERA, the best for any kind of pitcher with a minimum of 60 innings pitched (Addie Joss had a 1.16 in 1908 in 325 innings for the qualified team record). While saves and blown saves weren’t the deciding factor here, Mesa did set the Indians record for both total saves and conversion percent, at the same time winning three games without a loss.

The Indians had the greatest offense in team history to that point and was constantly coming back and Mesa was the perfect closer, making sure the other team never scored (8 earned runs all year) while this was going on. Making this more impressive, this was just Mesa’s second season in relief after being a poor starting pitcher for his first seven MLB seasons and he never came close to repeating this season.

Borderline: Doug Jones (1989), David Riske (2003), Jesse Orosco (1989), Hoyt Wilhelm (1958) & Cody Allen (2015)

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