A pair of All-Star closers earned Major League Baseball’s highest relief honors on Wednesday night.
Bryan Baker of the Rays and Mason Miller of the Padres each received the Reliever of the Year Award in their respective leagues, as announced at the MLB Awards presented by MGM Rewards.
Miller actually won two awards on Wednesday night, as the Baseball Writers’ Association of America (BBWAA) announced the flame-thrower as the recipient of its inaugural NL Reliever of the Year Award. Blue Jays closer Louis Varland took home the honors in the AL after posting a 1.27 ERA with 35 saves in 78 innings as a first-time All-Star.
Baker won Mariano Rivera American League Reliever of the Year honors on the strength of a breakout campaign in his age-31 season. A first-time All-Star, Baker recorded 41 saves – tied with the Guardians’ Cade Smith for the most in the Majors – in his first season as a full-time closer.
Baker pitched to a 1.44 ERA (295 ERA+) in 65 appearances across 62 1/3 innings. The right-hander posted the second-lowest ERA among qualified relievers, trailing only Toronto’s Louis Varland. He also held the opposition to a .161 batting average, buoyed by a rising fastball and a revamped changeup that emerged as his go-to pitch.
Baker was every bit as dominant in the postseason, too. He went unscored upon in nine playoff appearances, locking down five saves to fuel the Rays to the AL pennant.
Like Baker, Miller is also a first-time recipient of the Trevor Hoffman Reliever of the Year Award. The All-Star righty led all qualified NL relievers with a 1.67 ERA (246 ERA+) and a whopping 129 strikeouts in 70 innings.
Miller was one of just six relievers to record at least 100 strikeouts and led all qualified pitchers with a 47.4% strikeout rate. That’s the highest by a pitcher (min. 50 innings) in a single season since Edwin Díaz in 2022.
As usual, Miller dominated with triple-digit heat. He led qualified pitchers with a 101.4 mph average fastball velocity and threw 518 pitches 100.0+ mph, more than everyone but Milwaukee’s Jacob Misiorowski.
The emergence of a wipeout slider helped Miller hold the opposition to a .152 batting average and generate a 45.3% swing-and-miss rate that ranked in the 100th percentile of MLB.