It Is Unanimous: Edwin Diaz, Emmanuel Clase Claim NL, AL Reliever of the Year Honors

Edwin Díaz of the New York Mets has won the 2022 Trevor Hoffman National League Reliever of the Year Award and Emmanuel Clase of the Cleveland Guardians has earned Mariano Rivera American League Reliever of the Year honors, Major League Baseball announced Tuesday.

Both pitchers were unanimous choices by the voting panel.  Díaz became the second pitcher to win both awards in his career, joining Craig Kimbrel, while Clase is the first Dominican-born pitcher to win either the Rivera or the Hoffman Award.  Clase and Díaz were announced as the 2022 season’s top relievers Tuesday morning as part of MLB Network’s Winter Meetings coverage from San Diego. 

Díaz dominated with a 1.31 ERA in 2022, saving 32 games along with his 3-1 record in 61 games, in which the Mets posted a 51-10 record en route to their Postseason since 2016.  He limited opponents to 34 hits and 18 walks in his 62.0 innings (0.84 WHIP), while striking out 118 – the best mark among all relievers in 2022, as was his rate of 17.13 strikeouts per nine innings pitched, the second-best in a full season in Major League history. 

In his second career All-Star season, Diaz’s strikeout rate of 50.2% of batters faced (118/235) ranked third in all of MLB history.  The Puerto Rico native was voted the NL Reliever of the Month for the months of June, July and August.  In doing so, the 28-year-old became the first Major League reliever to win three consecutive Reliever of the Month Awards since he accomplished the feat himself during his Mariano Rivera AL Reliever of the Year Award-winning 2018 season with the Seattle Mariners.  Overall, Díaz has won the Reliever of the Month Award a record eight times since it was established in 2017.

Clase was a force at the back end of the AL Central Champion Guardians’ bullpen in his 77 games, posting a 1.36 ERA and Major League bests with 42 saves, a 0.73 WHIP and opponents’ OPS.  With his cut fastball and slider repertoire, he surrendered just 43 hits and 10 walks in his 72.2 innings pitched (0.73 WHIP) while striking out 77. 

In one-run games (including the Postseason), the 24-year-old had 19 saves with a 1.57 ERA (28.2 IP/5 ER) and a .158 opponents’ batting average.  The native of the Dominican Republic led all MLB relievers (min.: 250 pitches) in average cutter velocity at 99.5 miles per hour during the 2022 season.  After earning his first career All-Star selection, Clase closed out the AL’s 3-2 Midsummer Classic victory at Dodger Stadium by striking out the side on just 10 pitches.  Across his three Major League seasons, Clase has a career 1.47 ERA, the lowest all-time among pitchers with at least 50.0 innings.

The AL relievers who were runners-up were All-Stars Jordan Romano (5-4, 2.11 ERA, 36 saves, 64.0 IP, 44 H, 21 BB, 73 SO) of the Toronto Blue Jays and two-time Rivera Award recipient (2020-21) Liam Hendriks (4-4, 2.81 ERA, 37 saves, 57.2 IP, 44 H, 16 BB, 85 SO) of the Chicago White Sox.  The NL pitchers who were runners-up were All-Star reliever Ryan Helsley (9-1, 1.25 ERA, 19 saves, 64.2 IP, 28 H, 20 BB, 94 SO) of the St. Louis Cardinals and two-time recipient (2016-17) Kenley Jansen (5-2, 3.38 ERA, 41 saves, 64.0 IP, 45 H, 22 BB, 85 SO) of the Atlanta Braves.

Balloting for the Rivera and Hoffman Awards, which debuted in the 2014 season, was conducted among a panel of seven all-time great relievers in order to determine the recipients.  Rivera and Hoffman, both of whom spent their entire careers in the same League en route to the top of the all-time saves list, were joined as voters by three fellow Hall of Fame relief pitchers – Dennis Eckersley, Rollie Fingers and Lee Smith – as well as John Franco and Billy Wagner.  The seven voters ranked the top three relief pitchers by league based solely on regular season performance, using a 5-3-1 weighted point system.

Clase and Díaz will each receive a special trophy that models the likeness of Rivera and Hoffman, respectively, pitching during their Hall of Fame careers.  The Rivera and Hoffman Awards replaced MLB’s “Delivery Man of the Year Award,” which was presented to one winner in all of Major League Baseball from 2005-2013. These awards continue a longstanding baseball tradition of honoring the game’s top relief pitchers.  The winners have been: