The Atlanta Braves announced today that closer Raisel Iglesias was being honored as August's Pitcher of the Month.
The award, called the "Strong Arm" award after presenting sponsor Attorney John Foy and Associates, was an easy decision after Iglesias pitched in thirteen games with no runs allowed and went a perfect 7 for 7 on save opportunities. Iglesias pitched thirteen innings with seven hits and four walks to seventeen strikeouts, good for a 0.85 WHIP.
He's been so successful with a revamped pitch mix that features his changeup prominently - this is the first season of his career that Iglesias has thrown the changeup (37%) more than his four-seam fastball (31.3%).
It's a devastating pitch, too - Iglesias's change is allowing only a .140 batting average against with a .221 slugging. He's comfortable throwing it to batters of either handedness (97 thrown to righties, 160 to lefties), and it's been put into play 50 times but with only 12 hits on it, including just a single homerun.
Opponents swing and miss over 43% of the time against the change, and its 89.4 mph average velocity is one of the highest in baseball, resulting it a 95th percentile "run value" (which, explained simply, is a measure of how effective that pitch is at preventing runs from being scored).
This is exactly what Atlanta was hoping for when they traded for Iglesias from the Los Angeles Angels in August of 2022, sending starter Tucker Davidson and reliever Jesse Chavez to LA in what was a salary dump for the Angels. Chavez, famously, was released just weeks later and returned to Atlanta, while Iglesias has been one of the best relievers in baseball since the transaction. In just over one full season with Atlanta, Iglesias has appeared in 75 games and has a 1.77 ERA, with 88 strikeouts in 71 innings and 28 saves. He has two additional years remaining on his contract after this season at $16M per, which will take him through his age 35 season.
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