According to various reports, Atlanta Braves closer Raisel Iglesias is being named the NL Reliever of the Month for August.
Iglesias, 33, pitched in thirteen games during the month of August and was a perfect 7-7 in save appearances, not allowing a single run and holding opponents to a 1.56 batting average. In thirteen innings, he allowed seven hits and four walks while striking out seventeen, with Atlanta going 12-1 in the thirteen games in which he pitched.
Iglesias first joined the Braves in 2022, being traded to Atlanta from Los Angeles Angels for 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 77 games and has a 1.73 ERA, with 89 strikeouts in 73 innings and 29 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.
Iglesias has been so effective thanks to a revamped pitch mix that features 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).
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