Analyst Exposes Alarming Concern for Guardians' Emmanuel Clase

Up until blowing a save against the Seattle Mariners over the weekend, Cleveland Guardians closer Emmanuel Clase has looked much like his former self lately.

Prior to the loss versus the Mariners, Clase had allowed just three runs — one earned — since the end of April, indicating that the three-time All-Star may have rediscovered his groove.

However, while Clase definitely may have righted the ship in seems to be trending in a positive direction, it doesn't mean that he is solved all of his problems overnight.

Brandon Glick of Away Back Gone has exposed some rather concerning numbers for the 27-year-old, revealing that his best pitches — his cutter and his slider — are not nearly as dominant as they were a year ago.

"In 765 offerings last year, his cutter generated a .150 batting average against and .194 wOBA from opposing hitters. The slider, thrown about 200 times, was even better, inducing a .145 batting average and .148 wOBA from opposing hitters," Glick wrote. "Those numbers are way up this year. His cutter is actually being hit with some authority for the first time ever (.313 BA, .342 wOBA), and his slider is merely good compared to last year's greatness (.235 BA, .262 wOBA)."

For as good as Clase has been lately, there is no question that those statistics are alarming. Now, to be fair, Glick did qualify all of this by saying that the numbers were certainly influenced by Clase's rough first month, but it's not something we should completely ignore.

"But, his cutter's struggles have led to tangible changes on the mound," Glick added. "He's throwing his primary pitch about 10% less this year, all of which he's allocated to his slider."

On the 2025 campaign overall, Clase owns a 3.94 ERA while allowing 35 hits and registering 32 strikeouts over 29.2 innings of work. For reference, has surrendered 13 earned runs this year after permitting five all of last season.

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