That one All-Star closer you forget about until you play Atlanta
Awesome photo by Scott Taetsch
Born on Isla de la Juventud, Cuba, now 36-year-old closer Raisel Iglesias is 4th on the active saves leaderboard with 283 slammed doors between his time with the Reds, Angels, and Braves. He’s already accumulated an additional 30 more saves this year as he looks to join the 300 Save club, an elite club of only 32 members. Already nearing his 40s, “Iggy” is unlikely to reach Aroldis Chapman’s 399, and I don’t think anyone can catch Mariano Rivera’s 652.
But I don’t care. If I were to win a million dollars by picking a pitcher who throws slower than 95 mph to nab a save, I’d want Raisel Iglesias. I do my best to hide my Braves bias by actually covering Mets players every so often, but today I have an Iglesias bias. Here’s arguably his best season with the Angels back in 2021 when he accumulated 34 saves:
Iglesias’ 2021 Baseball Savant
Iglesias is most feared for an extremely powerful fastball that he could casually run up to 100, a wipeout slider, and a changeup that makes hitters sigh.
Below is the hardest pitch of Iggy’s career, 100.5 mph to future MVP Cody Bellinger via Baseball Savant:
Iglesias’s Hardest Pitch
And here we can see Raisel’s release point scatter:
Iglesias Release Variance by Baseball Savant
Notice that some are higher than the average 5.4 feet, some are lower, some are further to the side. I have no idea how Iggy throws with any command at all. Switching arm slots is just something you don’t do. The whole goal of most pitching mechanics is to make the release point as consistent as possible. Here’s Yoshinobu Yamamoto’s release plot also at 5.4 feet:
Yamamoto Release Variance by Baseball Savant
They’re all clustered together—not meandering on vacation. This is the root of Iggy’s highly deceptive delivery.
Photo by Mark Terrill for the AP
Raisel is more than a closer – he’s an excellent pitcher. In 2024, he posted a 0.74 WHIP. For most of Iglesias’s career, his 9th inning work has been about as stressful as watching a goldfish tank while eating muffins at 4:00 AM. Iggy’s 9th has never been just blowing hitters away and spinning a ton of sliders, he sequences hitters like he’s faced them twelve times in a row. Heaters up, in, down; then changeups in, around, on the plate—wherever. Iglesias is a starter pitching in a reliever’s body (and inning). In 788 innings, Raisel has struck out 923 with a microscopic career 1.05 WHIP.
In 2015, the 6’2” right-hander had exactly one bad start against the Pirates where he gave up 5 earned in 3.0 innings. Nevermind that. The rest of the season was star-studded, especially 8.0 innings of 1-run ball against his future Braves team. Here’s his rookie Statcast card as a traditional starter:
Iglesias’s 2015 Baseball Savant
Iglesias was a strong rookie, but shoulder concerns in 2016 ended his potential Hall of Fame career as a starter.
Perhaps for the best, Iglesias stayed in the ‘pen, and his whole arsenal played up for it.
One of my favorite stats is that there have been more people on the moon than runs scored off New York legend Mariano Rivera in the postseason (yes, really).
Here’s another fun one – when Iglesias was dealt to Atlanta in 2022 at the deadline, he absolutely steamrolled the 9th for the rest of the season with a 0.34 ERA in 26.1 innings.
So pop quiz: Are there more people who know the full KFC chicken recipe, or total runs against Iglesias during that stretch?
Trick question. It’s the same number. Exactly two people know the full blend of 11 herbs and spices which go into KFC’s chicken, and exactly 2 runs scored during Iggy’s first 28 appearances with the Braves. Dang.
Since then, Iglesias has been (successfully) battling the aging curve as the heater has fallen to ‘just’ 94.4 mph. His slider has largely disappeared as it failed him for -8 runs last year, and Iggy has been largely 4-seam/Sinker/Changeup since. The efficiency in the 9th has always been there. Lindsay Crosby of Braves Today wrote this piece naming saves acquired in 10 or fewer pitches. Iglesias leads the league with 32.7% of his saves since 2021 requiring 10 or fewer pitches. Raisel simply does both when it comes to striking guys out and getting the weak contact he needs.
Iglesias is one of the reasons I will be watching baseball for the rest of my life. Arms like Iggy, Chris Sale, Yoshi, and Tyler Rogers are the reasons I love this game. Iglesias simply works differently than the rest. At this point in his career, it’s clear the saves will start slowing down soon. The 10-pitch work we know and love is likely fading.
Anecdotally, there have been an increasing number of white-knuckle saves and nail-biting leadoff doubles. Perhaps a better testament to Raisel Iglesias’ pitching is the fact that he’s taking the 9th inning for one of the best teams in baseball by locating fastballs, spamming a masterful changeup, and a ton of closer moxie. No major-league hitter would admit to fearing a pitcher, but watching Iglesias come set with absolutely zero emotion despite the weight of the world pressing on his shoulders must strike fear into the hearts of every hitter not named Yordan Alvarez.
Iglesias is not throwing 97 anymore, nor is he closing every game in the blink of an eye. Rather, he’s pitching the golden years of his career with what he does best, switching his arm slot, spamming the sinker and changeup, and praising the Lord on after every three outs he gets to earn another save. His celebration is far more quiet than the excitement of Jefry Yan or the adrenaline of Edwin Díaz. He simply… looks up.
Photo by David Griffin
About the Author: This article was written by Ransom Fassett for Painting Corners, you can find more of his work here.