In an appearance on "The Chris Rose Rotation" podcast, Cleveland Guardians catcher Austin Hedges doled out big praise to teammate and closer Emmanuel Clase .
When asked by Rose whether Clase — who's gained Cy Young consideration this year despite not being a starter — is the best pitcher that Hedges has caught in his MLB career, Hedges took the question a couple of leaps further.
"I think he's, through this amount of time, the best pitcher ever," Hedges responded to a stunned Rose. "I think he's the best pitcher ever."
An incredulous Rose responded, "Hold on, in the history of the sport?"
"Yes," Hedges said in response.
Hedges hedged from there to add context and nuance. He said his opinion is based on Clase's career to this point through "200-ish innings." Clase to this point of his career has actually logged 310.2 innings pitched at the time of writing.
Hedges said Clase is "better than Mariano (Rivera)," the Hall of Fame closer for the New York Yankees . He also said he would like to compare the numbers between both pitchers to the respective points of their careers.
Well, thanks to Stathead Baseball data powered by Baseball Reference , we can do that.
Of course, it's not exactly an apples to apples comparison simply due to the fact that Rivera made his MLB debut in 1995 when he was already 25 years old.
Clase, as Hedges notes in the clip, is still just 26 years old but pitching in his fifth MLB season (he missed the 2020 campaign due to a PED suspension). So, age-wise, Clase got out to a quicker start than Rivera. As such, the comparison we'll be looking at compares each pitchers' first five seasons at the MLB level without age being a factor.
Interestingly, the comparison between the two is closer than baseball fans may think. Again, the comparison is a bit muddy because a young Rivera started 10 games early in his career while Clase only has one start to his name, but Clase does manage to beat out Rivera in a variety of categories.
Based on saves (157 vs. 129), ERA (1.68 vs. 2.58), ERA+ (250 vs. 182), strikeout percentage (24.9% vs. 21.9%), walks (56 vs. 119), walk rate (4.6% vs. 7.7%) and total games pitched (316 vs. 266), Clase's first five seasons to this point is superior when directly compared with Rivera.
But Rivera is ahead of Clase in WAR (15.1 vs. 11.4), innings pitched (376.2 vs. 310.2) and strikeouts (337 vs. 301). Mo's 26-13 record also looks better than Clase's 16-23 mark, but win/loss record isn't a great point of reference for relief pitchers anyhow.
It also must be said that Rivera won three World Series championships and was named World Series MVP during this stretch. Clase has three All-Star appearances so far, which beat out Rivera's two through his first five seasons, but he lacks the World Series rings (unfortunately, for Guardians fans).
Clase's stats: 'Going to go home early': Emmanuel Clase sets Cleveland franchise saves record
As Hedges notes on the podcast, Clase still has a long way to go to be considered the best closer of all time, and longevity in sports matters quite a bit when discussing and comparing legacies.
But at age 26, Clase already has 28 more saves than Mo did at age 29.
If the Dominican righty with a cutter arguably as devastating as Mo's can stay healthy and continue playing at an elite level, perhaps he'll one day surpass Rivera's MLB record 652 saves.
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Guardians catcher Austin Hedges praises Emmanuel Clase with Chris Rose
