Secondary pitch? Braves closer Raisel Iglesias has four of them

Throughout the 2024 season, the Braves’ Raisel Iglesias has been a departure from all we think we know about closers. He is not the usual ninth-inning intimidator flaunting a hairy-chested pitch, and declaring, “Here is my best, good luck.” Instead, Iglesias has been putting hitters in a mixer and getting them out with four pitches, not the usual two you expect from a ninth-inning hurler.

Iglesias, 34, also doesn’t have the ego to attack the strike zone pitch after pitch, rather he has been mostly adept this season at making hitters swing at pitches that will not finish as strikes.

But this last thing, this last thing is the real detour from many a closer’s culture.

“He comes back into the dugout, and I’ll say, ‘You did your job, great’, after his one inning,” manager Brian Snitker said, “and then a few moments later I get a tug on my uniform.”

“Iggy” wants to go back out for a second inning, if the situation warrants.

Snitker smiled wide and said, “One of the most unselfish teammates I’ve ever been around. And I say ‘heck, yeah, go ahead back out there.’ He’s been amazing.”

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Well, 98% amazing. Before Sunday’s disastrous outing — the worst of his career — where he gave up five earned runs in a 9-2 loss to the Dodgers, Iglesias had not allowed an earned run since June 18, a stretch of 34-1/3 innings. He had a career-low 1.16 ERA before Sunday.

Five stints this season have been two innings, including two this month as the Braves duel the Mets for the third wild-card slot in the National League.

“I started my career as a starter, so I know what it’s like to go multiple innings,” Iglesias said through interpreter Franco Garcia. “And usually it’s a situation that presents itself where we’re trying to get a win, and I need to do everything I can to put the team in a good spot to win the game.”

Sure, there are closers who will take the ball for a second inning, but what strikes Snitker, who has been in the professional game 47 years, is that his closer eagerly takes on a second frame and does it without being asked. Iglesias also will grab the ball when the big-money save is not on the table.

“It’s big for your bullpen when your stud closer wants the ball in a non-save situation,” catcher Travis d’Arnaud said. “I think it amps up everybody else, and that contagious attitude helps everybody.”

Of course, Iglesias needs stuff to warrant a second inning, and man, he has stuff. His 2024 season could be the best of his career because his slider usage is up and he is commanding it, giving him four legitimate put-away pitches: the two-seam fastball (19.5%), the four-seam fastball (28.8%), the arm-side fade change-up (31.2%) and the slider (20.5%).

“Last year and the year before, I think his slider wasn’t as good as it’s been this year,” d’Arnaud said. “His usage has gone up because his command of it has gone up. This year, he’s able to locate it to either side of the plate against a righty or a lefty.”

In a perfect two-inning stint at Philadelphia on Sept. 1, the put-away pitch on four of the six outs all were on a different pitch. There was nothing secondary about any of the pitches.

“To carry four legitimate pitches to the mound in the ninth inning is unusual,” said Mike Russell, a scout for the Detroit Tigers for 38 years. “Other closers might say they have four pitches, but to command all four for one inning of work, I don’t think I’ve seen that.”

George Springer, a Toronto slugger, chuckled at the idea of Iglesias’ slider, the fourth pitch in his medley, being labeled secondary to anything else the Braves pitcher throws.

“I saw four of them,” said Springer, who struck out on four pitches to finish a 3-1 Braves win Sept. 6. “He started it in-ish, and it ran off the plate. It’s a really good pitch.”

Toronto’s Spencer Horwitz, who bashed the Braves for six hits, including three home runs, in the early-September series, struck out on four pitches versus Iglesias.

“I’ve faced Clase (Cleveland’s Emmanuel), Mason Miller of Oakland, Ben Hodge (Angels) who throws what, 105, and they use mostly two pitches,” Horwitz said. “It’s just weird to see a guy in that situation like him (Iglesias) have four pitches. I game-planned for him, and he just executed.”

Iglesias will not talk about his slider for fear of giving away too much. It was unusual to see him leave one hanging in the middle of the plate Sunday for the Dodgers’ Teoscar Hernandez to swat it into the left-center field seats. The hard-hit percentage on the slider (28%) is the lowest of any of his pitches.

“I’m just lucky I can throw all four of those pitches from different arm angles and get different results,” Iglesias said.

It is assumed that closers are the least pragmatic people in baseball, that they will not join this sea of off-speed pitches washing over the game. The ninth-inning reliever clings to, “I’m not going to lose with secondary stuff.”

Springer, however, said Iglesias is part of the trend, closers included, where pitchers are building their off-speed resumes.

“The sweepers, the sliders, they are very much in our game now,” Springer said. “It just kind of shows who he is as a player to get that slider going. He’s constantly trying to get better and, as an opponent, we always find that admirable.”