Edwin Díaz Named Mariano Rivera American League Reliever of the Year
LOS ANGELES, Calif. — Mariners right-handed pitcher Edwin Díaz has been named the 2018 Mariano Rivera American League Reliever of the Year, honoring this season’s top reliever in the American League. Major League Baseball made the announcement this evening prior to Game 4 of the World Series at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles.
After Mariano Rivera retired in 2013, Major League Baseball introduced the Mariano Rivera American League Reliever of the Year award the following season. Since then, the honorees have been Díaz, Greg Holland (2014 w/KC), Andrew Miller (2015 w/NYY), Zach Britton (2016 w/BAL) and Craig Kimbrel (2017 w/BOS).
Díaz, 24, converted 57-of-61 (93.4%) save opportunities, while posting an ERA of 1.96 (16 ER, 73.1 IP) with 124 strikeouts and 17 walks in 73 relief appearances with the Mariners in 2018. His 57 saves are tied with Bobby Thigpen in 1990 with Chicago-AL for 2nd-most in single-season Major League history, trailing only Francisco Rodriguez’s 62 saves in 2008 with the Angels. Díaz became the 2nd pitcher ever to record at least 50 saves and 100 strikeouts, joining the Dodgers Eric Gagne, who matched this feat in 2002 and 2003, including his Cy Young season of 2003. Of Díaz’s 57 saves, 27 came when he entered the game with a one-run lead, a Major League record, surpassing Gagne’s previous mark of 24 in 2003.
The native of Puerto Rico led the Major Leagues in saves in 2018 while ranking 2nd among all relievers in strikeouts. Díaz, who was named to his 1st career All-Star team this season, also led AL relievers in WHIP (0.79), while ranking 2nd in opponents’ on-base percentage (.229), 3rd in K/9.0 IP (15.22), 3rd in ERA (1.96), 4th in opponents’ slugging percentage (.241) and 5th in opponents’ average against (.160). The Mariners went 66–0 in 2018 when Díaz entered the game with a lead, including 61–0 in his save opportunities and 30–0 when he entered with a one-run lead.
With 124 strikeouts and 17 walks this season, Díaz became the 18th reliever in Major League history (done 20x) with at least 100 more strikeouts than walks. He is the 8th American League reliever to accomplish this feat (done 10x) and only the 5th to do so since 1987. The hard-throwing right-hander struck out 44.3% (124x280) of batters faced in 2018, which ranked as the 2nd-best strikeout rate among all relievers this season, the 3rd-best mark by a reliever in American League history and the 7th-best by a reliever in Major League history.
Díaz reached numerous milestones this season, including his 100th career save and his 300th career strikeout. He also set the Mariners single-season saves record and became 1 of 14 pitchers in Major League history (done 17x) with at least 50 saves in a season. The 6-foot-3, 194-pound right-hander recorded his 100th career save on Aug. 20 vs. Houston. At 24 years, 151 days of age, he became the 2nd-youngest pitcher to reach 100 saves since the save became an official stat in 1969 (Roberto Osuna-TOR, 23 years, 62 days, 4/10/18 at BAL). On Sept. 29 vs. Texas, Díaz notched his 300th career strikeout, reaching the milestone in only 190.2 innings. He became the 4th-fastest pitcher by innings to reach the 300-strikeout plateau in Major League history, trailing only Craig Kimbrel (171.2 IP), Aroldis Chapman (187.2 IP) and Dellin Betances (190.1 IP). He set the Mariners single-season record for saves with his 49th save on Aug. 24 at Arizona. With his 50th save on Aug. 25 at Arizona, he became the youngest pitcher ever to reach 50 saves as well as the 2nd-fastest by team games played. Díaz recorded his 50th save in the Mariners 130th game of the season, trailing only the Angels Francisco Rodriguez in 2008, who reached 50 saves in 129 team games.
In three seasons with Seattle (2016-c), Díaz is 109-for-121 (90.1%) in save opportunities with a 2.64 ERA (56 ER, 191.0 IP) with 301 strikeouts and 64 walks in 188 relief appearances. Since earning his 1st career save on Aug. 2, 2016, the Puerto Rican native leads the Major Leagues with 109 saves, ranking ahead of Kenley Jansen (95) and Craig Kimbrel (90). Díaz’s 109 career saves rank 2nd all-time in club history, behind only Kazuhiro Sasaki (129).
