Seattle Mariners: Edwin Diaz is no longer the team’s closer
Edwin Diaz has been removed as the Seattle Mariners’ closer after throwing 15.1 innings in that role. Last year, in 51.2 innings of work, Diaz had blown three saves. So far, he has two blown saves.
Seattle Mariners manager Scott Servais indicated to reporters that Edwin Diaz‘s demotion was temporary. “We’ve got to get Edwin right. He’s got a great arm. We know what he can do when he is right. Right now, it’s probably not going to be in the ninth inning,” Servais told the Seattle Times.
Last year, Diaz posted a 40.6 percent strikeout rate, a 6.9 percent walk rate and gave up just five home runs. This season, Diaz has a 29.4 percent strikeout rate, 14.7 walk rate and has given up four homers.
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Diaz is aware of his lackluster performance thus far. He told the Seattle Times,
"“I know I’m not pitching good right now. And I just want the team to win. They talked to me. I agree with (Servais). I need to fix my things and then I will be back as the closer.”"
In the meantime, Seattle plans to use a mix of pitchers in the closer role. “We’ll piece it together,” Servais said. The Mariners have two relievers that have performed well this season and can possibly fill the closer role.
James Pazos has a 2.65 ERA over 17 innings pitched and is striking out batters 29.0 percent of the time, putting him nearly half a percent behind Diaz in that category. Marc Rzepczynski has a 1.64 ERA over 11 innings. With a 68.0 percent groundball rate, he boasts the highest mark among the two. Pazos and Rzepczynski could be replacements for Edwin Diaz; however, the two have not been used often in high leverage situations.
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Though Diaz’s demotion may be temporary, if whoever is thrown into the closer role performs exceptionally well, Diaz my find himself added to a committee rather than returning as the sole closer.