Best relief pitchers of all time: The best relievers in MLB history

12. Kent Tekulve, RHP

Career Stats: 1,050 G, 184 SV, 1,436 2/3 IP, 2.85 ERA, 1.25 WHIP, 8.18 BB%, 12.98 K%
Instantly recognizable in his yellow-tinted glasses and 1980s Pirates cap, Tekulve was not a closer for a lot of his time in the majors, so his complete dominance was really missed by many. He was originally signed by the Pirates in 1969, and he made his major league debut in 1974, establishing himself in the bullpen in the second half of 1975.

The Pirates used Tekulve plenty, and he led the league in games pitched in 1978 and 1979 in his first two seasons as the Pirates’ official closer, saving 62 games and tossing 269 2/3 innings out of the bullpen.

Tekulve ended up appearaing in at least 70 games 10 times in his career and threw 90 or more relief innings 9 times in his career, yet outside of his final season in the major leagues at 42 years old, he never pitched a full season at higher than a 3.60 ERA. Incredibly, even with a low number of walks, Tekulve had over 1/3 of his walks due to intentional walk, and if you remove those, he was at a walk rate around 5.2% in his career. For perspective, that rate would have been 13th best in 2017 among all qualifiers for a single season, let alone a career rate!

One of the more underrated and difficult to express statistically attributes about Tekulve was his ability to step up in big-time situations. In 1979, he pitched 5 games of the World Series as the “We Are Family” Pirates took home a championship, saving 3 games, and pitching an astounding 9 1/3 innings.

Over his career, he made just one All-Star game. He appeared on 2 MVP ballots and 2 Cy Young ballots in his career. He only received 1.3% of the vote on the 1995 Hall of Fame ballot.

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