Saving His Best for Last
By Nick Ostiller
In baseball, the closer is a relief pitcher who focuses on closing out, or "saving," games. Getting the final three outs in a close game may seem easy to a casual observer, even though it is one of the most pressure-packed jobs in all of sports. This week, the New York Yankees' Mariano Rivera became Major League Baseball's all-time saves leader, the ultimate achievement for a pitcher who knows how to handle pressure. Sure, there have been closing pitchers that have thrown harder than him. Yes, some closers have stereotypically looked more intimidating than him, but no other relief pitcher has enjoyed the success of "Mo," as he is known around the baseball world.
In 1996, the Yankees moved the then 25-year-old Panama native from their starting rotation and into their relief corps. Sixteen years and 602 saves later, Rivera has arguably become the greatest relief pitcher in the history of baseball. He is not only a model of consistency, having pitched so well for so long, but he has also demonstrated the ability to perform when the stakes are at their highest. Of course, the end of a close game has its fair share of tension since the game is on the line, but how about the end of a close game in the playoffs, when the entire season is on the line? All Rivera has done is compile a stellar postseason, an earned run average of 0.71 along with 42 saves.
Yet the most amazing part about the career of this lifelong Yankee is that he has basically done it with only one pitch: a devastating cutter. Rivera has made this pitch legendary, and it is just about all he throws. According to the baseball statistics website Fangraphs, 83.3 percent of Rivera's pitches in 2010 were cutters. Usually pitchers with only one pitch, even a 100 mile per hour fastball, quickly find out that they must add to their arsenal if they want to get big league hitters out, but that is not the case for "Mo." The mystery of his cutter has yet to be solved, and it has been baffling even the best hitters for over a decade. Former major leaguer Mike Sweeney was one of the many victims who fell prey to the cutter: "You know what's coming, but you know what's coming in horror movies too. It still gets you," said the five-time all-star.
By throwing the cutter almost exclusively, Rivera has avoided arm trouble that usually affects other pitchers who must in turn, rely on torque-inducing pitches such as curveballs or sliders. Rivera's simple approach has led to an illustrious career that has spanned over 16 years. To put this tenure into perspective, a successful relief pitcher will typically maintain his prime for about five seasons.
At 41 years old, Rivera is ancient by baseball standards and has made 10 all-star games while paradoxically seeming to improve with age, holding opposing batters at a mere .187 batting average over the past three seasons. When it comes to the list of greatest relief pitchers in baseball history, Mariano Rivera's name should be first, simply because he saved his best for last.