For the following weeks, I will be ranking players for the upcoming season. I will be looking at previous seasons, their 2016 season and projectability.
Relief Pitchers
5. Mets Pitcher:
Jeurys Familia has had back to back phenomenal years as the Mets closer. Finishing the 2016 season with 51 saves. Familia has a hard sinker to go with an exceptional slider that allows him to get out of tough situations making him not only a premier closer but one of the best relief pitchers in all of baseball.
4. Yankees Pitcher:
Aroldis Chapman is the hardest throwing pitcher in baseball history, and he has shown no signs of slowing down. After winning his first championship with the Chicago Cubs with some shaky appearances he has signed an enormous contract to return to the Bronx and take on the closer role once again for the Yankees. For anyone wondering how great Chapman's velocity truly is in 2014, he threw twice as many 100+mph pitches as the rest of the major leagues.
3. Dodgers Pitchers:
Kenley Jansen is third on this list. I used to think Jansen was not as good as advertised. That he was a competent closer on an above average Dodgers team. Then I watched NLDS game 5. I was lucky to see it up close, and when Jansen came in the 7th inning and threw 51 pitches I was amazed. His 47 saves and 1.83 Era in the regular season were not too shabby either.
2. Orioles Pitcher:
Zach Britton has been close to unhittable since he moved from a starter to a relief role. Britton was amazing in 2014 and 2015 building a strong resume by having a 1.65 and 1.93 ERA. However in 2016 Britton took leaps and bounds in his progress by breaking the single season ERA record by finishing the season with an impressive 0.54 ERA. Not much else can be said for Britton other than he was the most dominating pitcher out of the bullpen in all of the majors.
1. Indians Pitcher:
Andrew Miller, however, gets the top spot for the best relief pitcher going into 2017. Miller didn't lead the league in ERA, K/9 or even saves, but what puts him on top of this list is the fact that he changed the culture in Cleveland. Before Andrew Miller The Indians were a dark horse that maybe would win the central and perform well in the postseason, but once the playoffs started the Indians transformed. Miller not only struck out opposing lineups but gave the Indians confidence and made them even favorites leading them to one win away from the title. I am excited to see if Miller can duplicate his dominance once again with the Indians poised to make another deep postseason run.
