Emmanuel Clase, Ryan Helsley earn the 2024 Rivera and Hoffman Awards

Emmanuel Clase of the Cleveland Guardians has won the 2024 Mariano Rivera American League Reliever of the Year Award and Ryan Helsley of the St. Louis Cardinals has earned this season’s Trevor Hoffman National League Reliever of the Year honors, Major League Baseball announced this evening. Clase and Helsley were both unanimous selections by the voting panel. Clase, who also won the award in 2022, has become the seventh multi-time recipient of these Awards, joining Edwin Díaz, Josh Hader, Liam Hendriks, Kenley Jansen, Craig Kimbrel and Devin Williams. Clase and Helsley were announced as the 2024 season’s top relievers this evening at the 2024 All-MLB Awards Show presented by MGM Rewards from All-MLB Weekend at The Chelsea at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas.

Clase, who was named an All-Star for the third consecutive year, posted a 4-2 record with a 0.61 ERA (5 ER/74.1 IP), 47 saves, 66 strikeouts, 10 walks, a 0.66 WHIP and a .154 opponents’ average across 74 appearances this season. Among pitchers with at least 10 saves in a single season, his ERA was the third-lowest all-time, trailing only Zack Britton (2016, 0.54 ERA) of the Baltimore Orioles and Fernando Rodney (2012, 0.60 ERA) of the Tampa Bay Rays. The Dominican Republic native converted 34 consecutive saves to finish out the year, marking the longest streak of his career and the second-longest streak in Cleveland’s franchise history, behind a 38-game streak from José Mesa in the 1994-95 seasons.

Additionally, the right-hander surpassed Cody Allen (149 saves) on August 30th for the most saves in franchise history and will enter 2025 with 158 career saves under his belt. After tallying 42 saves in 2022 and 44 saves in 2023, the 26 year-old is the only closer in Guardians’ history with three seasons of at least 40 saves. He is the third closer in Baseball history with at least three seasons of 40-or-more saves prior to his 27th birthday, joining Craig Kimbrel and Francisco Rodríguez, each of whom had four such seasons prior to turning 27. With his save at the Midsummer Classic in Texas, Clase became the fifth pitcher in All-Star Game history with at least two career saves, joining Hall of Famer Mariano Rivera (4 saves); Hall of Famer Dennis Eckersley (3 saves); Mel Harder (2 saves); and Hall of Famer Bruce Sutter (2 saves).

Helsley, who was named an All-Star for the second time in his career, posted a 7-4 record with a 2.04 ERA (15 ER/66.1 IP), 49 saves, 79 strikeouts, 23 walks, a 1.10 WHIP and a .210 opponents’ average in a career-high 65 appearances this year. The righthander broke Trevor Rosenthal’s franchise record of 48 saves in 2015. He became the first Cardinals closer to lead the Majors in saves since Hall of Famer Lee Smith had 47 saves in 1991, and his 49 saves were the most in the Majors since Edwin Díaz had 57 in 2018 for Seattle. Helsley posted perfect outings during 23 of his saves, marking the most 1-2-3 saves in Cardinals’ history, surpassing Smith’s previous record of 19 1-2-3 saves in 1992. The Oklahoma native did not allow an earned run over his final 17 appearances of the season.

Overall, he did not allow a run in 44 of his 53 save opportunities, the most of any pitcher. He was named NL Reliever of the Month in March/April, June and September, becoming the first Cardinals reliever to win the award in its current form (since 2015). St. Louis went 59-6 when he toed the rubber this season and are 131-21 since he took over the closing duties in 2022. From April 2nd-July 2nd, he converted a franchise record 31 consecutive save opportunities, becoming one of 18 pitchers (19th occurrence) since 2000 with at least 30 consecutive saves. Along with Clase’s 34-save streak to end the year, it is the first time a pair of pitchers had at least 30 straight saves within a single season since 2016 when Britton (47 SV) and Jeurys Familia of the New York Mets (36 SV) turned the trick.

The AL relievers who were runners-up were All-Star Kirby Yates (7-2, 1.17 ERA, 61 G, 33/34 SV, 61.2 IP, 8 ER, 85 SO, 23 H, 28 BB, 0.83 WHIP, .113 opp. AVG) of the Texas Rangers; and Clase’s rookie bullpenmate Cade Smith (6-1, 1.91 ERA, 74 G, 1/3 SV, 75.1 IP, 16 ER, 103 SO, 51 H, 17 BB, 0.90 WHIP, .190 opp. AVG) of the Guardians. The NL pitchers who were runners-up were Raisel Iglesias (6-2, 1.95 ERA, 66 G, 34/38 SV, 69.1 IP, 15 ER, 68 SO, 38 H, 13 BB, 0.74 WHIP, .160 opp. AVG) of the Atlanta Braves; All-Star Tanner Scott (9-6, 1.75 ERA, 72 G, 22/24 SV, 72.0 IP, 14 ER, 84 SO, 45 H, 36 BB, 1.13 WHIP, .179 opp. AVG) of the San Diego Padres and Miami Marlins; and All-Star Robert Suarez (9-3, 2.77 ERA, 65 G, 36/42 SV, 65.0 IP, 20 ER, 59 SO, 52 H, 16 BB, 1.05 WHIP, .217 opp. AVG) of the Padres.

Balloting for the Rivera and Hoffman Awards, which debuted in the 2014 season, was conducted among a panel of six all-time great relievers in order to determine the recipients. Rivera and Hoffman, both of whom spent their entire careers in the same League en route to the top of the all-time saves list, were joined as voters by two fellow Hall of Fame relief pitchers – Dennis Eckersley and Rollie Fingers – as well as John Franco and Billy Wagner. The six voters ranked the top three relief pitchers by league based solely on regular season performance, using a 5-3-1 weighted point system.

Clase and Helsley will each receive a special trophy that models the likeness of Rivera and Hoffman, respectively, pitching during their Hall of Fame careers. The Rivera and Hoffman Awards replaced MLB’s “Delivery Man of the Year Award,” which was presented to one winner in all of Major League Baseball from 2005-2013. These awards continue a longstanding baseball tradition of honoring the game’s top relief pitchers.

To see the previous winners, click here.