On Saturday afternoon at Truist Park, Braves manager Brian Snitker fielded one question after another about struggling closer Raisel Iglesias. About his confidence. About his pitch selection. About his standing in the closer role.
And every single time, he fiercely defended his player.
This much is clear: Iglesias will be the Braves’ closer moving forward.
“They haven’t been terrible outings,” Snitker said. “It’s just been one pitch. We’re not looking to get away from that because the stuff’s there.”
Iglesias surrendered a go-ahead home run on Friday night in the Braves’ series-opening loss to the Padres, which increased his ERA to 5.75 this season. But the 10th-year manager said he has no plans to remove Iglesias from the closing role.
He did, however, offer an explanation for the right-hander’s struggles. Teams are drilling his slider, which is responsible for five of the seven home runs he surrendered this season.
“We’re probably going to need to adjust his pitch selection,” Snitker said. “Because other than that, he’s throwing the ball really well. It’s just that his slider hasn’t been real good. The ones he throws bad, he’s not getting back.”
Iglesias already throws his slider the least of his four pitches, but the Braves will likely incorporate it even less. Teams are batting .583 off the pitch but just .229 against his other three combined.
“It’s a little bit of a feel pitch with him,” catcher Drake Baldwin told The Atlanta-Journal Constitution. “He has such a good sinker and 4-seam and changeup with that slider, just to get away from righties, is something that he’s used in the past, and it’s worked really well. This year, it’s not where it was in the past, so practically, (going) heavier on the changeup and 4-seam.”
The decision to throw a slider most often comes from the catchers, according to Snitker, because Iglesias rarely shakes them off. The manager shared there have been discussions about its usage, but the Braves are still “trying to figure all that out.”
“It’s things that have been discussed, and they’re trying to figure all that out,” Snitker said. “When (Baldwin and Sean Murphy) put a sign down, it’s a suggestion. If (a pitcher) takes it, then he has confidence in that pitch and he’s going to throw it, and he got a strike one before on it.”
Iglesias threw a well-located slider to Manny Machado on Friday night before hanging one for the go-ahead home run. Once the consistency returns, Iglesias should get back to being the closer the Braves are accustomed to seeing since his other pitches are playing well.
The slider is an outlier, with opponents slugging 1.833 against it, the highest against a pitch in his 11-year career.
“Trying to find the right spots, right hitters to be able to use it,” Baldwin said. “He’s throwing good ones. It’s just probably not as consistent as he wants it to be. It’s finding areas to use it.”
This is not the first season that Atlanta’s closer is laboring. Former Brave Will Smith struggled with four blown saves in the final two months of 2021, but Snitker stuck with him. Smith rewarded his manager with a scoreless postseason — that included pitching in all four World Series wins — which gives Snitker confidence Iglesias will return to form.
And remember this: Smith struggled as deep into the season as September. Iglesias, on the other hand, has time to turn around his season.
“I went through this in (2021) with Will Smith,” Snitker said. “The fact that we stayed with him, he righted the ship. That’s why I’m hesitant to do anything because I’ve seen it happen good before. We fought through it then. We’ll fight through it now.”
Iglesias’ teammates are also confident their closer will bounce back due to his past performance. The right-hander ended each of the last five seasons with an ERA under 3.00, including a 1.95 ERA in 2024.
“His slider, he knows, is not what it was last year,” reliever Dylan Lee said. “It’s something that I know he’ll figure out. He’s a big leader. He’s been around for 10 years.”
Iglesias’ tenure allows him to better navigate the highs-and-lows throughout a MLB season. His experience navigating the situations involved with closing is why his manager and teammates aren’t worried about his confidence in the same way they would for a rookie.
“That’s what gets him through it,” Snitker said. “He’s had so much success, and he’s logged so many innings and so many saves. You hope that that’s the thing, as opposed to a guy that hasn’t really been through those wars, can get him through it.”
Iglesias did not pitch in Saturday’s victory over the Padres because Atlanta jumped out to a six-run lead and the bullpen held strong. But when he takes the mound again, the Braves will be confident in his ability to get the job done.
“Baseball is a stupid game where you can throw 20 pitches in an outing. Nineteen of them can be good, and the one bad one is the only one that people remember,” reliever Aaron Bummer said. “(Iglesias is) about as cool, he’s about as level-headed as they come. He’s the same guy day-in-and-day-out.”
About the Author
Keep Reading
The Latest
Featured
