Joe Nathan: Statistically The Greatest Closer Ever

[brady_the_impaler]

I read an article a few days ago, comparing Joe Nathan's 6 years as a closer to any six year stretch of The Great Rivera's. To quite an amazing statistical discovery. Joe Nathan is the greatest relief pitcher of all time. Greater than Rivera, or Trevor Hoffman. To prove this, I went to the invaluable website, baseball-reference.com, which I have bookmarked and quite frankly, everyone should. To be fair, I used two six year spans for both Hoffman and Rivera. And since both have only had 2 straight 6 year spans of closing, I didn't miss anything.

Mariano Rivera between 1997 and 2002

ERA SV ER BB K WHIP

2.25 238 101 103 338 1.021

All, very impressive numbers.

Mariano Rivera 2003-2008



ERA SV ER BB K WHIP

1.88 239 93 77 415 .0951



Trevor Hoffman between 1995 and 2000

ERA SV ER BB K WHIP

2.50 246 121 116 518 0.972



Trevor Hoffman between 2004-2009



ERA SV ER BB K WHIP

2.63 239 97 71 295 1.009



And finally, Joe Nathan. 2004-2009

ERA SV ER BB K WHIP

1.87 246 87 120 518 0.934


Pretty cool, eh?

[BaconSlayer09]

Originally Posted by brady_the_impaler

I read an article a few days ago, comparing Joe Nathan's 6 years as a closer to any six year stretch of The Great Rivera's. To quite an amazing statistical discovery. Joe Nathan is the greatest relief pitcher of all time. Greater than Rivera, or Trevor Hoffman. To prove this, I went to the invaluable website, baseball-reference.com, which I have bookmarked and quite frankly, everyone should. To be fair, I used two six year spans for both Hoffman and Rivera. And since both have only had 2 straight 6 year spans of closing, I didn't miss anything.

Mariano Rivera between 1997 and 2002

ERA SV ER BB K WHIP

2.25 238 101 103 338 1.021

All, very impressive numbers.

Mariano Rivera 2003-2008



ERA SV ER BB K WHIP

1.88 239 93 77 415 .0951



Trevor Hoffman between 1995 and 2000

ERA SV ER BB K WHIP

2.50 246 121 116 518 0.972



Trevor Hoffman between 2004-2009



ERA SV ER BB K WHIP

2.63 239 97 71 295 1.009



And finally, Joe Nathan. 2004-2009

ERA SV ER BB K WHIP

1.87 246 87 120 518 0.934


Pretty cool, eh?

Rivera and Nathan both have very similar xFIP/FIP since 2004.

Although to call Nathan the greatest closer ever is a bit of a stretch, even from a statistical point of view. Considering he's only been doing this for 6 years and Rivera's been doing it for almost 2 decades.

[brady_the_impaler]

Which is why its split up for both Rivera and Hoffman in 2 six year stretches. I just thought it was pretty interesting.

[TSE]

Nathan blows in the playoffs when it really really really matters so I would have to say no.

[New Law Era]

Gotta agree with the consensus here. The career size between the two needs to be a little bit smaller before you can really make a solid case for Nathan being a better RHP than Nathan.

Those numbers are pretty sweet though. Hopefully Nathan can come back next year and decimate fools. Guys tend to throw harder after TJ. Nathan already has electric stuff, so it'll be fun to see what he can do next season with a fresh arm.

[acsdenver]

I've always liked Nathan a ton. I have a horrible image of him blowing it in the playoffs though

[Giantsfan4life]

I still hate Sabean for trading Nathan and Bonser for Pierzynsky, just one of the many horrible trades he's made though.

[gardyfan]

Originally Posted by Giantsfan4life

I still hate Sabean for trading Nathan and Bonser for Pierzynsky, just one of the many horrible trades he's made though.

So you don't hate him for trading Liriano in that deal?

[BaconSlayer09]

Sabean should have been fired a long, long time ago.

[Teix4MVP]

Apparently, he's also the hardest GM to make a trade with, so even his fellow, um, executives don't like him.