Billy Wagner, who started his career in 1995 with the Houston Astros was voted into the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame on Tuesday with 82.5% of the votes of baseball writers. He got 325 votes, underscoring how good of a player he was for a long time. After going through some statistics from Wagner’s career, this article will consider closers, which Wagner was, and why they are valuable to a team.
This article will end with a brief comparison of him with the greatest pitcher and closer of all time, Mariano Rivera. He is now a member of the Hall of Fame, but Rivera he was not. Does your favorite baseball team have a closer for the upcoming season?
Billy Wagner’s Statistics
Wagner played in Major League Baseball for 16 seasons, from 1995-2010. He began his career with the Houston Astros and pitched for the Philadelphia Phillies, New York Mets, Boston Red Sox, and Atlanta Braves. He was a closer throughout his entire career because in his last year, 2010 with the Braves, he appeared in 71 games and finished 64 of them, with 37 saves.
Speaking of his saves, for his career he had 422 of them. That is good for sixth on the all-time list. In his career, Wagner had a 2.31 Earned Run Average, and 6 times he had an Earned Run Average less than 2.00. Wagner had a career .998 WHIP and had a WHIP under 1 in 6 of his seasons.
For his career, Wagner had an Earned Run Average Plus, which is earned runs per inning adjusted for ballparks (100 is average). He had a career Earned Run Average Plus of 187 and in 6 seasons he had an Earned Run Average plus of over 200.
The Value Of a Closer
Wagner was a very good closer, in fact, a Hall of Fame closer and that is valuable to baseball teams. Baseball teams want to shorten games, and having a good closer, like him, means games are really eight innings long for your opponent. Baseball teams seek to have strong relievers too for the seventh and eighth innings, meaning the baseball game is only six innings long for the opponent. Having a great closer means teams are one-third of the way to their goal.
Wagner and Mariano Rivera
Closers who make the Hall of Fame in baseball are going to be forever compared to the greatest closer ever, Mariano Rivera. So, let’s compare. Rivera pitched 19 seasons all with the New York Yankees. He had a major league-best 652 saves. Rivera had a career ERA of 2.21, and 11 times he had an Earned Run Average of less than 2.00.
By the way, he was at his best in the postseason, where he held a 1.13 ERA. Rivera leads all pitchers with an Earned Run Average plus of 205 and in 12 seasons he topped 200 (in two seasons he topped 300).
Wagner was great, but he was not as great as Rivera. Closers who make the Baseball Hall of Fame, there are now nine of them, are going to be compared to Mariano Rivera. Wagner does not stack up, no one does. The nine, by the way, are, Wagner, Rivera, Hoyt Wilhelm, Rollie Fingers, Goose Gossage, Trevor Hoffman, Lee Smith, Bruce Suter, and Dennis Eckersley.
Conclusion
Wagner joins a list of elite pitchers with his accomplishment. He is deserving of the honor, though there is some controversy about voting players who were primarily closers to the Hall of Fame. They pitch only one inning, so the argument goes. The argument does not hold water because closers often face the heart of the opposing team’s lineup in pressure-packed situations. Wagner did that for his entire career and was so good at it, that he is now in the Hall of Fame.
