Quietly, Santiago Casilla has Become a Top Reliever in Baseball

Through the San Francisco Giants‘ trio of recent World Series runs, the biggest constant for the team has been an extremely solid and reliable bullpen. The team has had the good fortune of keeping four core guys from that bullpen through that entire stretch. Javier Lopez, Jeremy Affeldt, Sergio Romo, Santiago Casilla are the Giants’ “Core Four”.

But Casilla’s efforts seem to go unnoticed sometimes, as his flair for the dramatic save rubs some folks the wrong way. The truth is, Casilla is one of the best relief pitchers in baseball.

Casilla was a fairly highly-regarded prospect when he came up through the Oakland Athletics‘ organization, at the time known as “Jairo Garcia“, but he never panned out with the A’s. He had slight success at some points, but it was never sustained, and Oakland released him after the 2009 season.

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The Giants signed Casilla to a minor league contract, and his career changed forever. Since joining the Giants, Casilla has been one of the best relief pitchers in the entire game of baseball.

In the five years since Casilla joined San Francisco, he’s pitched in 285 games, and posted a 28-15 record. His ERA is 2.10, to go along with a very strong 1.130 WHIP. He walks 3.6 batters per nine innings, allows just 6.5 hits per nine, and only .5 home runs per nine. He’s also spent some time as the closer, racking up 54 of his 58 career saves.

Compare that to his time in Oakland, and it seems like we’re looking at two completely different pitcher. In 152 games across the Bay, Casilla put up a 5.11 ERA and 1.578 WHIP. He issued 4.5 BB/9, allowed 9.7 H/9, and 1.1 HR/9 while wearing green and gold. Every number has dropped significantly with San Francisco.

Since 2010, only three relievers in all of baseball, with a minimum of 200 innings pitched, have lower ERA’s than Casilla’s 2.10. Craig Kimbrel, who is widely considered the best closer in the game, has a 1.43 ERA. Eric O’Flaherty, one of the best lefty specialists in baseball, has a 1.73 ERA. Koji Uehara, the former Baltimore Orioles’ and Texas Rangers’ set-up man, and current Boston Red Sox closer owns a 2.06 ERA.

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Even in Casilla’s worst regular season with San Francisco, he was still phenomenal. In 2012, he posted a 2.84 ERA and 1.216 WHIP, both highs with the Giants, but still closed out a career-high 25 saves. By comparison, Casilla’s best season in Oakland (3.93 ERA and 1.589 WHIP in 2008) was much worse than his worst season in San Francisco.

And as good as Casilla is in the regular season, he is absolute nails in the postseason. In 19 innings, he’s allowed just two earned runs (0.95 ERA), with a .947 WHIP. He hasn’t been scored upon in 19 consecutive postseason appearances, the third-longest such streak in baseball history. Mariano Rivera, the greatest reliever in history, went 23 straight appearances without giving up a run, and Casilla’s teammate Affeldt is sitting on 22 straight scoreless appearances.

2014 was Casilla’s best season yet, at the age of 34. In 65.2 innings combined over the regular season and the postseason, Casilla posted a 1.51 ERA and .838 WHIP.

There aren’t many relievers better than Casilla in baseball. Most teams would love to have a pitcher that reliable, especially over a five-year span. In a day and age where a lot of relievers have two or three good seasons, then fizzle out, Casilla’s longevity and reliability are welcome.

Casilla may not make things easy, as he seems to be a big fan of the Giants’ torture, but he gets the job done way more often that not. He may not get the recognition he deserves, but he’s one of the best relievers in the game today.