The Arms That End Innings Clean
The season's most dominant bullpen arms, ranked by our form score.
The best relievers don't pile up numbers; they pile up quiet nights. Today we rank the season's elite bullpen arms by our form score, the ones who walk in and walk off without a scratch. The names at the top are doing it with a regularity that borders on boring.
Lights-out of the bullpen
The season's 10 best relievers by our form score (0–100, from ERA & WHIP) — pure bullpen arms, no starts. “Clean” is our metric: the share of outings with no earned runs. “IRS” is inherited runners stranded — how often he keeps someone else’s runners from scoring. A shimmer means a historic pace (sub-2.00 ERA, sub-1.00 WHIP).
Mason Miller sits at a perfect form of 100, and the line is almost unfair: a 0.79 ERA, a matching 0.79 WHIP, 21 saves and 66 strikeouts, with a clean outing in 94 percent of his 32 appearances and every one of his seven inherited runners stranded. Dylan Lee shares that 100 with a different job, 15 holds and a 0.63 WHIP for the Braves, and he hasn't allowed an earned run in his last nine innings. What ties this board together is consistency over volume, and Louis Varland is the proof, a 0.84 ERA and 16 saves in Toronto from a man whose career form sits at 53, this year the leverage finally his to keep.
Mason Miller
San Diego Padres · 0.79 ERA · 0.79 WHIP · 21 SV · 66 K · 94% clean · 100% IRS100FORM›ERA 0.79 · WHIP 0.79 · IP 3421 SV · 0 HLD · 66 K · 94% clean · 100% IRSFORM100elite
Dylan Lee
Atlanta Braves · 1.04 ERA · 0.63 WHIP · 15 HLD · 42 K · 89% clean · 80% IRS100FORM›ERA 1.04 · WHIP 0.63 · IP 34.20 SV · 15 HLD · 42 K · 89% clean · 80% IRSFORM100elite
Colin Holderman
Cleveland Guardians · 1.59 ERA · 0.78 WHIP · 7 HLD · 32 K · 89% clean · 92% IRS99FORM›ERA 1.59 · WHIP 0.78 · IP 28.10 SV · 7 HLD · 32 K · 89% clean · 92% IRSFORM99elite
Robert SuarezAtlanta Braves · 0.56 ERA · 0.84 WHIP · 4 SV · 12 HLD · 26 K · 94% clean · 88% IRS98FORM›ERA 0.56 · WHIP 0.84 · IP 324 SV · 12 HLD · 26 K · 94% clean · 88% IRSFORM98elite
Louis Varland
Toronto Blue Jays · 0.84 ERA · 0.93 WHIP · 16 SV · 5 HLD · 58 K · 92% clean · 88% IRS95FORM›ERA 0.84 · WHIP 0.93 · IP 4316 SV · 5 HLD · 58 K · 92% clean · 88% IRSFORM95elite
Taylor Clarke
Arizona Diamondbacks · 2.10 ERA · 0.82 WHIP · 11 HLD · 20 K · 89% clean · 46% IRS93FORM›ERA 2.10 · WHIP 0.82 · IP 34.10 SV · 11 HLD · 20 K · 89% clean · 46% IRSFORM93elite
Tanner Scott
Los Angeles Dodgers · 2.18 ERA · 0.70 WHIP · 11 SV · 5 HLD · 40 K · 86% clean · 86% IRS92FORM›ERA 2.18 · WHIP 0.70 · IP 3311 SV · 5 HLD · 40 K · 86% clean · 86% IRSFORM92elite
Jhoan Duran
Philadelphia Phillies · 1.69 ERA · 0.94 WHIP · 19 SV · 43 K · 89% clean · 0% IRS92FORM›ERA 1.69 · WHIP 0.94 · IP 26.219 SV · 0 HLD · 43 K · 89% clean · 0% IRSFORM92elite
Yennier Cano
Baltimore Orioles · 2.03 ERA · 0.86 WHIP · 1 SV · 7 HLD · 27 K · 89% clean · 80% IRS92FORM›ERA 2.03 · WHIP 0.86 · IP 26.21 SV · 7 HLD · 27 K · 89% clean · 80% IRSFORM92elite
Bryan Baker
Tampa Bay Rays · 2.01 ERA · 0.89 WHIP · 20 SV · 2 HLD · 35 K · 82% clean · 100% IRS91FORM›ERA 2.01 · WHIP 0.89 · IP 31.120 SV · 2 HLD · 35 K · 82% clean · 100% IRSFORM91elite
Stats via the MLB Stats API. Colors, form scores and power rankings are Baseball Lens's own.