Félix Bautista of the Baltimore Orioles won the 2023 Mariano Rivera American League Reliever of the Year Award and the Milwaukee Brewers’ Devin Williams earned Trevor Hoffman National League Reliever of the Year honors.
Bautista and Williams were selected by a panel that included Rivera and Hoffman, fellow Hall of Fame relief pitchers Dennis Eckersley and Rollie Fingers, and John Franco and Billy Wagner.
The six voters ranked the top three relief pitchers in each league based solely on regular season performance, using a 5-3-1 weighted point system.
Williams, who previously earned NL Reliever of the Year honors in 2020, is the sixth multi-time recipient of the Rivera and Hoffman Awards since they were introduced in 2014.
Edwin Díaz (2018 and 2022), Josh Hader (2018-2019 and 2021), Liam Hendriks (2020-2021), Kenley Jansen (2016-2017) and Craig Kimbrel (2014 and 2017) also won the award multiple times.
Pittsburgh Pirates closer David Bednar and Hader were runners-up for the 2023 Hoffman Award.
In his first full season as the Brewers closer, Williams went 8-3 with a 1.53 ERA, 2.66 FIP, 0.92 WHIP, 13.3 strikeouts per nine and 36 saves across 58.2 innings pitched (61 games).
Williams ranked first among NL relief pitchers in opponents’ batting average (.129), second in hits per nine (4.0), third in ERA and strikeouts per nine, and fourth in WHIP.
Félix Bautista unanimous winner of AL Reliever of the Year
Bautista was the unanimous choice by the voting panel.
Cleveland Guardians All-Star Emmanuel Clase, who was the 2022 recipient of the Rivera Award, and Toronto Blue Jays closer Jordan Romano, were runners-up for honors this past season.
Bautista went 8-2 with a 1.48 ERA, 0.92 WHIP, 110 strikeouts and 33 saves in 61 innings pitched over 56 appearances this year. He earned AL Reliever of the Month honors in April, June and July before sustaining a season-ending elbow injury in late August.
Bautista recorded the fastest strikeout by an Orioles pitcher in the pitch-tracking era (since 2008) on June 28 against the Cincinnati Reds when he punched out Spencer Steer at 103.3 miles per hour.
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