Michael Arias. – Picture by Todd Johnson

Just for his moustache, Frankie Scalzo, Jr. should win this going away. Unfortunately, moustaches do not necessarily get the job done with a man on second base and no outs in the tenth inning. Being a reliever takes a special kind of pitcher. You have to be able to forget quickly. You have to be able to unleash hell in the strike zone and you have the goods when it comes to your pitchers.

Those descriptions fit a number of guys in the system.

However, like Outlander, there can be only one.

Let’s see who everybody picked this year.

Last Year’s Winner: Luke Little

Greg Huss

I think Zac Leigh has the best pure stuff of any reliever in the system and because of that, I’m gonna roll with him. He’ll need to stay healthy, a skill that he hasn’t been able to maintain over the course of his professional career, but as long as he does, he’s going to put up a strikeout rate north of 30% and be well on his way to a Chicago call-up later in the year. This is the time for Zac Leigh to shine.

Rich Biesterfeld

There are many good candidates to be the reliever of the year, including Zac Leigh, Riley Martin, Hunter Bigge and Frankie Scalzo. But after reading reports that Michael Arias is shifting to a closer role with the Smokies, I decided to roll with him. Michael split the 2023 season between Myrtle Beach and South Bend and pitched exclusively as a starter. While his overall South Bend stats don’t jump off the page, he averaged more than 1 strikeout per inning. With his transition to a relief role, he could be on an accelerated path to the big leagues following in the footsteps of Luke Little and Daniel Palencia.

Todd Johnson

When it comes to the reliever of the year, there are a lot of guys in the upper levels who could be in line for this award. We could see Eduarniel Nunez, Riley Martin, Hunter Bigge, Porter Hodge, Zac Leigh, and Frankie Scalzo, Jr. I was going to come out of left field just to be the contrarian. Two guys that came to mind were Johzan Oquendo and Jose Romero. Both had big years last summer at Myrtle Beach with Romero taking off in the second half and then pitching well in the Arizona Fall League.

However, a couple of things changed in the last week.

1. Johzan went on the 60 Day IL.

2. Michael Arias was moved to the bullpen.

For obvious reasons, I am going to go with Arias. I saw him last summer in his South Bend debut and he just cooks out there. As a starter, he ran out of gas often. That is not going to happen as a reliever.

Straight fire!