Imagine a closer who dominates with cutters like Kenley Jansen, but he also has the triple digit speed of Aroldis chapman. Well, that combination can also be offered by the Cleveland Dominican reliever, the right sprinter, Emmanuel Class.
Class is showing everyone why Cleveland traded Corey Kluber to get it. The 23-year-old right-hander is dominating hitters in his debut season with the Indians, with 11 saves, a 0.94 ERA and 32 strikeouts in 28 2/3 innings in 30 appearances. He didn’t allow an earned run in his first 15 appearances, and allowed only one in his last 14. Class gives a team that already had James Karinchak, who has a 2.93 ERA and an absurd 55 strikeouts on 30 2/3 entries: two relief aces.
Class is a different pitcher than Jansen and Chapman, of course. But that’s the point: His stuff is unique to MLB right now. This alone makes it worth a look: is throwing the hardest ‘cutter’ in history release tracking.
Here’s the highest average cutter speed in a season since pitch tracking began in 2008:
- Emmanuel Class, 2021: 100.0 mph
- Emmanuel Class, 2019: 99.2 mph
- Dellin Betances, 2016: 98.5 mph
- Jonathan Broxton, 2009: 98.0 mph
- Carlos Estévez, 2016: 97.4 mph
And here are the top 10 fastest cutters on record since the tracking started:
- 101.7 mph – Emmanuel Class, 5/2/2021
- 101.7 mph – Emmanuel Class, 4/25/2021
- 101.5 mph – Emmanuel Class, 6/5/2021
- 101.5 mph – Emmanuel Class, 5/11/2021
- 101.5 mph – Emmanuel Class, 4/15/2021
- 101.4 mph – Emmanuel Class, 5/24/2021
- 101.4 mph – Emmanuel Class, 5/24/2021
- 101.4 mph – Emmanuel Class, 5/11/2021
- 101.4 mph – Emmanuel Class, 10/9/2019
- 101.4 mph – Dellin Betances, 6/19/2016
And here are the most 100+ mph cutters thrown since pitch tracking began:
- Emmanuel Class – 250
- Dellin Betances – 6
- Jonathan Broxton – 2
- Yordano Ventura – 2
- Carlos Estevez – 2
- Kevin Jepsen – 2
- Kenley Jansen – 1
Of the 265 cutters released in triple digits in 13 years of pitch tracking, Class has released 94 percent of them. It has launched 52 of the 54 cutters tracked at over 101 mph. Those numbers are only going to grow, because no one else is throwing triple digit cutters.
The speed is staggering on its own. But the crude veil is not enough in the big leagues. You still need the results: lost bats and strikeouts. Class gets those. He leads MLB relievers in both strikeouts (22) and swings and misses (57) in cutters this season.
See your mower in action, and it passes the vision test right away. The pitch is disgusting. Hundred miles per hour is hard enough to hit when straight – the Class cutter is a combination of speed and direction of movement that hitters just don’t see anywhere else, and that adds an extra layer of difficulty when trying to hit it. He throws it 75 percent of the time, but never mind, it’s a great example of “you know it’s coming and you still can’t hit it.”
Class has also made improvements in 2021. It is pairing its cutter more effectively with its low 90 slider, which has a greatly improved hit and miss rate from 2019 to 21 (40.4 percent, compared to 27.6) and more. triple strikeouts (10 slider hits in ’21, three in ’19). He’s also using his cutter to hit the glove-side lower region of the strike zone better than he did in 2019, when he dropped many higher and in the middle of the zone. That’s helping Class suppress opposing hitters’ contact quality much better than it did in its first major league season.
David Adler / MLB.com
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