Félix “The Mountain” Bautista is quite the imposing presence on the mound.
Standing at a herculean 6’8″, Bautista seems to look down on each batter as from the highest of peaks. Due to his tremendous success, The Mountain has officially been named the 2023 Mariano Rivera AL Reliever of the Year, a unanimous selection.
Bautista burst onto the scene last season when he became the default closer after the Orioles traded All-Star Jorge López to the Minnesota Twins. He would go on to covert 15 of his 17 save opportunities to go along with 13 holds, a 4-4 record and a 2.19 ERA in 65 games.
The 2023 season would start with Bautista as the de facto closer, though he was recovering from a knee surgery and shoulder fatigue after completing his first season in the big leagues in 2022. What was about to unfold was sheer dominance by a reliever not seen in quite some time.
Bautista would have an ERA under one in three months of the season, with July being one of the most historic months he pitched. For the month, Bautista went 3-0 and 8-for-8 in saves in 11 appearances. He pitched to an ERA of zero, a WHIP of 0.50 and an opponent batting average of .070 while striking out 25 batters in 14 innings of work.
Overall, Bautista would finish the season going 8-2 in 56 appearances and converting 33 of 39 saves with one hold. He totaled 61 innings of work to go with an ERA of 1.48 and a 0.92 WHIP, with opponents hitting just .144 against the big right-hander.
What’s even more impressive is that Bautista struck out an MLB-leading 110 batters to accumulate a 16.23 K/9 average. Of the 30 hits he did allow, only seven went for extra bases, and his 22.7 strikeout to walk ratio was one of the tops in all of baseball.
Sadly, Bautista would last appear for the Orioles on August 25, when he would leave an outing with a UCL injury, eventually requiring Tommy John Surgery. He would miss the final 34 games of the season and the postseason.
Bautista was so dominating that even missing the time he did, he was still involved in winning, holding or closing out 42% of the Orioles’ victories during the season. His dominance was a key component of the team’s success, and it showed when Bautista finished 11th in Cy Young voting, the only reliever to gain any votes in the final tally.
We would like to congratulate Félix Bautista on winning this honor, adding to the collection of accolades that the Orioles have earned in 2023. We wish Félix a speedy recovery and look forward to when “Omar’s Whistle” comes across the sound system at Camden Yards once again.
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