Gregory Fisher-USA TODAY Sports

On Saturday night, Edwin Díaz got a chance to face his former team for the first time since he was traded from the Seattle Mariners in the 2018 offseason. The 28-year-old closer was magnificent, striking out the side in the ninth inning to help the Mets earn a 5-4 victory.

Díaz opened up the inning against J.P. Crawford. He was able to get to an 0-2 count right away, throwing a 90 MPH slider and a 99 four-seam fastball for strikes. Two pitches later, Díaz got Crawford to strike-out swinging on another slider.  

The next man to step up to the plate was Eugenio Suárez. The Mariners’ third baseman was able to lay off some pitches out of the zone, getting the at bat to a full count. Díaz went right back to his slider, getting Suárez to strike out on an 89 MPH slider.

With the Mariners down to their final out, it would all come down to Jesse Winker, who hit a game-tying, three-run home run back in the seventh inning. The Mariners’ outfielder made the right-hander work for everything, fouling off three pitches. On the eighth pitch of the at-bat, Díaz got Winker to strike out on a foul tip via a 100 MPH four-seam fastball. 

“Throwing first pitch strikes is the most important thing right now for me. If I attack the hitter the way I’m attacking him right now, we’ve got a lot of success,” Díaz said after the game. He has really been effective in the zone over the first half of the season. His ability to mix his fastball and slider has kept hitters off-balance. And most importantly, he is throwing strikes.

The ability to strike out hitters has been critical to his dominance in the early stages of the season. Díaz has struck out 27 of the 55 hitters he has faced. Of any pitcher that has thrown 10-plus innings this season, his 16.20 K/9 rate ranks third.

Snippet via Baseball Savant.

In 15 innings of work in 2022, Diaz has an 1.80 ERA an a 0.80 WHIP. He has converted eight of his nine save opportunities thus far. Díaz, as the above snippet confirms, has been arguably the best reliever in all of baseball. His turnaround, from his poor first season, in a Mets’ uniform has been quite remarkable.