Ryan Helsley's injury-interrupted 2023 led to one of most dominant years in Cardinals history

The running joke in recent years between former Cardinals pitcher Adam Wainwright and closer Ryan Helsley involved Wainwright giving the younger reliever good-natured ribbings about Helsley never closing out Wainwrights starts.

Helsley took it in good fun, even referencing it after he closed out Wainwrights 200th career win last September.

Of course, the joke landed because of the kernel of truth woven into it.

Helsleys availability had been an ongoing topic in recent years, one that seemingly disappeared into the rearview mirror when Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol and pitching coach Dusty Blake placed Helsley in a defined role as the clubs closer heading into this season.

Following a season interrupted by a forearm injury that limited Helsley to 33 games in 2023 (he was on the injured list from June 10 to Aug.

31), Marmol and Blake spoke to Helsley heading into spring training and came up with a set of parameters for his usage that included almost exclusively appearances of one inning at a time in the ninth inning in save situations.

Helsley, who turned 30 in July, responded with one of the most dominant seasons of any relief pitcher in Cardinals history.

The 6-foot-2, 235-pound right-hander from Oklahoma entered the final week of the season leading Major League Baseball in saves with 47 (in 51 save chances).

Hes been incredible, and he has taken the ball every time, Marmol said.

Last year, you talk about availability and how often he was going to take the ball.

It was a matter of usage because he wasnt just a ninth inning, three-out type of guy.

We were using him for five outs at times, for two innings at a time.

That conversation that took place in the offseason says, Hey man, youre going to take the ball in the ninth for three outs, has allowed him to be available and he has been on point.

With six games remaining, Helsley has tied Jason Isringhausen (2004) and Hall of Famer Lee Smith (1991) for the second-most saves in a single season in club history.

Helsley is just one shy of matching Trevor Rosenthals franchise record of 48 saves in 2015.

Helsleys combination of saves and wins (54 total) eclipsed Smiths club record of 53 set in 1991.

Helsley also converted 27 of 27 save opportunities at home (including a home game at Rickwood Field in Birmingham, Alabama) and became one of just four relievers in MLB history to convert 27 or more saves at home in a season without a blemish.

Going back to last season, Helsley has 31 consecutive successful save opportunities at home the 25th-longest streak in MLB history.

Obviously, his stuff is really good, Cardinals veteran relief pitcher Andrew Kittredge said of Helsley.

Hes got some of the best stuff in baseball.

But hes very even-keel.

He doesnt seem to rattle easily, and the ninth inning is just a different animal.

Ive done it a little bit, sparingly, in my career, and those outs are just tougher to get.

The other team is giving you their best at-bats of the game.

Every time youre out there, the game is on the line.

So the fact that he has just handled it seemingly so smoothly and doesnt really seem to get rattled and fazed (stands out).

We all know his stuff is really good, but its not just about that in this game.

The fact that he has had the success that hes had is a testament to how good of a year he is having.

A deeper bullpen led to a defined role Despite just making 33 appearances last season, Helsley pitched in multiple innings 12 times.

In 2022, Helsley made 54 appearances, and 18 times, he pitched multiple innings in an outing.

Thats happened just twice this season.

Getting three outs is a lot less pitches most nights and a lot less stress on your body, Helsley said.

Youre going to have some where youre throwing 20-plus pitches, but for the most part just try to get in there and get out.

I think that, for me, the three outs is a lot less stress on my body.

Marmol has acknowledged that he relied heavily on Helsley in the past out of necessity.

Theyd asked him to get five outs and finish the game because they didnt feel like they had enough in their bullpen to close it out otherwise.

Thats why bolstering the bullpen with the addition of Kittredge via trade this winter was vital.

Kittredge has already set the club single-season record for holds (36).

Relievers JoJo Romero, Ryan Fernandez and Kittredge have all reached 60 appearances this season.

Theyve all also saved games this season.

Theyve played key roles in the Cardinals making most games a race to the ninth inning.

Sunday marked the Cardinals 103rd game decided by three runs or fewer and the 50th one-run game.

Helsley laughed when a reporter brought up the number of tight games this season.

We kind of joke about it a little bit in the bullpen, Helsley said.

I think if we were able to make it to the postseason, that wouldve probably kind of benefited us.

A lot of postseason games are really tight, and we wouldve been used to that kind of atmosphere.

Helsley lauded the entire relief corps, and he even singled out young relievers Chris Roycroft and Riley OBrien, who he said have come out of nowhere and made huge strides and can be important parts of the bullpen in the future.

As for the workhorses at the back end of the bullpen, Helsley asserted that having defined roles has benefited the entire group.

I think it helps for sure, you kind of have the same routine, Helsley said.

You know, obviously, your defined role.

You know when youre going to pitch in a game.

For Kitt and JoJo, if were tied or up three, most likely they going to pitch too.

So I think that helps the whole bullpen when the whole bullpen know their roles.

Its tougher on guys down there when maybe one day youre going to be asked to go one-plus or two or two-plus, and then maybe youre going to come in with a tie game today but you pitched down four yesterday.

Thats tough on a guy to no know his role, I think in my opinion from what Ive seen down there.

After his 47th save on Sunday, Helsley has made a career-high 63 appearances this season.

His previous career high had been 54.

With stricter usage this season, he didnt match his career high for innings in a season (6423) until Sunday.

A slightly different mix this season At the end of last season, Helsley said he intended to sit down with Blake and members of the clubs pitching department for a deep dive into the data to prepare him for the offseason and for 2024.

With Blakes help, Helsley said he worked to better understand how his pitch arsenal played to lefties and righties as well as examine whether tweaks in his pitch usage and/or pitch shape might improve his results.

In 2022, Helsley he threw his four-seam fastball 57% of the time.

Then in 2023, he threw that fastball 56.2% of the time.

In both seasons, his fastball velocity ranked among the top 1% of all pitchers in the majors.

That has remained true this season (99.6 mph, still among the top 1%).

The major change is how often hitters are seeing or not seeing (either because of usage or sheer velocity) Helsleys fastball.

Heading into the final week of the season, Helsley has thrown it just 45.5% of the time.

Meanwhile, his slider has become his most-used pitch.

Opposing hitters have gotten sliders from Helsley 48.3% of time he fires a pitch to the plate up from 36.7% in 2023 and 31.9% in 2022.

While data played a big part in determining and defining an approach to his pitch usage, Helsley described an offseason emphasis on training designed to take stress off his forearm and elbow.

That included improved lower-body strength, increasing grip strength and conditioning the decelerating muscles in his arm.

Helsley enters the final two series of the season with a 7-4 record, a 2.09 ERA, 10.7 strikeouts per nine innings, a 3.35-to-1 strikeout-to-walk ratio with 77 strikeouts and 23 walks.

Opponents have batted .210 against him with an on-base plus slugging percentage (OPS) of .552.

According to MLB Statcast data, the run value of his slider (+13) ranks among the top 1% of all pitchers in the majors.

Cardinals catcher Ivan Herrera caught Helsleys 46th save on Saturday night.

Helsley struck out the side in order on 12 pitches.

Helsley also retired the side in order on Sunday, the 23rd time he did that this season another franchise record.

After Saturdays outing, Herrera was asked to describe the challenge of trying to hit Helsleys slider while also being ready to hit a fastball that reaches 100 mph.

Herrera summed it up with, Its so hard.

He even fooled me, Herrera said of catching Helsley on Saturday night.

I dont know if I missed the ball, but sometimes he throws pitches that Im like, I cannot hit that.

Its like if I cannot hit it, catching, imagine as a hitter what it feels like.

You can see.

The hitter is going to tell you how good the pitcher is, and thats what they did today.

The Cardinals closer has had a lot of days when the hitters have told him good things this season..

This article has been shared from the original article on stltoday, here is the link to the original article.