"Diaz, 32 in March, is widely considered the best closer in baseball. He's coming off a 2025 season that saw him pitch to a 1.63 ERA, 2.28 FIP and post a 29.8 K-BB%. With that much red in his Statcast profile, the numbers make sense and the Dodgers' interest in him does as well. Diaz is a true 2-pitch pitcher. He's armed with a high-90s 4-seam fastball and a wipeout slider that's Top 10 in MLB among relievers in whiff rate."
"He's also good at keeping the ball in the yard despite not being the best at limiting opposing hitters' ability to pull fly balls in the air against him. He excels at limiting hard contact, even if his 88.5 MPH average exit velocity against was his highest in since 2019. It was still below MLB average and his xBA, xSLG, and xwOBA are all in the Top 1 or 2% in MLB. That's the kind of arm the Dodgers are signing."
Edwin Díaz agreed to a three-year, $69 million contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers, establishing a new average annual value record for relievers. Díaz posted a 1.63 ERA, 2.28 FIP and a 29.8 K-BB% in 2025. He relies on a high-90s four-seam fastball and a top-10 whiff-rate slider and excels at limiting hard contact despite an 88.5 MPH average exit velocity that was his highest since 2019. His Statcast metrics — xBA, xSLG and xwOBA — rank in the top 1–2% of MLB. Díaz will be the Dodgers' unquestioned closer and logged multiple innings in 11 of 62 appearances. The deal carries qualifying-offer compensation implications for draft and international bonus picks.
Read at Dodgers Digest
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