Atlanta Braves fans have been pretty concerned with the regression of star closer Raisel Iglesias. Iglesias was one of the best relievers in baseball last year, but 2025 has not been kind to him thus far.
He currently has a 6.06 ERA on the season with four walks, six saves, and 19 strikeouts. This is a hard contrast from his 1.95 ERA over 69.1 innings with 13 walks, 34 saves, and 68 strikeouts.
A big killer for Iglesias has been allowing home runs, as he's allowed six of them so far. He only allowed four home runs in 2024. His slider hasn't been nearly as effective, and four of the six homers came against that pitch.
Iglesias was a metric darling last season as he was above-average to great in every category except for extension, which measures how much closer a pitcher's release point is to home plate.
However, through 16.1 innings in 2025, he has struggled heavily with allowing barrels and a low ground ball rate. Combine that with opposing batters destroying his slider with a .500 average against, and you have a recipe for disaster.
It's hard not to think he's lost his edge, and the Braves need to look to someone else for the ninth inning. However, Atlanta broadcaster CJ Nitkowski made a compelling case for not giving up on him yet.
CJ Nitkowski's breakdown of Raisel Iglesias' issues gives hope that his struggles will soon be behind him
Nitkowski points out how Iggy is elite at throwing strikes and does so with great tempo. He has noticed Iglesias is moving a lot faster this season towards the plate, and that can cause some trouble. Pitchers are more prone to make mistakes if they work too quickly.
While most have focused on the mistakes, Nitkowski chose to look at the adjustments being made and some of the bad luck Atlanta's closer has faced. He also touches on how Iglesias has continued to have success with his fastball and changeup. The issues arise with the slider, which is not being used as often due to teams clobbering it. They aren't missing it, and that is obvious when you see his whiff rate on the slider is 20 points lower than it was in 2024. However, CJ believes this is starting to improve each outing.
If Iglesias can simply reel in his command of the slider, this should help him return to his past success. He has the track record to back up his ability to make adjustments and be the most dominant closer in baseball.
There is still a lot of baseball left, and optimism is growing with the team finally reaching .500 and Ronald Acuña Jr. nearing his return. I can appreciate Nitkowski's positive outlook on the situation and hope he is right about Iglesias turning a corner.