The Atlanta Braves benefited from a huge game-winning hit from Drake Baldwin in extras on Thursday night to win their series over the Reds. However, the reason Atlanta was in that position needing to come from behind in the first place was closer Raisel Iglesias having yet another poor performance in the top of the ninth.
Iglesias allowed a go-ahead two-run home run on a hanging slider to Rece Hinds. Fortunately for Iglesias, the Braves' offense fought back and tied things up in the bottom of the ninth. This allowed Baldwin to have his hero moment and show off a new walk-off celebration featuring a very famous bubblegum bucket.
Raisel Iglesias' concerning struggles could force the Braves to consider a new ninth inning option
While the win was exciting, there's growing concern around Iglesias' struggles this season. He was one of baseball's best relievers last season with a 1.95 ERA over 69.1 innings. So far, in 2025, he has a 5.40 ERA over 15 innings. He is still doing well metrically in chase, whiff, strikeout, and walk percentage.
It feels like opponents aren't fooled by him in the slightest, almost as if he's tipping his pitches somehow. Teams are barreling him up, and he isn't getting a lot of groundballs to get him out of sticky situations.
Opposing teams are batting an insane .556 against his slider with four home runs. The pitch only has a 14% put-away rate, and they've hit it hard with an average exit velocity of 99.6 mph.
For comparison, opponents only batted .163 against his slider last season with a 22% put-away percentage. The average exit velocity was significantly lower at 86.7 mph. Something isn't right with his slider right now.
This may cause the Braves to seriously consider moving him out of the ninth inning and using Daysbel Hernandez instead. Iglesias is a free agent after this season, and it wouldn't be a bad idea to audition Hernandez for the role.
He has swing and miss stuff that could help him out in high-leverage situations. Hernandez does need to improve his strikeout and chase rates, but he does have a great whiff percentage on the season at 28.2%. More impressively, his hard-hit and barrel rates are among the best in baseball.
Iglesias could easily find the success he had in 2024 at any point, but Atlanta would be wise to consider a radical change if things continue down this path. He should get opportunities to prove himself in the team's upcoming series against the Pirates. If he struggles against a team as bad as the Bucs, we have a big problem on our hands.