Rays’ Bryan Baker and Padres’ Mason Miller win Reliever of the Year awards at the MLB Awards

By Vancouver Television Sports Desk

Major League Baseball handed its top relief honors to Tampa Bay’s Bryan Baker and San Diego’s Mason Miller on Wednesday night at the MLB Awards presented by MGM Rewards. Baker received the American League Reliever of the Year Award, while Miller earned the National League Reliever of the Year Award, with both selections announced during the awards presentation.

The American League award went to Baker, a closer for the Rays who was a first-time All-Star during his age-31 season. MLB’s announcement credited him with 41 saves, tied for the most in the Majors with Cleveland’s Cade Smith, as Baker recorded his first full season as a primary closer.

In MLB’s account of Baker’s regular-season performance, the right-hander posted a 1.44 ERA across 65 appearances and 62 1/3 innings. He also finished with a 295 ERA+ and, among qualified relievers, owned the second-lowest ERA in the league—only Toronto’s Louis Varland was lower—while limiting opponents to a .161 batting average.

MLB attributed Baker’s effectiveness to a rising fastball and a changeup that had been revamped and developed into a go-to pitch. The team also pointed to Baker’s postseason work, where he went unscored upon in nine playoff appearances, converting five saves as Tampa Bay advanced to win the AL pennant.

Miller’s National League Reliever of the Year recognition came in his first season as a Trevor Hoffman Reliever of the Year Award winner. MLB said the All-Star righty led qualified NL relievers with a 1.67 ERA (246 ERA+), while striking out 129 batters in 70 innings—figures MLB described as the top among qualified NL relievers.

Beyond traditional run prevention and strikeout totals, MLB’s announcement highlighted Miller’s ability to miss bats and generate velocity. According to MLB, Miller recorded a 47.4% strikeout rate, and he led qualified pitchers with an average fastball velocity of 101.4 mph, while throwing 518 pitches at 100.0 mph or higher—more than every qualified pitcher except Milwaukee’s Jacob Misiorowski.

MLB further reported that the emergence of a wipeout slider played a role in Miller limiting hitters, as he held the opposition to a .152 batting average. MLB also said Miller generated a 45.3% swing-and-miss rate, a metric the league described as ranking in the 100th percentile of MLB.

The awards night also included a separate layer of recognition for Miller beyond the main MLB league award. MLB reported that Miller won two awards on Wednesday, with the Baseball Writers’ Association of America (BBWAA) naming him as the recipient of its inaugural NL Reliever of the Year Award.

In that BBWAA category, MLB’s announcement stated that Louis Varland of the Toronto Blue Jays took the AL award, finishing the season with a 1.27 ERA and 35 saves in 78 innings as a first-time All-Star. MLB also noted that the BBWAA award was newly introduced for the National League that night, and it placed Miller at the center of that first-ever recognition.

Taken together, the double recognition for Miller and the league-leading relief output attributed to Baker underscored a standout season for closers across both leagues. With the MLB Awards presented by MGM Rewards and the BBWAA’s newly established NL Reliever of the Year honour, the evening formalized two of the most prominent relief performances of the year in Major League Baseball.

For readers tracking upcoming season expectations, these awards also provide a clear marker of which late-inning arms received formal recognition from both MLB and the BBWAA during awards week, reflecting the leagues’ view of top relief impact across regular season results and, in Baker’s case, postseason contributions.