Labar: The Art of a Closer - A conversation with Dan Plesac

By Abby Labar
Sportmoney Columnist

Maybe it’s because I’m always paying close attention to the end of MLB games for work, but lately I have been so fascinated by watching a pitcher close out a game with command and confidence. 

In this era of baseball where we are constantly discussing ways to make the game more entertaining through more offense and base running, the role of a closer right now – and a good consistent one at that – seems to not be talked about enough. I personally think watching a guy strike out the side in the bottom of the ninth can be as exciting as a walk-off. 

So their stuff is good. You look at A’s closer Mason Miller, who has been all over the headlines lately as we “ooo and ah” over his fastball. But personally I would love to get inside Miller’s head more so than have his arm (that’s a lie, both would be awesome, but you get the point). Watching his composure each and every outing, he makes one of the most high-pressure roles in the game look so seamless. 

I played softball for about two seconds when I was a teenager. I don’t know the first thing about the art and mentality of being a closer, let alone how much the role has really changed (if at all) as the game continues to advance each year. I figured what better way to get inside a pitcher’s mind than talk to one of the best former ninth inning guys I personally know, my colleague at MLB Network and of course a fellow NC State family member, Dan Plesac. Dan holds numerous all-time Milwaukee Brewers pitching records including games, saves and ERA (min. 500 IP). 

We started our conversation discussing the role of a closer in 2024. Dan said he doesn’t necessarily think the role has changed at all, however it’s more volatile now more than ever because there are few starters that are going deep into a game. “Bullpens are being overworked in April and May, so the days are gone of managers trying to save the bullpen for September.” He also expressed “there is more pressure than ever on closers because these games are now won and lost in the 7th and 8th innings by the bullpen.”

How much pressure do you ask? According to Plesac, if you’re the seventh or eighth inning guy, you know that there is another player warming up in the bullpen behind you to get you out of your mess if there happens to be one. But as the 9th inning guy, you make your own mess and you have to clean it up – “there is no safety net.”

As somebody who has pitched in both roles, Plesac went on to say that being a closer, “It’s the greatest feeling when it’s going well. The highs are incredible and the lows are awful. I spent many nights watching the sun come up. There is no worse feeling than for three hours your team is winning its 4-1, you come in the ninth inning and allow a base hit, ball four, double, home run, etc. The game’s now tied, you lose it in extra innings, and now you know that game should have been over two hours ago but you’re the one that blew the game and gave up four runs. So you have to get on a plane where everyone’s tired and you know that you’re the guy that made the plane leave at 2 a.m. rather than midnight. But the hardest part is you have to figure out how to let that go and move on to the next game.”

So the question becomes, how in the world do you move on to the next game? Especially when you’re in a role where you don’t even know if you’re going to be thrown in that day. 

“When the wheels come off and you know it, that’s the most difficult part of that job. Two out of three games you haven’t pitched well, if you’re a fastball-slider guy and your slider hasn’t been good, you’re taking warmups, trying to find your slider. You’re throwing it and it’s still no good, so now you go out there and have to figure it out on the fly because all you have is the one heater,” Plesac said. “When you’re older, there are enough ups and downs that you realize you’re going to eventually just figure it out. But when you’re a young guy trying to find your way, you think that you need to have your A-game, which is both pitches and you have to be confident enough during warmups in both so you feel like you can go out there and dominate.” 

Plesac said he can equate that mindset to this: “When things are going well, you start the ninth and look at the batting order to see its 4, 5 and 6. You know who they are but you’re not intimidated. You don’t see the batter, you see the glove and the umpire and you eliminate who it is. But if things are going bad, you’re more focused on how each of those guys hit and you’re trying to throw what they want.”

We went on to discuss more in regard to social media and the impact on players in this day and age. Plesac talked about how crazy it was when he was pitching to just go home after a bad outing and the only way you would relive it is if it was on Sportscenter the next day. While the pressure feels the same as it did 20 years ago as related to the actual on-field role, there is so much more noise and information readily available. Whether players want to admit it or not they are seeing it all. So take the above and couple it with the external factors of living in 2024, I can’t imagine how challenging this position is, especially for young players, which makes it that much even more impressive when you see them succeed and close out with wins for their team on a consistent basis.