Billy Wagner

Through history, many players have entered baseball's most hallowed hall. The list of players is numerous: 54 starting pitchers, 16 catchers, 18 first basemen, 17 second basemen, 10 third basemen, 21 shortstops, and 60 outfielders have plaques in the Hall of Fame. Even nine umpires have gained entrance to Cooperstown.

Some claim third base, or even catcher, is the most underrepresented position in the Hall of Fame.

Relievers are often called upon when a strikeout is necessary to prevent the other team from scoring. Here are the five relievers that are best at striking hitters out, based on their K/9 rate. 

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Over the next week or two I will be taking a division-by-division look at every team’s closer situation.  Who is closing now?  Who is next in line?  Who could get a look down the line?  Let’s kick things off with the NL East:

From the third week of May to the All-Star Break, when the Atlanta Braves were rolling, Billy Wagner was one of the best closers in baseball.

Over that approximate two month stretch, the 39-year-old southpaw was 16-for-17 in save opportunities while collecting one win in a total of 23 appearances.

Many baseball fans might not realize it, but left-handed relief pitchers have always been a hot commodity. Whether its to secure a lefty specialist role or bring the heat from another angle, southpaw relievers have played a vital role on many successful teams, and some have put up intriguing career numbers.

Back in June 1994, New York Mets closer John Franco recorded his 253rd career save to lead all left-handed relievers in career saves.

It's been a while since Atlanta Braves fans have had much to cheer about. Long gone are the days of Maddox, Glavine, and Smoltz, the Jones boys broke up after 2007, the streak of 14 consecutive NL East Championships ended five seasons ago, and the 1995 World Series is but a distant memory.

We all knew that their reign atop the NL East couldn’t last forever.

As Ken Rosenthal reports , the Braves are stocked deep in pitching, which is no surprise to any Braves follower.

What he mentions in the article that caught my eye was that he sees the Braves’ left-handed side of the bullpen as potentially the best in the game.

"The left side of the 'pen—Eric O'Flaherty, Jonny Venters, Billy Wagner—might be the best in the game," said Rosenthal.

That was rough, wasn't it?

Count the layers of the L-sandwich: W-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-W.

After a stretch of futility of nonagonal proportions (bad geometry joke), the Atlanta Braves scratched out a win (and their first save in 20 games) Friday night in Atlanta as Billy Wagner induced a double-play to Houston clean-up hitter Carlos Lee.

Timely offense, superb pitching, and mostly clean fielding (we'll forgive J-Hey's boot in right field) netted the 'Bravos' what had so eluded them for over a week.

Throw open the sashes of your windows and let the spring air in, grab yourself some tin foil wrapped hotdogs, and sit back and enjoy; baseball’s hibernation is officially over.

The first certified spring training game between two MLB clubs will commence today at 1:10 PM EST in Port St. Lucia, Florida, and it will feature the New York Mets against the Atlanta Braves.

The Braves’ signing of Billy Wagner appears to signal a change at the back end of the Atlanta bullpen.  While it is still possible that Rafael Soriano or Mike Gonzalez is brought back to the mix (though even more unlikely with the addition of Takashi Saito), does anyone believe they would have guaranteed Wagner $7 million if he was not going to be the closer?

Wagner, who returned from Tommy John surgery in 2009, was impressive as a setup man for the Mets and Red Sox (1.72 ERA, 1.02 WHIP, 26 K in 15.2 IP) and instantly becomes a solid option in all formats.