2022 Eck Award winner: Joe Barlow

Rockland Racer rookie reliever Joe Barlow edged out veteran southpaw Will Smith to nab the 2022 Eck Award as the DMBL's top closer.

This year's Eck Award instituted an updated points system (which apparently had been in use in MLB for decades but we kept using the old system). Points are compiled based on a formula of 3 points for each save and 2 points for relief wins but minus 2 points for each blown save and each loss.

		Sv	BSv	%	W	L	H	PTS
1	BarlowJoe, RCK*	28	1	0.966	5	3	2	86
2	SmithW, ARK	27	3	0.900	7	3	1	83
3	Hendricks, TUC	27	5	0.844	6	2	0	79
4	Pressly, LOU	33	9	0.786	4	7	3	75
5	Sadler, LIV	24	3	0.889	5	4	7	68
6	Hader, EC	24	3	0.889	5	6	1	64
7	Clase, ERI*	20	3	0.870	6	2	6	62
8	Watson, NWK	23	5	0.821	5	4	4	61
9	GreenC, POO	22	6	0.786	8	5	4	60
10	Mayza, EP	20	6	0.769	8	4	7	56
11	McHugh, MAR	18	4	0.818	10	9	11	48
12	JavierC, VAN	14	3	0.824	8	4	14	44
13	IglesiasR, MAR	21	6	0.778	3	7	1	43
14	McGeeJ, VAN	17	3	0.850	5	7	11	41
15	Kimbrel, LIV	11	3	0.786	5	4	18	29

Interestingly, under the old points system, this year's award would have been a tie between the top two finishers.

Barlow was the first pick of the 2nd round (21st overall) and the 27-year-old rookie delivered. He led the league in save percentage (.933), ranked 2nd in saves (28) and tied with Smith for 3rd in save opportunities (30). He compiled a 0.94 WHIP thanks to his 3.8 H/9 offsetting a wild 4.7 BB/9. He led the Racers in ERA (1.49) while sporting a 5-3 record for the 91-loss club. He also ranked 5th in the league in inherited runners scored at .160% (4/25).

Finishing 3rd behind Barlow and Smith was last year's Eck Award winner, Liam Hendriks of Tucson, followed by the league leader in saves, Loudon's Ryan Pressly. Pressly notched 33 saves but his Eck hopes were dashed by 9 blown saves plus a losing record (4-7). The 9 saves would have led the league (along with Hillsborough's Ryne Stanek) had it not been for Blake Taylor of Rockland and his 10 blown saves.

Livingston's Casey Sadler finished 5th, followed by Empire City's Josh Hader and Erie rookie Emmanuel Clase. Newark lefty Tony Watson was 8th and Chad Green of Poovey Farms, who finished 2nd in 2018 when his monster year with Marietta also got McDonald Award attention, finished 9th. El Paso's Tim Mayza rounded out the top 10.

Smith and Sadler tied for the league lead with 60 games finished while Erie had the most active relievers: Ryan Weathers made a league-high 106 appearances, followed by Tyler Rodgers with 101.

Loudon rookie Garrett Whitlock led the league with 31 holds, six ahead of Erie's Tyler Rogers, but felt short of the record 35, set by John Curtiss of Arkansas in the pandemic-influenced season of 2021. He also ranked 3rd in appearance with 96. Erie's Tyler Rogers had 11 wins out of the bullpen and Marietta's Colin McHugh notched 10.

In the category that doesn't get many headlines but is a benchmark for relievers Dylan Floro of Allentown led the league with .060 inherited runners scored (just 3 of 50). The mark would rank 6th all-time and edged the team's previous best of 0.063 by Craig Kimbrel in 2014 and 0.067 by Brett Cecil in 2015. Despite a 1-6 mark and just 4 saves, Floro did yeoman's work for the Mules' bullpen logging 103.7 innings in 87 appearances while sporting a 2.43 ERA for a 91-loss squad. Sadler ranked 2nd at 0.114 (4/35) followed by former starter Michael Fulmer of Empire City at 0.120 (3/25) and J.T. Chargois, who split time between Blue Ridge and Philly, at 0.148 (4/27).