Ryan Speier
Bourne 2001
Pitcher
Radford
It seems that every summer, there’s a closer who gets off to a really fast start, picking up saves in a high percentage of his team’s wins. But most times, the pace eventually slows down. Saves leaders usually finish with 11 or 12. That’s kind of the benchmark.
Ryan Speier was the exception — and he remains the biggest exception.
In 2001, Speier set an all-time CCBL record when he saved 16 games for Bourne. That record still stands, and the way thing are going, it’s going to stand for awhile.
Unlike some statistics, saves require opportunity more than anything else. In the case of Speier, he made the absolute most of his opportunities.
He pitched 20 innings in 20 appearances. He allowed 10 hits and one unearned run. His season ERA was 0.00, and he struck out 35.
Most remarkably, he saved 16 of Bourne’s 23 wins.
That’s a lot of opportunities, and for Speier, the whole summer proved to be one big opportunity. He came to the Cape from Radford. He went undrafted in June.
But suddenly, there he was, turning every head. I still remember Peter Gammons talking about Speier’s record-setting summer on ESPN’s Baseball Tonight.
At the end of the summer, Speier signed a free agent contract with the Rockies, and he was in the majors four years later.
After the Cape
Speier has pitched parts of the last four seasons with Colorado. In December, he signed with the Nationals.
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