Héctor Neris

BIOGRAPHY

Héctor Neris was born on June 14, 1989, in Villa Altagracia, San Cristóbal, Dominican Republic. He is a pitcher in the MLB.

Héctor Neris has one son, Derek (5/21/15). He graduated in 2008 from the of Colegio José Francisco Peña Gómez, where he played volleyball, basketball and chess. In 2018, he amongst all ML relievers, finished 5th in SO/9.0 IP (14.35). He trailed only Josh Hader (15.82) among NL relievers and made his third consecutive Opening Day roster.  He had his saves streak come to an end at 21 on 4/11 vs CIN, which at the time was the longest active streak in the majors. He was optioned to Lehigh Valley (AAA) on 6/18 and was recalled for a brief stint with the Phillies, 6/25-30. He was recalled on 8/14 and spent the remainder of the season with the Phillies. 

He made 11 straight scoreless appearances after being recalled, striking out 21 of the 36 batters he faced (58.3%) and allowing 5 hits in 9.2 IP.  He was named the Hartford Presents NL Reliever of the Month for August, the first Phillie to win that award and second Phillie to win a Reliever of the Month Award.  His 20 strikeouts from his first appearance in August (8/15) to the end of the month were five more than any other reliever in baseball. He posted a 2.04 ERA (4 ER, 17.2 IP) with 35 SO and 5 BB in his final 19 appearances after being recalled on 8/14. He recorded at least one strikeout in 24 straight appearances, 6/17-end of season, the longest streak by a Phillies reliever since at least 1908 and longest active streak in MLB to finish the season.  He recorded multiple strikeouts in 15 of his final 23 appearances (17.85 SO/9.0 IP, 41 SO, 20.2 IP). His 39 career saves are 2nd-most in Phillies history by a Dominican-born pitcher, behind only Jose Mesa.

Neris earned his second save of the season on August 12, 2022, by throwing a scoreless ninth in a 7–5 win over the Oakland Athletics. On September 19, Neris closed out the final inning of a 4–0 defeat of the Tampa Bay Rays and clinch a fifth American League West division title for the Astros over the previous six seasons. On October 4, 2022, Neris made his first career appearance versus the Phillies and induced two perfect outs in an on-going no-hitter that Houston pitching maintained until the ninth inning. For the 2022 regular season, Neris made 70 appearances, ranking fifth in the AL among pitchers, and had 25 holds, which tied for third and led the Astros. He produced a 3.72 ERA, 6–4 W–L, three saves, 2.35 Fielding Independent Pitching (FIP), 79 strikeouts, 17 bases on balls, and three home runs allowed over 65+1⁄3 IP for ratios of 10.9 strikeouts per nine innings pitched (K/9), 4.65 strikeouts to walks (K/BB), and 0.4 home runs per nine innings (HR/9).

In his first career postseason appearance, Neris induced a two-out, bases-loaded groundout from Cal Raleigh within the sixth inning in Game 2 of the American League Division Series versus the Seattle Mariners, and was the winning pitcher. The Astros again faced the Phillies in the World Series and defeated them in six games to give Neris his first World Series title, and he pitched a scoreless seventh inning in the Game 6 clincher. He went 2–0 in the postseason, allowing two hits and one run over eight appearances and six innings (1.50 ERA). He struck out nine, allowed no walks, and this performance netted a 9.9% championship win probability added (cWPA).