The New York Yankees gave righty Luis Cessa ample opportunity to show his stuff as a starting pitcher early in his career, eventually settling in on the idea that he was an effective reliever. He was, too, pitching to a 3.94 ERA and 112 ERA+ in 102.2 IP of exclusive relief across 2020-2021, even if he was never an elite strikeout machine.
That’s the pitcher the Cincinnati Reds acquired in 2021, and he rewarded them with a 2.05 ERA and 3.13 FIP in 26.1 IP in relief down the stretch in the last year they actually sort of, kind of tried to compete.