In baseball statistics, a relief pitcher is credited with a save (denoted by SV) who finishes a game for the winning team under certain prescribed circumstances. Most commonly a pitcher earns a save by entering in the ninth inning of a game in which his team is winning by three or fewer runs and finishing the game by pitching one inning without losing the lead. [1]
Mariano Rivera [2] [3] [4] is the all-time leader in saves with 652. Rivera and Trevor Hoffman [5] are the only pitchers in MLB history to save more than 600 career games. Lee Smith, [6] Kenley Jansen, [7] Craig Kimbrel, [8] Francisco Rodríguez, [9] John Franco, [10] and Billy Wagner [11] are the only other pitchers to save more than 400 games in their careers.
Rank | Rank amongst leaders in career saves. A blank field indicates a tie. |
Player (2025 SV) | Number of saves during the 2025 Major League Baseball season |
SV | Total career saves |
* | Denotes elected to National Baseball Hall of Fame. |
---|---|
Bold | Denotes active player. [note 1] |
Rank | Player (2025 SV) | SV |
---|---|---|
51 | Rafael Soriano | 207 |
52 | Brian Fuentes | 204 |
53 | Jeff Shaw | 203 |
54 | Bobby Thigpen | 201 |
55 | Josh Hader (0) | 199 |
56 | Mike Henneman | 193 |
57 | Mitch Williams | 192 |
58 | Roy Face | 191 |
Keith Foulke | 191 | |
60 | J. J. Putz | 189 |
61 | Mike Marshall | 188 |
62 | Éric Gagné | 187 |
Eddie Guardado | 187 | |
64 | Jeff Russell | 186 |
65 | Steve Bedrosian | 184 |
Kent Tekulve | 184 | |
67 | Danny Graves | 182 |
68 | Tug McGraw | 180 |
69 | Jim Johnson | 178 |
Ron Perranoski | 178 | |
71 | Kevin Gregg | 177 |
Bryan Harvey | 177 | |
David Robertson (0) | 177 | |
74 | Lindy McDaniel | 174 |
75 | Bobby Jenks | 173 |
76 | Jeff Brantley | 172 |
Brian Wilson | 172 | |
78 | Heath Bell | 168 |
79 | Billy Koch | 163 |
80 | Alex Colomé (0) | 159 |
Roger McDowell | 159 | |
82 | Emmanuel Clase (0) | 158 |
Tom Gordon | 158 | |
Dan Plesac | 158 | |
85 | Jay Howell | 155 |
Roberto Osuna | 155 | |
87 | Zack Britton | 154 |
John Smoltz* | 154 | |
89 | Cody Allen | 153 |
Stu Miller | 153 | |
91 | Don McMahon | 152 |
92 | Greg Minton | 150 |
93 | Ted Abernathy | 149 |
94 | Willie Hernández | 147 |
95 | Dave Giusti | 145 |
96 | John Axford | 144 |
Santiago Casilla | 144 | |
Jesse Orosco | 144 | |
Mike Williams | 144 | |
100 | Clay Carroll | 143 |
Darold Knowles | 143 |
In baseball, a save is credited to a pitcher who finishes a game for the winning team under certain circumstances. A save can be earned by entering a game in which his team is leading by three or fewer runs and finishing the game by pitching at least one inning without losing the lead; entering the game with the tying run in the on-deck circle, at the plate or on the bases and finishing the game; or by pitching at least three innings in relief and finishing the game regardless of how many runs your team was winning by when entering the game. The number of saves or percentage of save opportunities successfully converted are oft-cited statistics of relief pitchers, particularly those in the closer role. The save statistic was created by journalist Jerome Holtzman in 1959 to "measure the effectiveness of relief pitchers" and was adopted as an official Major League Baseball (MLB) statistic in 1969. The save has been retroactively tabulated for pitchers before that date. Mariano Rivera is MLB's all-time leader in regular-season saves with 652, while Francisco Rodríguez earned the most saves in a single season with 62 in 2008.
Mariano Rivera is a Panamanian-American former professional baseball pitcher who played 19 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the New York Yankees, from 1995 to 2013. Nicknamed "Mo" and "Sandman", he spent most of his career as a relief pitcher and served as the Yankees' closer for 17 seasons. A thirteen-time All-Star and five-time World Series champion, he is MLB's career leader in saves (652) and games finished (952). Rivera won five American League (AL) Rolaids Relief Man Awards and three Delivery Man of the Year Awards, and he finished in the top three in voting for the AL Cy Young Award four times. He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame as part of its class of 2019 in his first year of eligibility, and is to date the only player ever to be elected unanimously by the Baseball Writers' Association of America (BBWAA).
In baseball and softball, a relief pitcher or reliever is a pitcher who pitches in the game after the starting pitcher or another relief pitcher has been removed from the game due to fatigue, injury, ineffectiveness, ejection, high pitch count, or for other strategic reasons, such as inclement weather delays or pinch hitter substitutions. Relief pitchers are further divided informally into various roles, such as closers, setup men, middle relief pitchers, left/right-handed specialists, and long relievers. Whereas starting pitchers usually throw so many pitches in a single game that they must rest several days before pitching in another, relief pitchers are expected to be more flexible and typically pitch in more games with a shorter time period between pitching appearances but with fewer innings pitched per appearance. A team's staff of relievers is normally referred to metonymically as a team's bullpen, which refers to the area where the relievers sit during games, and where they warm-up prior to entering the game.
John Anthony Franco is an American former professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball as a left-handed relief pitcher between 1984 and 2005. Franco established himself as an All-Star player with the Cincinnati Reds before spending the majority of his career with the New York Mets. He ended his 21-year career with one final season with the Houston Astros.
In baseball, a cut fastball or cutter is a type of fastball that breaks toward the pitcher's glove-hand side, as it reaches home plate. This pitch is somewhere between a slider and a four-seam fastball, as it is usually thrown faster than a slider but with more movement than a typical fastball. Some pitchers use a cutter to prevent hitters from expecting their regular fastballs. A common technique for throwing a cutter is to use a four-seam fastball grip with the baseball set slightly off center in the hand. A batter hitting a cutter pitch often achieves only soft contact and an easy out due to the pitch's movement keeping the ball away from the bat's sweet spot. The cutter is typically 2–5 mph slower than a pitcher's four-seam fastball. In 2010, the average pitch classified as a cutter by PITCHf/x thrown by a right-handed pitcher was 88.6 mph; the average two-seamer was 90.97 mph.
Lee Arthur Smith is an American former professional baseball pitcher who played 18 years in Major League Baseball (MLB) for eight teams. Serving mostly as a relief pitcher during his career, he was a dominant closer, was the first pitcher to reach 400 saves, and held the major league record for career saves from 1993 until 2006, when Trevor Hoffman passed his total of 478. He was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame as part of the class of 2019 by the Today's Game Era Committee.
Trevor William Hoffman is an American former professional baseball pitcher who played 18 years in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1993 to 2010. A long-time closer, he pitched for the Florida Marlins, San Diego Padres, and Milwaukee Brewers, including more than 15 years for the Padres. Hoffman was the major leagues' first player to reach the 500- and 600-save milestones, and was the all-time saves leader from 2006 until 2011. The National League (NL) leader in career saves, he was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2018. Hoffman currently serves as senior advisor for baseball operations for the Padres.
Joseph Michael Nathan is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He played 16 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the San Francisco Giants, Minnesota Twins, Texas Rangers, Detroit Tigers, and Chicago Cubs. Nathan started out his baseball career as a shortstop in high school and in college for Stony Brook, but converted to a pitcher after being drafted by the Giants. He worked his way through the minor leagues, alternating between spots in the rotation and the bullpen.
In baseball statistics, strikeouts per nine innings pitched is the mean of strikeouts by a pitcher per nine innings pitched. It is determined by multiplying the number of strikeouts by nine, and dividing by the number of innings pitched.
In Major League Baseball (MLB), the 300 save club is the group of pitchers who have recorded 300 or more regular-season saves in their careers. Most commonly a relief pitcher earns a save by being the final pitcher of a game in which his team is winning by three or fewer runs and pitching at least one inning without losing the lead. The final pitcher of a game can earn a save by getting at least one batter out to end the game with the tying run on base, at bat, or on deck, or by pitching the last three innings without relinquishing the lead, regardless of score. The statistic was created by Jerome Holtzman in 1959 to "measure the effectiveness of relief pitchers" and was adopted as an official statistic by MLB in 1969. The save has been retroactively measured for past pitchers where applicable. Hoyt Wilhelm retired in 1972 and recorded just 31 saves from 1969 onwards, for example, but holds 228 total career saves.
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