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] Craig Kimbrel,[7] Francisco Rodríguez,[8] Kenley Jansen,[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 (2024 SV) | Number of saves during the 2024 Major League Baseball season |
SV | Total career saves |
* | Denotes elected to National Baseball Hall of Fame. |
---|---|
Bold | Denotes active player.[note 1] |
Rank | Player (2024 SV) | SV |
---|---|---|
51 | Rafael Soriano | 207 |
52 | Brian Fuentes | 204 |
53 | Jeff Shaw | 203 |
54 | Bobby Thigpen | 201 |
55 | Mike Henneman | 193 |
56 | Mitch Williams | 192 |
57 | Roy Face | 191 |
Keith Foulke | 191 | |
59 | J. J. Putz | 189 |
60 | Mike Marshall | 188 |
61 | Éric Gagné | 187 |
Eddie Guardado | 187 | |
63 | Jeff Russell | 186 |
64 | Steve Bedrosian | 184 |
Kent Tekulve | 184 | |
66 | Danny Graves | 182 |
67 | Tug McGraw | 180 |
68 | Josh Hader (13) | 178 |
Jim Johnson | 178 | |
Ron Perranoski | 178 | |
71 | Kevin Gregg | 177 |
Bryan Harvey | 177 | |
73 | David Robertson (1) | 176 |
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 | Tom Gordon | 158 |
Dan Plesac | 158 | |
84 | Jay Howell | 155 |
Roberto Osuna | 155 | |
86 | Zack Britton | 154 |
John Smoltz* | 154 | |
88 | Cody Allen | 153 |
Stu Miller | 153 | |
90 | Don McMahon | 152 |
91 | Greg Minton | 150 |
92 | Ted Abernathy | 149 |
93 | Willie Hernández | 147 |
94 | Dave Giusti | 145 |
95 | John Axford | 144 |
Santiago Casilla | 144 | |
Jesse Orosco | 144 | |
Mike Williams | 144 | |
99 | Clay Carroll | 143 |
Darold Knowles | 143 |