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Craig Kimbrel has become the 8th member of the 400-save club in Major League Baseball. Kimbrel, currently in his first season with the Philadelphia Phillies, closed out the game with a scoreless ninth inning in their win over the Atlanta Braves on Friday night. Like Kimbrel, Kenley Jansen, the LA Dodgers closer, is also a former member of the Braves and achieved his 400th career save at Truist Park earlier this season.
Kimbrel has recorded saves with seven different teams over his career, with his most successful period coming with the Braves between 2010 and 2014, when he passed John Smoltz and became the Braves all-time saves leader with 155. Kimbrel’s save-trade away from the Braves on Opening Day 2015 marked the start of a relatively peripatetic journey since, taking himself and his arm to the San Diego Padres (2015), Boston Red Sox (2016-18), Chicago Cubs (2019-21), Chicago White Sox (2021) and now the Phillies, where he is currently a perfect 6 for 6 in save chances. Kimbrel has seven postseason saves in addition to his 400 regular-season saves, and he holds the highest strikeout rate (14.4 strikeouts per nine innings) in history among pitchers with 700 career innings.
The all-time saves leaderboard does skew recent given the changes in bullpen roles and bullpen usage over the years, with Mariano Rivera, Trevor Hoffman and Lee Smith leading the pack. Of the eight members in the club, Billy Wagner may soon join the Hall of Fame as his support climbed to 68.1% this year, his eighth year on the ballot. Hall of Fame voters have become increasingly supportive of modern one-inning closers in recent years, which may work to benefit Kimbrel (and Jansen) when they are considered for induction.
Currently, active leader in saves is Aroldis Chapman at 317, with Edwin Díaz (205 saves at age 29) and Josh Hader (145 saves at age 29) likely candidates to join the 400-save club in the future. Kimbrel looks set to extend his total with the Phillies in the coming years and is likely to have a viable case for induction into the Hall of Fame when his career comes to a close.
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