Craig Kimbrel shuts down his former team and becomes the eighth pitcher in history with 400 career saves

craig kimberl he is the newest member of the 400 saves club. Friday night at Truist Park, the current Philadelphia Phillies closer and for a long time atlanta braves The closer pitched a scoreless ninth in Philadelphia’s win over the Braves (PHI 6, ATL 4) to become the eighth member of the 400 save club.

Here’s the final out of Kimbrel’s 400th save:

Kenley Jansen recorded his 400th career save at Truist Park earlier this season. Like Kimbrel, he is a former Brave.

Kimbrel is in his first season with the Phillies. He was originally drafted by the Braves in 2008 and broke into the majors with Atlanta in 2010. In 2014, Kimbrel passed John Smoltz to become the Braves’ all-time saves leader with 155. He finished his career in the Braves with 186 saves, his most with any team.

The Braves traded Kimbrel on Opening Day 2015. He spent 2010-14 with the Braves before moving to the San Diego Padres (2015), Boston Red Sox (2016-18), chicago cubs (2019-21), Chicago White Sox (2021), los angeles dodgers (2022), and now the Phillies. Kimbrel has recorded saves with seven different teams.

Here’s the all-time saves leaderboard:

1. Mariano Rivera: 652
2. Trevor Hoffman: 601
3. Lee Smith: 478
4. Francis Rodriguez: 437
5. John Franco: 424
6. billy wagner: 422
7. Kenley Jansen: 401
8. Craig Kimbrell: 400

The standings skew toward recent due to changes in bullpen roles and bullpen usage over the years. Rivera, Hoffman and Smith are all in the Hall of Fame, and Wagner could soon join them. His support rose to 68.1% this year, his eighth year on the ballot. Wagner has two more years to pass the 75% threshold needed to enter the Hall of Fame.

Wagner entering the Hall of Fame could help Kimbrel (and Jansen) one day find themselves in Cooperstown. Hall of Fame voters have grown increasingly supportive of modern one-inning closers in recent years, and Kimbrel (and Jansen) is one of the best of this era. Kimbrel will have a viable Hall of Fame case when the time comes.

This season, the 34-year-old Kimbrel is a perfect 6-for-6 in save opportunities after beginning the year in more of a setup role. He has seven postseason saves to go along with his 400 regular-season saves, and Kimbrel’s 14.4 strikeouts per nine innings is the highest strikeout rate ever among pitchers with 700 innings of his career. Jansen is second with 12.9.

Behind Jansen and Kimbrel, the active save leader is Aroldis Chapman at 317. These days, the 35-year-old Chapman is primarily a prep man with the Kansas City Royals. edwin diaz (205 saved at age 29) and joseph hader (145 saves at age 29) are candidates to be the next members of the 400 save club.