It’s time again for Baseball Roundtable’s Trivia(l) Tidbit Tuesday. I hope you are enjoying this weekly presentation of baseball occurrences that for some reason caught The Roundtable’s eye. (I’m particularly fond of unexpected performances and statistical coincidences.) These won’t necessarily be momentous occurrences, just events, statistics or coincidences that grabbed my attention. I’m also drawn to baseball “unicorns,” one-of-a-kind MLB accomplishments or statistics.
Twins’ rookie righthander Travis Adams recently had a pretty good series against the Boston Red Sox – picking up a win on May 22 (just his second MLB victory) and needing just one pitch to log his first MLB save on May 24. In the latter game, he came on with two out in the bottom of the ninth, with the Twins up 6-5 and runners on first and third. He got Red Sox’ CF Ceddanne Raffaela to fly out to CF on his very first offering.
What intrigued The Roundtable was not the one-pitch aspect of the save, but the fact that it made Adams the eleventh Twins’ pitcher to record a save this season. As usual with The Roundtable “one thing led to another” and I had to know what team held the record for the most pitchers logging saves in a season. Turns out the current record of 17 was set by the 2025 Diamondbacks. In fact, the top four team figures also occurred in the 2020’s: 2025 Diamondbacks (17); 2024 Dodgers (14); 2021 Rays (14); and 2024 Rays (13).
Oops! Another Bright and Shiny Thing Caught The Roundtable’s Eye
The record for the most saves in a season by a pitcher who recorded ALL of his team’s saves is 47, by Kenley Jansen of the 2016 Dodgers. Jansen went 3-2, 1.83, with 47 saves in 53 opportunities. Eleven other Dodgers’ pitchers were offered a total of 16 save opportunities without logging a save. The Dodger went 91-71 that season.
I went on to take a deeper look at that 2025 Diamondbacks’ record-breaking staff, Here are a few tidbits about that squad and the late-inning door.
- Injuries played a role in the revolving saves door, as the Diamondbacks lost their top two relievers to injury early on: J. Puk in April and Justin Martinez in June. Veteran Shelby Miller, who stepped up to fill the gap (and led the team in saves with ten) was traded to the Brewers on July 31 – and even he caught the injury bug, going on the IL (as a Brewer) in early September.
- Nine of the 17 pitchers on the list recorded their first MLB save in 2025: Jake Woodford; Andrew Saalfrank; Anthony DeSclafani; Kyle Backhus; Taylor Rashi; Ryan Nelson; Juan Morillo; Drey Jameson; Kyle Nelson.
- For various reasons (injury, demotion to the minors or release), nine of the 17 pitchers have not pitched in the major leagues this season (as I key this post).
- Despite having the most pitchers ever to record save, in 2025 the Diamondbacks logged the second fewest relief appearances in MLB (503).
- Overall, the relief corps notched 42 saves – and had 29 blown saves.
- Surprisingly, the Diamondbacks finished in the top half of MLB teams in total saves 42 (tied for twelfth among the thirty teams). They finished: 29th in wins by relievers (25); sixth in losses by relievers (35); second in blown saves (29); 14th in holds (89); and 27th in bullpen earned run average (4.82).
- The Diamondbacks were one of 21 MLB teams to go to the bullpen in every 2025 game. Still, their 503 relief appearances were the second-fewest in MLB (the Cardinals had the fewest at 487).
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