MLB: Ranking the Top 10 Closers in Baseball Right Now
By zacklosel
# 3 – Jonathan Papelbon – Philadelphia Phillies
Age: 32
2012 Stats: 2.44 ERA / 92 K’s / 38 Saves / 1.06 WHIP / 70.0 IP
Career Stats: 2.34 ERA / 601 K’s / 257 Saves / 1.02 WHIP / 499.1 IP.
Career K/9: 10.83.
Career K/BB ratio: 4.52.
March 24, 2013; Clearwater, FL, USA; Philadelphia Phillies relief pitcher Jonathan Papelbon (58) throws a pitch during the sixth inning against the Boston Red Sox at Bright House Networks Field. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports
Heading over from spacious Fenway to the equally expansive Citizens Bank Park, Jonathan Papelbon spent the 2012 season with his new club in Philadelphia, and boy did he deliver, striking out a career high ninety two batters on his way to locking down thirty eight saves.
He may be thirty two, but with only one season with an ERA over 3.00 – 2010, where his ERA was an uncharacteristic 3.90, he still converted thirty seven save opportunities that season – Jonathan Papelbon has unquestioningly remained a constant in the majors, as one of the most effective closers on a current roster.
With two hundred fifty seven career saves in eight seasons, he is one of the most consistent closers of the last decade, averaging just above thirty two saves a season. Over the last five years, he’s accumulated one hundred eighty five saves, the most by any closer on this list (unless you count Mariano Rivera’s record starting from 2011, as last year was really a wash for the all-time Yankee great).