This has been a rough first six weeks for closers, as half the teams in baseball have a new guy in the ninth-inning role due to poor performances and/or injuries.
Of the closers left standing only four guys have at least five saves without a blown save and showing someone the list before the season would have confused the hell out of them (and probably still does): Jim Johnson, Fernando Rodney, Jonathan Papelbon, Matt Capps.
Those four have combined to convert 43-of-43 save chances. The other 20 closers with at least five saves have converted 156-of-188 save chances, which works out to an 82 percent success rate that’s actually pretty typical across MLB most seasons.
But still: Matt Capps, Fernando Rodney, Jim Johnson, and Jonathan Papelbon.
Proven closers, y’all.
