If you’ve been paying attention to the Z-Meter this season, you’ve probably noticed that Brad Brach is having himself a fine season for the Lake Elsinore Storm in the notoriously hitter-friendly California League.
A 42nd round pick by the Padres in 2008, first found his way onto our radar last season when he notched 33 saves and a 1.27 ERA for Low Class A Fort Wayne, earning the Best Class A Reliever award from MiLB.com. The 24-year-old has been just as good this year, saving 31 games already and limiting opposing hitters to 35 hits and just six walks in 46.1 innings.
It was the 2010 saves total that caught my eye a few weeks ago and made me wonder about the single-season minor league record, at least in those seasons for which Baseball-Reference has complete records (I think this still might be 1991-present, but feel free to correct me if I’m wrong).
To answer that question, I hit the minor league leader boards at Baseball-Reference. I wasn’t sure what to expect at first, but it quickly became apparent that this was destined to be a list of 40+ save seasons in the last twenty years:
46 – Jim Cochran, Savannah (South Atlantic) – (1993)
43 – Brent Stentz, New Britain (Eastern) – (1998)
43 – Steve Reed, Phoenix/Shreveport (Pacific Coast/Texas) – (1992)
42 – J.J. Trujillo, Fort Wayne (Midwest) – (2000)
41 – Jose Juan Lopez, Reynosa (Mexican) – (2001)
41 – Brandon Reed, Fayetteille (South Atlantic) – (1995)
41 – Mike Soper, Kinston (Carolina) – (1991)
40 – B.J. Leach, Augusta (South Atlantic) – (2000)
If this list tells us anything, it’s that saving a bunch of games in the minor leagues means nothing. The only pitcher here who had any sort of major league career was Steve Reed, who appeared in nearly 900 games over 14 seasons (he saved 18 of them). Of the rest, only Trujillo even made it to The Show, and then only for nine days, four games, and 2.2 innings.
Brach and Scranton/Wilkes-Barre’s Jonathan Albaladejo are currently tied for the minor league lead with 31 saves. Lake Elsinore has 43 games remaining, which at Brach’s current pace would give him about 45 for the year. His numbers, and assault on Jim Cochran’s record, depend almost entirely on whether or not the Storm can write the ship – after winning the South Division’s first half title with a 46-24 record, the team is just 14-13 in the second half.
If I’m adding things up right, Albaladejo’s first-place Yankees have about 45 games remaining, which would put him at 45 for the season.
