State of Saves: 2020 Edition

I know information from the 2020 season will be suspect for future use and that includes closer usage patterns. Some parts are interesting. Others useless. Before going through each closer situation, I figured it would be a blood bath. After a month of constant flux, the results are better than I expected (not one established closer lost his job in September). The useable information seems to be in line with the last few seasons.

First off, the emphasis of this study is to determine how many draft-day closers make it through the season. Here is this season’s list with all previous studies found here.

In the sprint, 11 made it, a four-year high. The number would have likely dropped in a normal season. Basically, the full-season turnover happened in the 60-game sprint. Here is how the abbreviated season compares to the last few (incumbent is the pitcher who is the presumed closer to start the season).

Again, most of the information can be ignored because of the small sample. The main points are.

1. Saves are being spread around with the “closer” getting fewer and fewer chances. The drop could be overstated because closers could throw in both halves of all the doubleheaders.
2. Fewer than a third of the closers keep the job from season-to-season. They are just horrible keeper/dynasty investments.
3. With closers, it’s getting more important to focus on talent since most relievers will end up with some Saves.

That’s it for this year. Onto more seasonal recaps.