What is Saves ?

A save is credited to a relief pitcher who, under certain circumstances, finishes the game and prevents the opposing team from taking the lead. Some of the criteria include not being credited for the win, pitching at least one third of an inning, and entering the game with a lead of 3 runs or less. Generally, for Saves, higher is better. (Source)

What is a good Saves?

What does good Saves mean? "Good" baseball stats can be very subjective and mean different things to different people. I have attempted to quantify good and bad by taking season and career stats for MLB pitchers with a minimum number of pitched outs. In this case 100 for career and 50 for a season. To find good and bad within this cohort of players I calculated the first and third quartiles, anything between these quartiles I consider average. This makes up the middle 50% of players. In an example where higher is better for a stat, below the first quartile (bottom 25% of players) would be bad and above the 3rd quartile (top 25% of players) would be good. For stats where lower is better, flip around good and bad.
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Career, Season, and Season Average Saves Records

For my hot take on Saves records most of the same rules apply from the first section. To be considered for my prestigious lists the player must meet a certain threshold of pitched outs. Since this is a Pitching stat to be considered for the career list the player must have over 100 pitched outs, for a season consideration the player must have had 75 pitched outs. Additionally, the player's final game must have been after 1899.
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Distribution of Career Saves by Player Generation

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Distribution of Season Saves by Player Generation

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Distribution of Career Saves by Player Position

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Distribution of Season Saves by Player Position

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