500 saves, possible?

I listened to a podcast show a few days ago. In the podcast show, an audience member asked a question about Kenley Jansen’s career. The host answered the question by covering different aspects.

 

After listening to the show, I just thought about several things about Jansen’s career. Kenley Jansen, at this moment, is a free agent. Hence, we still don’t know which team he will pitch for in the 2026 season.

 

Not so long ago, Jansen’ former teammate, Clayton Kershaw retired as a champion. Kershaw and the Dodgers won the 2025 World Series. Kershaw is actually a few months younger than Jansen. When we see Kershaw call it a career after the 2025 season, well, more or less, you might wonder if Jansen will follow Kershaw’s footsteps. Of course, you would say that their roles are different. Nonetheless, when a player’s age is over 35, you might think that “something” is getting close.

 

Jansen began his career with the Dodgers and now, he’s 38 years old. Jansen is one of the best closers of this generation. So far in his career, he has 476 saves, which rank 4th most of all time. Moreover, he has a 2.57 ERA and a 0.96 WHIP over 927.1 innings. Jansen has struck out 1278 batters thus far in his career. Looking at Jansen’s numbers, I’m just wondering what he will achieve at the end of his career.

 

Firstly, Jansen now has 476 saves. When we look at leaders in career saves, Mariano Rivera and Trevor Hoffman each had 600+ saves in their Hall of Fame careers. For Jansen, it seems unlikely to reach 600 saves. Nonetheless, another Hall of Famer Lee Smith collected 478 saves in his career. It’s possible to see Jansen surpass Lee Smith in career saves because Jansen needs 3 saves.

 

In addition, Jansen now has 1278 strikeouts in his career. Is it possible to see him reach 1300 strikeouts? In the 2025 season, Jansen struck out 57 batters in 59 innings. It seems that he can throw a strikeout per inning. So, if Jansen can reach 30 innings in 2026, he might reach 1300 strikeouts in his career.

 

Finally, this might be something worth discussing. Can Jansen reach 500 saves in his career? In the 2025 season, Jansen made 62 relief appearances and picked up 29 saves, tying 9th most in the majors. To reach 500 saves, Jansen needs 24 saves. What does that mean? Well, in the 2025 season, 16 pitchers had at least 24 saves. Thus, it’s not so easy. Nonetheless, it’s not impossible.

 

Looking at Jansen’s performance in 2025, he finished the season with a 2.59 ERA and a 0.95 WHIP. Opponents’ batting average against him is only .175. He actually pitched well in 2025. Nevertheless, as he already turned 38, those teams which would like to sign him might think twice before agreeing to a deal with him. Moreover, it’s highly possible that those teams would only offer a one-year contract. So, it could be interesting to see where Jansen will eventually go. Hopefully, he will ink a deal and keep building on his resume to the Hall of Fame.