Yesterday I wrote about Jim Johnson having more saves than the Astros have wins. Well, over at TheScore, yours truly got mentioned in their article on the same topic. In the comments section of that post, a reader named “Hendo” opined:
But how many guys have saved more games than K’s?
J. Johnson has 41 saves and 34 Ks.
It turns out, it hasn’t happened that often at all! Here is the list of “pure relievers” (no games started in a given season) with more saves than strikeouts. Perhaps we should call this “pulling a Todd Jones”:
| Player | Year | SV | SO | Tm | IP | K/9 |
| Jim Johnson | 2012 | 41 | 34 | BAL | 55.1 | 5.53 |
| Brian Fuentes | 2009 | 48 | 46 | LAA | 55.0 | 7.53 |
| Todd Jones | 2008 | 18 | 14 | DET | 41.2 | 3.02 |
| Todd Jones | 2007 | 38 | 33 | DET | 61.1 | 4.84 |
| Todd Jones | 2006 | 37 | 28 | DET | 64.0 | 3.94 |
| Bob Wickman | 2005 | 45 | 41 | CLE | 62.0 | 5.95 |
| Braden Looper | 2005 | 28 | 27 | NYM | 59.1 | 4.10 |
| Dustin Hermanson | 2005 | 34 | 33 | CHW | 57.1 | 5.18 |
| Jose Mesa | 2004 | 43 | 37 | PIT | 69.1 | 4.80 |
| Danny Kolb | 2004 | 39 | 21 | MIL | 57.1 | 3.30 |
| Danny Graves | 2004 | 41 | 40 | CIN | 68.1 | 5.27 |
| Mike Williams | 2002 | 46 | 43 | PIT | 61.1 | 6.31 |
| Dave Smith | 1991 | 17 | 16 | CHC | 33.0 | 4.36 |
| Rich Garces | 1990 | 2 | 1 | MIN | 5.2 | 1.59 |
| Dan Quisenberry | 1984 | 44 | 41 | KCR | 129.1 | 2.85 |
| Don Carman | 1983 | 1 | 0 | PHI | 1.0 | 0.00 |
| Don Stanhouse | 1980 | 7 | 5 | LAD | 25.0 | 1.80 |
| Randy Lerch | 1976 | 1 | 0 | PHI | 3.0 | 0.00 |
| Rick Waits | 1973 | 1 | 0 | TEX | 1.0 | 0.00 |
Presumably the recent increased frequency of this occurrence is due to the increased use of the “one-inning closer”. Fewer batters faced . . . fewer opportunities for strikeouts.
