The next category of pitchers in our 2004-2017 league record book is saves, yet another flawed stat. And to be clear, Brilliant Reader, I saw some weird stuff in the 2017 box scores regarding saves. Once, I saw a pitcher who threw the 8th inning, but not the 9th, given a save (I don’t want to go through all of the box scores to find it, so maybe it was fixed later…). I also saw at least two pitchers throw 3 shutout innings of relief, while finishing the game their team won, and not be given a save. It’s very possible I’m missing something, but….

ANYWAY, let’s take a look at official saves given….

1 Adam Zipko New Market 2013 18
2 Chris Dennis Winchester 2004 15
3 Derrik Lutz Front Royal 2004 14
4 Brandon Dickson New Market 2005 13
Joel Brookens Front Royal 2007 13
Jimmy Stanley Waynesboro 2007 13
Shawn Griffith Fauquier 2008 13
8 Bobby Hernandez Staunton 2007 12
9 Chris Fessler Harrisonburg 2005 11
Daniel Bridgeman Strasburg 2013 11

Adam Zipko crushed this list in 2013, earning 20% more saves than the previous high, set all the way back in 2004. The highest total in 2017 was shared by Purcellville’s Dalton Whitaker, Woodstock’s Jonathon Murphy, and Purcellville’s Trey Alderman, who all ended up with 5 saves. (I think managers should manage with no consideration for the save statistic, so I’m all for this trend.)

Major leagues: Brandon Dickson
Previous minor leagues: Chris Dennis, Derrik Lutz, Shawn Griffith, Bobby Hernandez, Chris Fessler
No pro ball: Adam Zipko, Joel Brookens, Jimmy Stanley (pitched in Indy Ball), Daniel Bridgeman

Adam Zipko Millersville
Zipko at Millersville