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Trevor Hoffman earned his 600th career save on Tuesday night, making him the first player in Major League Baseball history to accomplish that feat.  

Here’s a look back at Hoffman’s long road from minor league shortstop to the most prolific closer of all time.

Trevor Hoffman’s 600 Saves Timeline

April 29th, 1993 – 1st Career Save – Florida Marlins def. Atlanta Braves

April 13th, 1997 – 100th Career Save – San Diego Padres def. Philadelphia Phillies

June 23rd, 1997 – 114th Career Save – San Diego Padres def. San Francisco Giants – Hoffman’s 109th Save as a Padre surpasses Rollie Fingers to become San Diego’s all time saves leader.

June 10th, 1999 – 200th Career Save – San Diego Padres def. Oakland A’s

August 15th 2001 – 300th Career Save – San Diego Padres def. New York Mets

May 6th, 2005 – 400th Career Save – San Diego Padres def. St. Louis Cardinals

September 24th, 2006 – 479 Career Saves – San Diego Padres def. Pittsburgh Pirates – Hoffman passes Lee Smith, establishing new Major League Baseball all-time saves record

June 6th, 2007 – 500th Career Save – San Diego Padres def. Los Angeles Dodgers

September 7th, 2010 – 600th Career Save – Milwaukee Brewers def. St. Louis Cardinals

Trevor Hoffman Facts and Statistics

– Trevor Hoffman has pitched against all 30 current major league teams.

– Most Faced Team: Los Angeles Dodgers (100 times)
– Least Faced Team: Baltimore Orioles, Detroit Tigers, Tampa Bay Rays (one time each)

– Most Saves vs. Opponent: 68 (Los Angeles Dodgers)
– Fewest Saves vs. Opponent: 0 (Chicago White Sox, Detroit Tigers, New York Yankees)

– Lowest Career ERA vs. Opponent: 0.00 (Baltimore, Detroit, KC, Tampa, Toronto)
– Highest Career ERA vs. Opponent: 13.50 (Chicago White Sox)

– Most Career Wins vs. Opponent: 9 (Cincinnati Reds)
– Most Career Losses vs. Opponent: 8 (Colorado Rockies/Los Angeles Dodgers)

– Most Strikeouts vs. Opponent: 105 (Los Angeles Dodgers)
– Fewest Strikeouts vs. Opponent: 0 (Detroit Tigers—the only team against which he’s never struck out a batter)

– Most Total Walks Allowed vs. Opponent: 30 (San Francisco Giants, Los Angeles Dodgers)
– Fewest Total Walks Allowed vs. Opponent: 0  (Red Sox, Tampa, Tigers, Toronto)

– Most Home Runs Allowed Lifetime vs. Opponent: 13 (Colorado Rockies)
– Fewest Home Runs Allowed Lifetime vs. Opponent: 7 Teams Tied at 0

– Most Innings Pitched vs. Opponent: 103.2 (San Francisco Giants)
– Fewest Innings Pitched vs. Opponent: 1.0 (Baltimore/Detroit/Tampa)

Miscellaneous Stats:

– Trevor Hoffman has only hit nine batters in his career (3 Dodgers, 2 Rockies, 2 Giants, 1 Astros, 1 Phillies).

– At the plate, Trevor Hoffman’s lifetime batting average is 0.118 (4 for 34).

– As a hitter, Trevor Hoffman has zero career home runs and 5 total RBIs.

– Trevor Hoffman’s career fielding percentage is .974.

– Trevor Hoffman has only committed four fielding errors in his career.

– Trevor Hoffman has thrown 49 career wild pitches.

Summary

For his career, Trevor Hoffman owns a 61-75 record (.449) with a 2.87 ERA.  He’s struck out 1,132 batters and walked 307 in 1,086.1 innings pitched.  He’s converted 600 of 676 save opportunities for a career save percentage of .887.

What does this all mean?  For Hoffman, one day, a trip to Cooperstown and baseball immortality.

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It took a little over three years, but Trevor Hoffman reached yet another plateau in his already Hall of Fame career on Tuesday: his 600th career save.

On June 6, 2007, Hoffman recorded his 500th career save as the San Diego Padres defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers. That save put Hoffman into uncharted territory. Never before had any man recorded 500 saves.

Though many believe that Mariano Rivera is the best closer of all time, Hoffman will always be the man who got to 500 before anyone else.

Well, after Tuesday, he will also be known as the man who got to 600 saves before anyone as well. Hoffman, now closing games (albeit part-time) with the Milwaukee Brewers, recorded his 600th career save against the St. Louis Cardinals.

Arguments have been made that the save is an “overrated stat.” Granted, the save is a relatively new statistic to the game of baseball—it was introduced to the game during the late ’60s.

To put it into perspective, Lee Smith ended his career with 478 saves, good for third all-time. But in 18 seasons, which is how long Hoffman’s career has been, Smith threw roughly 200 more innings than Hoffman.

In 1991, Smith led all of baseball with 47 saves. In that season, he logged 73 innings pitched. In 1998, Hoffman led all of baseball with 53 saves, and he too pitched 73 innings.

But regardless of how “meaningless” the stat may be, Hoffman has reached a milestone; a benchmark that no one in the long and glorious history of baseball has ever reached. That feat alone should already cause Cooperstown to begin clearing room for his plaque.

Of his now 600 saves, the majority came while he was a member of the Padres. While playing in San Diego, Hoffman closed out 552 games. He began his career as a Florida Marlin and saved two games for them. Hoffman has saved 46 games since joining the Brew Crew prior to the 2009 season.

Now that he is almost 43-years old, Hoffman has seen his productivity decline and is now sharing the closing duties with the up-and-coming John Axford. 

Hoffman is the all-time leader in saves. He has cleared hurdle after hurdle and has built himself quite a career. Of course, he is still missing that mystical World Series ring.

So will this be his last season? Is recording 600 saves enough for the right-hander? Or does he have the hunger to keep going?

Either way, rest assured that Hoffman will soon be joining Rollie Fingers, Dennis Eckersley, Goose Gossage, and Bruce Sutter as closers enshrined in the Hall of Fame.

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Trevor Hoffman has come a long way.

Who would have guessed back in 1989 that the skinny shortstop and third baseman taken in the 11th round of the amateur draft by the Cincinnati Reds would someday make history, becoming Major League Baseball’s all-time saves leader?

Probably not even Jim Lett, Hoffman’s manager in Single-A Charleston, who encouraged Trevor to try switching to pitcher in 1991. And switch he did.

Now, nearly 20 years and three teams after that fateful conversion, the legendary Marlins, Padres, and Brewers closer made history again.

Clad in a Milwaukee Brewers uniform, Trevor Hoffman entered the game in the ninth inning to AC/DC’s “Hells Bells” (his signature calling card) and closed the door on the St. Louis Cardinals, preserving a 4-2 Brewers victory. The save was Hoffman’s ninth on the season and, more importantly, his 600th save in a long, illustrious career.

As baseball fans worldwide celebrate the historic achievement, here’s a look back at Trevor Hoffman’s career closing milestones.

Trevor Hoffman Saves Timeline

April 29th, 1993: First Career Save—Florida Marlins def. Atlanta Braves

April 13th, 1997: 100th Career Save—San Diego Padres def. Philadelphia Phillies

June 23rd, 1997: 114th Career Save—San Diego Padres def. San Francisco Giants; Hoffman’s 109th save as a Padre surpasses Rollie Fingers as he becomes San Diego’s all-time saves leader.

June 10th, 1999: 200th Career Save—San Diego Padres def. Oakland A’s

August 15th, 2001: 300th Career Save—San Diego Padres def. New York Mets

May 6th, 2005: 400th Career Save—San Diego Padres def. St. Louis Cardinals

September 24th, 2006: 479th Career Save—San Diego Padres def. Pittsburgh Pirates; Hoffman passes Lee Smith, establishing new Major League Baseball all-time saves record.

June 6th, 2007: 500th Career Save—San Diego Padres def. Los Angeles Dodgers

September 7th, 2010: 600th Career Save—Milwaukee Brewers def. St. Louis Cardinals

So what’s next for the future Hall of Famer? Hoffman’s not saying. He’s elected to wait until the end of the season to decide on his future.

The Brewers and Hoffman have a mutual contract option for $7 million for 2011. If the option is not exercised, a $500,000 buyout clause kicks in.

Regardless of what his future holds, Hoffman will savor today. Congratulations, Trevor Hoffman, on your 600th career save!

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With Trevor Hoffman finally closing in (pun intended) on career save No. 600, I wanted to definitely to highlight the forthcoming achievement in some way.

I thought about a career retrospective but decided that would be best left for once his career is actually complete.

I considered a chronicle of his year-plus spent in a Brewers uniform, but that too isn’t a chapter that is finished being written.

A listing of accolades for Hoffman could write itself and easily eclipse 1,000 words without even trying, and a thoughtful piece about what it must mean for Hoffman to have fallen so hard and fast off what appeared to be the edge of the Chasm of Old Age only to right his ship, so to speak, and once again be considered as a reliable option just seems like it might be a bit premature.

In other words, that seems like it ought to wait until 600 has actually been reached as opposed to only being somewhere off on the seemingly distant horizon.

So instead, I offer this tried and true format of placing Hoffman in a list of his game-ending brethren because quite frankly, whether he never records another save or notches his 600th on Saturday (two games from now since he’s still only at 598), it won’t affect my feelings as to where he places in said list.

Read it, debate it in the comments, call me names, dispute my opinions, offer me new-school statistics to support your points and refute mine…or simply agree with me.

Either way, let’s have some fun with this, okay?

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They say “Home is where the heart is,” and that saying is truer now than it has been all season in Milwaukee.

Except now the saying goes, “Home is where the Hart is.”

MLB.com’s Adam McCalvy has reported that Corey Hart, 28, has signed a contract extension with the Brewers to continue his memorable season.

As recently as May, a contract of this manner would never have been fathomable. Hart, coming off the team’s first arbitration hearing since 1998, was not making regular appearances in the lineup.

Fans and media alike, as in 2009, were on Hart’s case after he won a $4.8 million salary and was not producing. Then a walk-off home run against New York, followed by a grand slam the next night out, jolted a season that has led to an All-Star appearance.

Just call it a story we never expected.

“I’m anxious to go out there and prove to everybody that I’m worth it,” he said in spring training. “I told [GM] Doug [Melvin] and [assistant GM] Gord [Ash] that I want to go out and prove to them that I’m a guy who could get a long-term deal.

“I love Milwaukee, my family loves it, and we want to stay. The fanbase has been really good to me, and the ones who are mad, hopefully I can win them back over.”

Corey will bring to Chicago, along with his new contract, a .288 average, 23 home runs, 72 RBI, and a .910 OPS.

ESPN’s Buster Olney reports that Hart will bring in $26.5 million during the three-year deal.

The deal covers 2011-2013, which would have been Corey’s final year of arbitration and first two free agency seasons.

Just days ago a subject of trade rumors, including the Giants making a serious late push, Hart now is locked up until age 31 with the Brewers.

The signing may reveal that Melvin is open to trading Prince Fielder this winter for pitching. Rickie Weeks may also re-sign along with Hart.

Hart was the first young star to crack through to the big leagues, making his debut with the Brewers in 2004. He was followed by Weeks, Fielder, J.J. Hardy, Ryan Braun, and Yovani Gallardo.

He said all along he would like to stay in Brew Town.

“I would be disappointed to be traded away from the Brewers, because this is the only team I know,” he said last month. “I would like to stick it out here and help to turn things around.”

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Sources within the Chicago White Sox organization, on the condition of anonymity, have indicated that GM Kenny Williams is talking to the Milwaukee Brewers about a blockbuster trade that would send powerful first baseman Prince Fielder to the Sox.

In exchange, the Sox would send a package of young players. While Williams has not publicly acknowledged interest in Fielder (that would be tampering anyway), he did have this to say to MLB.com’s Scott Merkin:

“Well, if there’s an opportunity to win a World Series, you got to do what you got to do sometimes—within reason,” Williams said. “But it’s got to be, you have to have a real opportunity. I think we have an opportunity.”

The Sox clearly see themselves as having a chance to contend in the AL Central all season now, and the aggressive Sox GM is willing to trade the future for a shot at winning right now.

It has been widely speculated that the Sox are interested in Adam Dunn, but Fielder would certainly fit the bill very nicely, as the powerful lefty bat they’re craving.

Fielder has a .260/.385/.481/.866 slash, with 17 homers, and just turned 26 in May.

Meanwhile, the Brewers figure to be out of the race this year, and they are privately concerned about Fielder’s salary demands and his weight.

Fielder’s body type isn’t ideal for long-term success, but it certainly isn’t unprecedented to have a fat ballplayer continue to rake into his 30s.

Um, anyone remember a kid that went by the nickname of “Babe”?

He makes $11M this year and with a strong finish, will likely receive a hefty increase going forward.

But remember, this a guy who hit 50 homers in 2007 and 46 last season. His career OBP is .381, so, like Dunn, he draws walks, but with a few less strikeouts.

Fielder averages 131 Ks per 162 games, while Dunn averages 180. He is also about 4.5 years younger.

So what kind of package will lure the Brewers into moving Fielder to the Sox?

Well, they are reluctant to trade Gordon Beckham, despite his slow start to the season. But that shouldn’t be a deal breaker, as the Brewers have a young shortstop in Alcides Escobar and a second base prospect in Brett Lawrie.

But they are apparently willing to move prospects such as Jordan Danks, Tyler Flowers, Dan Hudson, or Dayan Viciedo.

According to ESPN’s Keith Law, Milwaukee has the 26th ranked farm system, so they need the boost that a trade like this could bring.

In fact, this deal makes so much sense that it could not possibly happen. Or could it?

Where there’s smoke, there’s fire.

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Since the 2008 All-Star Game, no hitter for the Milwaukee Brewers has faced more scrutiny than outfielder Corey Hart.

Hart followed up a breakout 2007 season by winning the fans’ ballot to become the final member of the National League All-Star team in 2008. Then he was unable to throw out Justin Morneau at home plate and Hart’s downward spiral began.

Prior to the game, Hart was hitting .289 with 15 home runs. However, he finished the season hitting .268. He hit just five home runs in the final three months of the season, just as the Brewers made their playoff push in September. 

His struggles continued in 2009, a season that he hit just .260 with 12 home runs and 47 RBI in 115 games. Hart further distanced himself from Brewer fans by continually speaking out against his home crowd to the local media. 

The last straw for many fans came this past winter. Hart was given a substantial raise to $4.8 million for the 2010 season despite his previous struggles. However, Hart promised everyone he would prove his worth this season. To his credit, he has more than made up for the past season-and-a-half.

Hart leads the league in home runs (17), and he already has just one fewer RBI (47) than he had all of last year (48). He’s also only eight home runs away from a career high in the category. His power surge is surprising since he only hit three homers in the first six weeks of the season.

Not only has Hart worked his way back into the good graces of the fan base and management, he may be hitting his way right out of the organization.

Hart’s name has been linked recently to both the Mariners and Braves in possible trade scenarios. Each team, along with several others, is looking for a bat to bolster weak offenses. In exchange, Milwaukee would want pitching to bolster their rotation and bullpen, which have been mired in a season-long slump.

The most recent rumors have the Brewers and Mariners in discussions with a potential third team in a three-team deal that would see Hart sent to the Mariners for impending free agent pitcher Cliff Lee. The Brewers would then send Lee to a third team for young pitching that they could control for several years.

Although the idea of selling high on Hart is very tempting, management needs to resist the notion and keep Hart around as long as they can.

Prince Fielder will very likely be traded this coming winter. The Brewers will need to find a replacement for the slugging first baseman. Hart spent some time at first base in the minors and he could transition back to the infield with relative ease. Other options (Mat Gamel and Brett Lawrie) are both unproven prospects that the Brewers would be taking a giant risk on as they try to replace Fielder.

With Hart’s move to first base, the Brewers could field Ryan Braun, Carlos Gomez, and top prospect Lorenzo Cain in the outfield. The team would lose Hart’s power, but the overall team defense would improve greatly. Cain would immediately become one of the team’s top base stealers.

Hart is under one more season of team control before becoming a free agent after the 2011 season. He’s in line for another substantial raise after this season. This time it will be justified. Perhaps the Brewers could even sign him to a four or five-year contract extension this off-season. This would be a much better value than any contract Fielder would be seeking.

Hart’s name wasn’t on the All-Star ballot for the 2010 edition of the game, but could he come full circle and be named the winner of the fans’ choice for a second time?

Regardless of another possible appearance in the Midsummer Classic, Corey Hart, Brewer fans, and management are all thrilled with his stunning turnaround back into a legitimate power threat. Now the only thing that remains is just how long Hart will remain with the Brewers.

To read more by Jesse Motiff, click here.  

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It had been so long since a Brewers starter had gone at least seven innings that it felt like a miracle when Randy Wolf went seven strong innings to defeat the Astros in the 6-1 victory at Miller Park last night.

Wolf had been struggling mightily over his last two starts, with 12 runs allowed to the Cardinals and the Pirates. He also had been walking too many batters, with 25 in just 54.2 innings. Last night, he only had three walks with four Ks and no earned runs.

They need Wolf to be this consistent since they gave him a three-year, $29.75 million contract. He has not lived up to the contract so far, so he will need more starts like this to make GM Doug Melvin look good for signing him. Wolf definitely needs to keep cutting down on the walks in order to have more success.

This also gave the bullpen a much-needed night off after going through every reliever over the weekend. Ryan Braun hit his eighth homer of the year, and Rickie Weeks broke out of a huge slump to go 3-for-5 with a homer, two RBI, and two runs.

Is this something to build on? Brewers fans have to hope so since they have struggled so much at home this year. They have to at least win the series against Houston and then have the Mets this weekend.

They have Chris Narveson on the mound tonight, who has been one of the most consistent starters on the staff, and the Astros have their ace in Roy Oswalt. Oswalt has had the worst run support in the majors with just 2.07 average runs per start. Will Narveson make it three straight wins tonight? We shall see.

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Over the weekend, owners in two-catcher formats got a new name to ponder: the Brewers’ Jonathan Lucroy.

With Gregg Zaun going on the DL, the Brewers recalled Lucroy, who Baseball America ranked their fifth best prospect heading into the season.

Splitting time between Double and Triple-A, he posted the following line in 2010:

122 At-Bats
.311 Batting Average (38 Hits)
Two Home Runs
16 RBI
16 Runs
Zero Stolen Bases
.349 On-Base Percentage
.418 Slugging Percentage
.350 Batting Average on Balls in Play

For a player with little speed and power, it’s hard to imagine being able to maintain that lofty of a BABIP. Right off the bat, you would have to think that the batting average, which is his one redeeming quality for fantasy owners, is unrealistic.

There is a little bit of an upside, however: He has a tremendous eye at the plate. The 2007 third round draft choice has an 11.3 percent walk rate over his minor league career, compared to a 16.3 percent strikeout rate. Those numbers helped lead to a .298 career minor league average, but again, with a .334 BABIP, it’s unlikely that he can maintain that type of average in the major leagues.

The power appears to be nonexistent. For his minor league career he had just a 39.1 percent fly ball rate. While he hit 20 HR between two levels of Single-A in 2008, he hit just nine at Double-A in 2009 and again was showing little power at the upper levels in 2010.

Baseball America described him prior to the season by saying:

“He has a good approach and a short swing, squares the ball up and has solid gap power. He has a career .380 on-base percentage and walked more than he struck out in 2009.”

Gap power…that’s just not what you say about a player who possesses a lot of power.

Without the power and with a likely increased strikeout rate (it wouldn’t be a shocking to see it jump to around 20 percent), seeing him hit .300 would be a huge surprise. Even if he were to hit .275 or so, he’s not likely to have the power or run production, should he stay in the lineup, to be anything more then a low-end fantasy option.

As it is, once Zaun returns, it would be surprising to see Lucroy stay with the major league club considering there are concerns surrounding his defense. Even if he were to stay, the other names I discussed when talking about Jorge Posada (click here to view) appears much more appealing at this point.

What about you? Is Lucroy someone who you would consider? Why or why not?

Make sure to check out other recent Scouting Reports:

• Jason Donald
• John Ely

THIS ARTICLE IS ALSO FEATURED ON WWW.ROTOPROFESSOR.COM

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It was the bottom of the ninth, and manager Ken Macha was faced with a very difficult decision on who to bring out to close it out.

The Brewers had a 4-3 lead, and Trevor Hoffman was unavailable due to work on his mechanics.

Macha brought out their best reliever to date: Carlos Villanueva. Villanueva got Ronny Cedeno to fly out but then hit Ryan Doumit.

Luckily he was able to get Delwyn Young to ground into a double play to close it out. He got the only save thus far that was by a reliever other than Hoffman.

One has to wonder, will Macha stick with Villanueva, or will he have the guts to go back to Hoffman once he has worked on his “mechanics?”

Unless Villanueva implodes, I would think Macha has to stick with him. No matter what Hoffman may say, he can’t go back to Hoffman right now.

Villanueva just had a clean ninth inning, something Hoffman hasn’t done since he closed out the Padres weeks ago. How do you not stick with him?

Another positive from last night was another quality start from Chris Narveson. Narveson has been a bright spot in a struggling Brewers rotation.

He has been their second most consistent starter after ace Yovani Gallardo. He has a 4.24 ERA in May with a 3-1 record, 22 strikeouts, and only eight walks.

Also, rookie John Axford threw two scoreless innings in the seventh and the eight to give the bullpen some much needed rest. Axford looks to be a major part of the bullpen for the near future. He throws heat and can do something not too many of their relievers could do: throw clean innings.

Macha decided to shake things up a little last night as he decided to bat Prince Fielder third and Ryan Braun fourth. It didn’t really do much as Prince went 1-for-4 and Braun went hitless. Macha will probably stick with it though since they won their first in 10 games.

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