# Aroldis Chapman Reaches 10th Place on MLB's All-Time Saves List with Career Save No. 378

**Date:** 05/20/2026

Cuban closer Aroldis Chapman, nicknamed The Cuban Missile, added another chapter to his historic career on Monday, May 19, 2026, recording his 378th career save in the Boston Red Sox's 3-1 victory over the Kansas City Royals, a milestone that placed him in sole possession of 10th place on baseball's all-time saves list.


The 38-year-old left-hander from Holguín threw a perfect ninth inning to seal the win. With 378 career saves, Chapman definitively passed fellow closer Joe Nathan (377), with whom he had shared 10th place the previous day. Of the nine pitchers still ahead of him on the all-time list, five are members of the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown.


"I'm happy, I'm proud to be in that select group. I think that speaks about the consistency and the hard work I've put in throughout my career," Chapman said through a translator after the game. "[But] the saves are not something I was chasing throughout my career. It's not something I'm very aware of — who the leaders are. I'm going to keep going out there, performing, and we'll see in a couple of years what happens."


The Red Sox entered Tuesday's game with an 18-0 record when leading after seven innings, a run driven in no small part by the reliability of Chapman and setup man Garrett Whitlock as a shutdown late-inning tandem.


In the 2026 season, Chapman has accumulated 11 saves with a 1.76 ERA over 17 appearances, striking out 22 batters while allowing just four earned runs. His streak of consecutive successful save conversions dating to July 2025 stands at 26 without a blown save.


Beyond the saves milestone, the Holguín native is also chasing the all-time strikeout record among relief pitchers: with 1,351 career strikeouts, he is just 12 away from tying American Hoyt Wilhelm (1,363), the all-time leader among relievers in that category.


Born on February 28, 1988, in Holguín, Cuba, Chapman made his Major League debut in 2010 with the Cincinnati Reds. Over his career, he has also worn the uniforms of the New York Yankees, Chicago Cubs, Kansas City Royals, Texas Rangers, and Pittsburgh Pirates. The holder of two World Series rings (Chicago 2016, Texas 2023), two Mariano Rivera Awards as the American League's best reliever, and a Guinness World Record for the fastest pitch in baseball history (105.8 mph), Chapman is widely regarded as a future Hall of Famer.


(Sources: Boston Globe / OnCuba News / La Opinión / elextrabase.com)