Raidel Martínez Reaches 215 Career Saves in Japanese Baseball

April 11, 2026

Cuban closer Raidel Martínez delivered his third save of the 2026 Nippon Professional Baseball season on Friday, April 10, reaching a total of 215 career saves since his 2018 debut with the Chunichi Dragons.

Pitching for the Yomiuri Giants, Martínez retired the final three batters — including one strikeout — to seal a 3-2 win over the Tokyo Yakult Swallows. The 29-year-old right-hander from Pinar del Río leads the all-time saves leaderboard among Latin American pitchers in Japanese baseball, making him the only player from the region with more than 200 saves in that league and the second foreign pitcher to reach the 200-save mark, trailing only American Dennis Sarfate (234).

Martínez has posted two seasons with over 40 saves: 2024 with Chunichi (43) and 2025 with Yomiuri (46), the latter setting a new personal best and a Liga Central record. Baseball analysts project that the Cuban hurler could challenge Sarfate's single-season record of 54 saves, set in 2017, and may eventually climb into the top three all-time save leaders in Japanese professional baseball history.