Joe Nathan

Joe Nathan was one of the top closers in the major leagues for a decade. Nathan made his major league debut in 1999 with the San Francisco Giants. Nathan got his start in baseball as a shortstop at NCAA Division III Stony Brook University in Long Island, New York, and eventually earned notoriety as a pitcher. In the 1995 MLB First Year Player Draft he was selected in the sixth round with the 159th overall pick by the Giants and would eventually become one of their top prospects in the minor leagues. The Giants primarily used Nathan as a set-up man from 1999 to 2003, but when he landed with the Minnesota Twins in 2004 he began to let his fastball loose on major league hitters. During his seven seasons in Minnesota, he was a four-time All-Star and finished in the top five of the Cy Young voting twice while recording 260 saves and earning the 2009 American League Rolaids Relief Man of the Year Award. In 2012 he signed with the Texas Rangers and earned two more All-Star appearances before joining the Detroit Tigers in 2014. Nathan finished his career in 2016 with 377 saves and a 2.87 ERA. He retired in the top ten in big league history in saves and is the all-time leader in save percentage among closers with more than 250 saves.