The 2015 Trevor Hoffman National League Reliever of the Year Award was presented to Pittsburgh’s Mike Melancon on Wednesday, prior to Game 2 of the World Series. The Pirates reliever led the Majors with 51 saves and a 96.2% (51-of-53) save percentage.
That total was three saves more than St. Louis Cardinals closer Trevor Rosenthal, who finished as a runner-up along with Jeurys Familia of the New York Mets. Rosenthal’s 48 saves set a franchise single-season mark for the Cardinals.
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The 30-year-old Melancon is one of just 12 pitchers in Major League history to post a 50-save season.
In the American League, Andrew Miller of the New York Yankees was the recipient of the 2015 Mariano Rivera Reliever of the Year Award. Miller converted 36 of his 38 save opportunities (an AL-best 94.7%) in his first season as a Yankee.
Balloting was conducted among a panel of eight all-time great relievers in order to determine the recipients of the Rivera and Hoffman Awards, which debuted in the 2014 season. Rivera and Hoffman, both of whom spent their entire careers in the same League en route to the top of the all-time saves list, were joined as voters by three Hall of Fame relief pitchers – Dennis Eckersley, Rollie Fingers and Bruce Sutter – and the three relievers who round out the top five in career saves – Lee Smith, John Franco and Billy Wagner.
The eight voters ranked the top three AL relief pitchers and the top three NL relief pitchers based solely on regular season performance, using a 5-3-1 weighted point system.
photo credit: Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports
