The Cuban pitcher Raidel Martínez achieved his 31st save of the season on Friday, closing out the 1-0 victory of the Yomiuri Giants against the Chunichi Dragons at the Vantelin Dome in Nagoya, according to the specialized site JIT, thus extending his lead in the saves category across the entire Japanese Professional Baseball League.
The pitcher from Pinar struck out two of the three batters he faced in that outing, completing his second consecutive save and improving his ERA to 1.67 for the season.
His closest pursuer in the saves category is Rikuto Yokoyama, a reliever for the Lotte Marines in the Pacific League, who has recorded 28 saves, three fewer than the Cuban.
Raidel's numbers in the 2026 season reflect remarkable consistency: in 40 appearances, he has pitched 37.2 innings, with 43 strikeouts, eight walks, and only seven earned runs allowed.
He has been connected for 23 hits, including two home runs, throughout the season.
This performance comes after a historic 2025 season, in which the closer recorded 46 saves with an ERA of 1.11 over 56.2 innings, tying the record for saves in a single season of the Central League, a record previously held by Hitoki Iwase (Chunichi, 2005) and Kyuji Fujikawa (Hanshin, 2007).
Raidel's journey in Japan has been one of constant improvement. In 2024, his final season with the Chunichi Dragons, he recorded 43 saves and an ERA of 1.09 in 60 appearances, setting a record for Latino pitchers in the NPB.
That performance earned him a four-year contract with the Yomiuri Giants in December 2024 for approximately 32.5 million dollars, the largest contract ever signed by a Latin player in the history of the Japanese league.
In early July of this year, Martínez surpassed American Dennis Sarfate —who had 234 saves— to become the foreign player with the most saves in the history of the NPB, as documented by Swing Completo, reaching a total of 235 saves in his career.
Born on October 11, 1996, in Pinar del Río, the right-handed pitcher has established himself as the most successful foreign reliever in the history of Japanese baseball, and the 2026 season suggests that this lead over others will continue to grow.
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