Nathan Leaves Rarefied Air

A sixth-round draft pick way back in 1995, Nathan broke into the big leagues as a starting pitcher. Making it with the organization that drafted him, Joe started 29 games through his first two big league seasons. He allowed more than his fair share of runs, strikeouts were hard to come by, and the free pass was all to frequent. There ended the starting career of Joe Nathan. What took place next could not have been predicted.

The Giants called on Nathan for just over three innings in 2002, and while he pitched 79 in 2003, none of them were in a role that he would eventually come to know as home. San Francisco had tabbed Tim Worrell as their closer, and 38 of his 71 career saves came in that season. It wasn't until Nathan's path brought him to Minnesota that he got his chance.

125 games, and 270 innings into his major league career, Joe Nathan got his first save opportunity. He entered a 3-0 game against the Cleveland Indians at Jacobs Field and shut down the Tribe. He completed that same feat 376 more times over the next 666 games in his career.

From 2004-2011, Nathan recorded 260 of his saves with the Minnesota Twins. As the closer for Minnesota, he went to four All-Star Games, while receiving both MVP and Cy Young votes on two separate occasions. Despite big names like Rick Aguilera and Jeff Reardon before him, it's Nathan who owns the all-time Twins saves record. Being 140 clear of the next active player (Glen Perkins), that doesn't appear to be in jeopardy any time soon.

Used in the most traditional sense of the role, Ron Gardenhire routinely ran Nathan out for the ninth inning knowing he had someone who could shut the opponent down. While he touched mid-to-upper 90's plenty, it was also a devastating slider that kept him one step ahead of opposing batters. Not the triple-digit threat a handful of today's closers have become, Nathan was as much overpowering as he was intuitive.

Officially closing the door on his active career, Nathan leaves the game with the eighth most saves all time. His 377 are sandwiched between Dennis Eckersley and Jonathan Papelbon. Francisco Rodriguez, and his 437 saves are the only active tally higher than the Twins great's, and his 377 is more than 50 saves clear of the next competitor in Huston Street (324). When trying to find active players who could push for Nathan's numbers, you have to go all the way down to Craig Kimbrel (287) or Kenley Jansen (224).

In knowing how they are used, closers will perhaps never get their due. While Mariano Rivera will be a first ballot Hall of Famer, Trevor Hoffman was not. Lee Smith will likely need the help of a future committee, and guys like K-Rod or Billy Wagner will likely always be on the outside looking in. As the game has evolved, the importance placed on the final three outs has changed. Leverage and situational usage of your best relievers has shifted, and the save has become a stat looked upon with a level of disdain.

What's not possible however is to discredit what Joe Nathan did in a Twins uniform, or as a major leaguer in general. For just shy of a decade, Nathan was a premier reliever in all of baseball. He was as lockdown as they come, and he played a key role on some of the most fondly remembered Twins teams in franchise history. It's too bad he never got to play in a Championship Series, let alone a World Series, but he can hardly look back and not smile at what was accomplished.

As Joe Nathan takes his first step off the diamond today as a retired baseball player, he will have nothing to look back on with regret. If most people hope for their one opportunity, Nathan lived multiple lifetime's full of them. We're watching one of the greatest in the history of the sport walk away, and for Twins fans, he'll get to do in it the greatest territory of them all, Twins Territory.