Article: Dan Plesac Might be Caught, but Cannot be Matched

[James Zumstein]

Josh Hader is chasing a workhorse, but also a prodigy.

We as Brewer fans have not often had the ability to boast about having the best player in the game at his position.  Fortunately, we currently do have the player widely regarded as the best closer in the game in Josh Hader. Hopefully we all are not too humble to boast about this fact.

In fact, Hader is likely on his way to becoming the Brewers all-time saves leader in franchise history before season’s end. With career save number 120 against the Rays on Wednesday afternoon, Hader moves to within thirteen saves of tying the man who has been the leader in saves as a Brewer since 1989, Dan Plesac. With his 33-year reign as the franchise record holder for saves potentially coming to an end soon, this is a great time to look back on Plesac’s career.

Plesac was born and raised in Gary, Indiana, where he was a terrific all-around athlete. In fact, he was originally recruited to play basketball at North Carolina State, where his older brother Joe Plesac was a pitcher on the baseball team.  Joe was a two-time first team All-ACC selection, and was drafted in the second round by the San Diego Padres in 1982. While Joe never made it past Double A, his son Zack Plesac has pitched for the Cleveland Guardians since 2019.

During Dan’s senior season, his high school team had a lack of pitching, so his coach asked him to come in from the outfield and give pitching a shot. Despite having no prior formal coaching on pitching, Plesac was absolutely dominating hitters, including one game totaling 15 punchouts. Before anyone knew what was happening, Plesac was the 41st player selected in the 1980 draft by the St. Louis Cardinals.

Instead of signing, Plesac decided to attend N.C. State, but now on a baseball scholarship instead of basketball. Here, he could focus on learning how to pitch, which he did, leading him the be taken in the first round (26th overall) by the Brewers in 1983.

Working mostly as a starter in the minors, Plesac made the big league team out of spring training in 1986 as a reliever. In 51 appearances out of the bullpen that year, he went 10-7 with a 2.97 ERA, had 14 saves, a 147 ERA+, and a 3.2 bWAR in 91.0 innings. It is still one of the best seasons by a reliever in franchise history, and it was a harbinger of things to come for the rookie.

Plesac made the AL All-Star team each of the next three seasons, while tallying 86 combined saves during that stretch. He also had an ERA+ between 165 and 176 each season, and struck out exactly one batter per inning during those years. His 33 saves in 1989 broke Ken Sanders ’ single-season franchise record of 31, set in 1971.

On September 16, 1989, teammate Robin Yount ’s 34th birthday, Plesac recorded his 31st save of the season. This not only tied him with Sanders for the single-season Brewers save record, but he surpassed Rollie Fingers’ career record of 97 saves in a Brewer uniform in the 5-3 win over the Texas Rangers at County Stadium.

He continued to pitch for the Brewers through the ’92 season, but was never as effective as he was in his first four seasons. He lost his closer’s role in 1990, and was given minimal save opportunities after that. All told, he pitched seven seasons in a Brewer uniform, going 29-37 with a 3.21 ERA (which is the franchise record), an ERA+ of 128, and the distinction of being the first Brewer pitcher to make three consecutive All-Star teams.

After his tenure with the Crew, Plesac continued to be a reliable lefty out of major league bullpens for another 11 seasons, many of those years being used primarily as a left-handed specialist. In 2002, while pitching for the Philadelphia Phillies, Plesac became the seventh pitcher in MLB history to pitch in 1,000 career games.

Plesac retired after the 2003 season. He finished his 18-year career with a record of 65-71, a 3.64 ERA, 158 saves, pitched in 1,064 games, sported an ERA+ of 117, and struck out 8.7 batters per nine innings of work. Despite his delayed introduction to pitching and the voluminous workload in his career, he never spent a single day on the injured list in his career. 

Not too bad for a basketball player. 

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