Abner Uribe is setting the league-wide pace in this category

With a painted 88 MPH slider on the outside corner that struck out Cincinnati Reds right-fielder Connor Joe looking last night, Abner Uribe completed his fifth straight scoreless appearance. Uribe has allowed a run in just one of his last 18 appearances. During that span, the Milwaukee Brewers flamethrower has struck out a ridiculous 28 batters in just 18.2 innings. To say that Uribe has simply turned things around in 2025 feels like an understatement; he's been downright incredible.

A season ago, with Devin Williams sidelined for the first half of the season, Uribe had his sights set on the Brewers' temporary closer role. And with two saves in the team's first series of the season against the New York Mets, it was looking like he might just seize it. However, things quickly spiraled for the then-23-year-old, who allowed nine earned runs in 11.1 innings in April of 2024. Uribe then earned a six-game suspension for his involvement in a benches-clearing altercation with the Tampa Bay Rays. He was subsequently optioned to Triple-A, where he sustained a season-ending knee injury while playing a game of Hacky Sack.

However, things could not be more different for Uribe in 2025. He's improved his ERA by more than five runs, going from 6.91 in a small sample size in 2024 to 1.53 through the first two months of the 2025 season. Additionally, he's striking out nearly a third of the batters he faces, while walking just 10.2% — a significant improvement from the 18.2% that he walked a season ago. But while the ERA and strikeout numbers are impressive, there is one area that Uribe has been better in than any other reliever in MLB.

Abner Uribe leads all of MLB in holds

As a brief reminder, a pitcher is credited with a hold if they "hold" the lead while recording at least one out after entering the game in a save situation, but do not complete the game. As MLB.com describes it, "One of two conditions must be met for a pitcher to record a hold: 1) He enters with a lead of three runs or less and maintains that lead while recording at least one out. 2) He enters the game with the tying run on-deck, at the plate, or on the bases, and records an out." Essentially, a hold is a "save" that doesn't occur at the end of the game. Therefore, the game's most elite set-up men generally lead the league in holds because they pitch in high-leverage situations during games in which their team is ahead.

Currently, in all of MLB, 24-year-old Uribe has the most holds with 16. He's outpacing some of the game's best set-up men, including Jason Adam of the San Diego Padres, Hunter Gaddis of the Cleveland Guardians, and Tyler Rogers of the San Francisco Giants. On the Brewers, Uribe stands seven clear of the next highest holds earner, Jared Koenig.

Back in April, when Joel Payamps was struggling and the Brewers were in desperate need of a replacement for their main set-up reliever, Reviewing the Brew's Paul Dietrich predicted that Uribe could emerge as a candidate for the role. Less than two months later, the 24-year-old flamethrower has clearly established himself as Pat Murphy's best option in the eighth inning.