There’s nothing more frustrating in fantasy baseball than chasing saves on the waiver wire. Week in and week out you can throw FAAB at a pop-up closer in hopes that he’s the one that finally sticks on your roster. More often than not, you wind up spending more time than you want thinking about fringe closers, not to mention it’s a phenomenal way to blow your FAAB budget out of the water.
If you can find even one good closer late in your drafts, you can hopefully avoid chasing saves on waivers and gain a big edge on your opponents. Let’s take a look at some late-round save targets that could prevent big-time waiver wire headaches this season.
All ADP data is courtesy of NFBC drafts that have taken place over the last two weeks. Important note: closers are typically drafted earlier in NFBC leagues than on any other platform, so expect these numbers to be a tad higher than what you’ll see on most fantasy league hosting sites – ESPN, Yahoo!, CBS, Fantrax, etc.
David Bednar (174 ADP)
It was just a year ago that David Bednar was viewed as one of the most reliable closers in baseball and now he’s slipped to the middle or late rounds of nearly all fantasy drafts. His stretch from 2022 to 2023 was phenomenal: 58 saves, 2.73 ERA, 1.11 WHIP, and 11.27 K/9. Those were all Top 20 among qualified relievers during that stretch.
Without context, Bednar’s horrid 2024 campaign is tough to swallow and even harder to want to invest a draft pick in. He still managed to mop up 23 saves, but he also blew seven while posting a 5.77 ERA and 1.42 WHIP in route to losing his hold on the closer job. With context though, I think we can dismiss most of Bednar’s 2024 struggles. Former reliever turned media personality, Trevor May, pointed out that Bednar was tipping his pitches, and that’s a theory I buy into considering Stuff+ graded Bednar’s pitches as better than ever last year.
Bednar’s had an offseason to iron things out, and assuming he has, I see no reason we can’t expect him to bounce back to his 2022-23 levels of success. There’s more inherent risk than there was a year ago, but with his first few Spring Training appearances having gone well, I’m happy to take Bednar in this range. If things click again, you’ll get a top-10 reliever well below market price.
Kenley Jansen (187 ADP)
It feels like we’ve been expecting a collapse from Kenley Jansen for about half a decade now. It’s been four years since Jansen donned Dodger blue, but although he’s no longer one of the game’s elite closers, he’s continued to put up quality season after quality season.
Altogether, since leaving L.A., Jansen’s notched 97 saves while posting a 3.42 ERA, 1.11 WHIP, and 21% K-BB%. Those are still good numbers, especially for a reliever being taken this late!
Jansen’s now back in Los Angeles – albeit with the Angels this time – and he’s the undisputed closer once again. He has a clear pathway to a 25+ save season, and that’s a lot more than you can say than most relievers coming off the board after him. Sure, there’s risk – he’s 37 years old and may be traded into a non-closer role at the deadline if the Angels aren’t in the race – but if you’ve fallen behind in the saves category, he’s one of your best “safe” options this late in drafts.
Jordan Romano (207 ADP)
Oh how quickly closers fall down draft boards. Jordan Romano tallied back-to-back 36 save seasons in Toronto, but after struggling to a 6.59 ERA in just 13.2 innings due to a right elbow injury last year, he was non-tendered by the Blue Jays. Romano wasn’t on the free agent market long, though. The Phillies quickly swooped in, inking him to an $8.5 million, one-year deal that should give him the first chance at locking down the ninth-inning role.
A throwing elbow injury is always terrifying for a pitcher, but Romano has looked good in a limited run this spring. His fastball velocity has already topped where he was sitting last year and he has yet to allow a run in his first four appearances.
The Phillies should once again be one of the best teams in baseball, so Romano’s in an enviable position. He could easily finish the 2025 campaign with another 30+ saves, and although he may be on a short leash with Orion Kerkering lingering as the closer-in-waiting, Romano’s an excellent pick if you’re shopping for late-round closers. And speaking of Kerkering, if you’re not buying into the Romano bounceback, Kerkering is a phenomenal late-round save option in his own right. If Romano stumbles, Kerkering should be the next man up and has electric stuff — a 2.29 ERA, 1.08 WHIP, 22.2% K-BB%, and a 120 Stuff+ in 63 innings as a rookie. He’s an exciting late dart throw with a 345 ADP.
Kyle Finnegan (219 ADP)
Kyle Finnegan is starting to creep up draft boards since he signed a deal to return to the Nationals on February 25th, and rightfully so. Finnegan is coming off a 38 save season in 2024 and his 66 total saves over the last two years are the fourth most in baseball.
The Nationals’ bullpen isn’t exactly stocked with electric arms, so Finnegan’s duties as closer should be one of the most secure in the sport. If that security came with better ratios, you’d be looking at a top-tier reliever in fantasy, but that’s where Finnegan will hurt you.
Despite the plethora of saves Finnegan’s locked down since 2023, his other stats leave a lot to be desired. 20 pitchers tallied at least 20 saves last year. Among that group, Finnegan’s 3.72 ERA ranked 15th and both his 1.32 WHIP and 22.1% strikeout rate ranked 18th. There are notable flaws in Finnegan’s profile – and everyone else’s who is going this late, for that matter – but if you’ve fallen behind your league mates in saves, Finnegan has the chance to single-handedly flip that script.
Justin Martinez (222 ADP)
Justin Martinez is coming off draft boards just a few picks after Finnegan, and he couldn’t be more of a polar opposite. For as safe as Finnegan feels for saves, Martinez feels that way with ratios. He has some of the best stuff in baseball, lighting up pitch metric leaderboards with his 122 Stuff+ and 73 botStf. Both ranked Top 10 among qualified relievers last year. Here’s where he graded out across the board:
Martinez’s lack of command is evident in his elevated WHIP and walk rate, but that’s about the only place you can ding him.
For as good as Martinez’s stuff is, he doesn’t have the closer’s job in Arizona locked down quite yet. Diamondbacks’ manager Torey Lovullo said that Martinez, A.J. Puk, or Kevin Ginkel could win the role, but I think Martinez gets the first shot at the ninth-inning gig despite struggling more this spring than his competition. Of those three, Martinez was the one closing games near the end of the 2024 season, so he’s had the job most recently. His right-handedness alone gives him the edge over Puk since most managers seem to prefer a righty closer so they can strategically use their lefties to get the platoon advantage. Martinez should also have the edge over Ginkel because Martinez’s better fastball velocity typically correlates to more late-inning chances.
The fact that the closer job is still publicly undecided is dragging down Martinez’s ADP, so I’d take advantage of the discount while you can. Martinez has the stuff to be an elite closer, and if he enters Opening Day with the job, there’s a chance we’re talking about him as one of the first few closers off draft boards entering the 2026 season.
Liam Hendriks (269 ADP)
Are you a risk taker? If you are, you’ll probably love getting Liam Hendriks this late. A battle with non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma and a subsequent Tommy John surgery has limited him to just five games since June of 2023, but let’s take a walk down memory lane to reminisce about just how good Hendriks was in his prime.
Therein lies the question with Hendriks. Can he re-find his old stuff nearly two years removed from game action after battling through serious medical conditions?
Although I don’t expect Hendriks to put up similar numbers to what we saw from 2019-2022, I think he can still be a serviceable ninth-inning option. Hendriks is competing with Aroldis Chapman and Justin Slaten for the closer role this spring, and although Hendriks has struggled, he may yet be the frontrunner for the job given his experience advantage over Slaten and Chapman’s unsteady performance the last two years. If Hendriks locks down the job, a good Red Sox team should give him plenty of save opportunities.
Camilo Doval (518 ADP)
Let’s wrap things up with a very, very late no-risk, high-reward option in Camilo Doval. After two dominant seasons in which he locked down 66 games to the tune of a 2.73 ERA and 1.19 WHIP in San Francisco, he had a nightmare 2024. Doval’s walk rate rocketed up to 14.4%, the second-highest mark of any qualified reliever. Predictably, his ERA (4.88) and WHIP (1.58) followed suit. His struggles in the ninth weren’t all of the problems, though, as he reportedly balked at some of the Giants’ coaches’ suggestions to get things turned around. Doval’s poor results on the mound combined with those reported attitude issues earned him a demotion to the Triple-A squad.
In Doval’s absence, Ryan Walker seized the Giants’ closer job, and for good reason. The 29-year-old righty had one of the best seasons of any reliever, tallying a 1.91 ERA, 0.85 WHIP, and 26.3% K-BB% across 80 innings. Those kinds of numbers have rightfully earned Walker the ninth-inning role heading into 2025, but I’m not entirely convinced he’ll keep it.
For as good Walker was, reliever performances are notoriously fickle. He’s never been close to that level of success over a large sample size at any professional level, let alone against the game’s best hitters. He had similarly elite, short runs of 20.1 innings in Triple-A in 2023 and 9.1 innings in Double-A in 2021, but his more recent large samples were more pedestrian — 3.23 ERA and 1.39 WHIP in 61 innings for the big league club in 2023 and a combined 3.74 ERA and 1.40 WHIP in 53 innings split between Double-A and Triple-A in 2022.
Even assuming Walker’s turned a corner and is now one of the game’s best relievers, there will likely be at least some regression. With Doval’s longer track record of success at the MLB level, including an All-Star nod in 2023, if Walker hits a rough patch, it might not take much for Doval to be given a shot at reclaiming the closer job if he’s able to rein in his walk rate. At this ridiculously low price, it’s a chance I’m willing to take in super deep drafts. In standard leagues, you don’t need to bother drafting Doval, but consider adding him to your watch list if your save situation is lacking.
Feature image by Michael Packard (@CollectingPack on Twitter) | Photo by Brian Rothmuller/Icon Sportswire
