Closing Time 4/15: Ranking the Top 40 Closers Every Tuesday

We are still waiting on Trevor Megill’s status as he had an MRI on his knee this past weekend BEFORE allowing three earned runs on three walks and two hits on Saturday. While the team considers Megill fine, he is seeking a second opinion and it’s worth mentioning this is the same team that told Devin Williams his back was fine before he went and got a second opinion that said otherwise. For now, Megill should be considered the closer for tonights game and moving forward, but I don’t believe we have any news from that second opinion yet. Abner Uribe or Nick Mears could be next in line if Megill does miss time.

 

 

Notes

 

• Robert Suarez new approach has him cooking early this season, and while theres still some hard hit concerns, the swing and miss should definitely improve this season. As of now, Suarez has dropped his four seam usage by 23.4% and upped his changeup usage by 21.1%, resulting in a 18.9% SwStr rate (up 5.3% from 2024), 36% Whiff rate (up 11.7%) and 36% K rate (up 13.1%).

 

• Kenley Jansen is also off to a hot start, but we haven’t seen any significant changes on his end, as he is still the same guy we’ve known for some time. Even if the Angels fall out of contention and become sellers, there’s still a good chance Jansen stays as he is just trying to add to his save total so my only real worry for Jansen is health related. He’ll probably miss some time at some point, but should still have a chance to finish as a top 20 closer again.

 

• Ryan Pressly had his best outing of the season on Sunday night, closing out the Dodgers in a clean outing while striking out one. Nothing looked particularly different so I’m still skeptical long term but the Cubs are clearly not giving up hope yet. They really only have Porter Hodge as a trustworthy reliever at this point, so maybe they prefer the ability to be flexible with his role.

 

• Tommy Kahnle continues to get closer-esque usage for the most part, but I still find myself skeptical at him being the teams full time closer given his 90% changeup usage. To put that in perspective, Devin Williams’s changeup is considered to be the best in baseball, and he only throws it roughly 55% of the time. Kahnle has only thrown two fastball to right handed hitters all year, but to be fair he has faced more lefties as he basically is a left handed specialist.

 

• Seth Halvorsen moves down the list because, well, Coors is undefeated right? Theres a chance he can become a competent closer but he doesn’t miss bats at a high enough rate yet to make him an enticing 12 team option.

 

 

 

Rank	Pitcher	Change
1	Emmanuel ClaseT1	-
2	Josh Hader	+1
3	Edwin Díaz	-1
4	Devin Williams	-
5	Mason Miller	-
6	Andrés Muñoz	-
7	Félix Bautista T2	-
8	Ryan Helsley	-
9	Jhoan Duran	-
10	Raisel Iglesias	-
11	Jeff Hoffman T3	+1
12	Ryan Walker	+1
13	José Alvarado	+2
14	Robert Suarez	+5
15	Kenley Jansen	+3
16	Tanner Scott T4	-2
17	A.J. Puk	-1
18	Justin Martinez	-1
19	Trevor Megill	-8
20	Aroldis Chapman	+1
21	Pete Fairbanks T5	-1
22	Carlos Estévez	-
23	Kyle Finnegan	-
24	Ryan Pressly	+6
25	Luke Jackson T6	+2
26	Dennis Santana	-
27	Emilio Pagán	+1
28	Tommy Kahnle	+12
29	Anthony Bender	-5
30	Seth Halvorsen	-5
31	Blake Treinen T7	-2
32	Porter Hodge	-1
33	Tony Santillan	-1
34	Orion Kerkering	-
35	Griffin Jax	-
36	Mason Montgomery	-3
37	Lucas Erceg	+1
38	Jason Adam	+UR
39	Nick Mears	+UR
40	Justin Slaten	-4