Closing Time 5/28: Ranking the Top 30 Closers Every Tuesday

Jordan Romano has not been pitching well this season with a 6.39 ERA, 1.50 WHIP, 4.31 xFIP and he’s just lost his ability to miss bats it seems (20.7% strikeout and 11.6% swinging-strike rates). The positives here are at least Romano’s stuff is grading out well (135 Stuff+ and 5.30 PLV) and is sporting his highest BABIP since 2019 (.316), so perhaps he can get this thing turned around rather quickly. He also currently holds career high Called Strike (17.6%) and Zone rates (45.7%), as well as a career-low walk rate (6.9%), which perhaps is a part of the problem to some degree? His O-Swing rate is down 3% from 2022-23 so we have this combination of Romano being in the zone more often and getting less chases when he’s not.

I like the aggressiveness in the zone, but Romano needs to do a better job with his slider while up in the count (too much plate) and getting his fastball up at the top of the zone more (lot of middle right now). His slider shape has changed a bit here as well, as he’s now getting more vertical drop and less horizontal compared to previous seasons, so I feel either a tweak to his slider is needed to get back to where it usually is, or he needs to adjust to this new slider and make sure he’s not leaving it over the plate so much. Either way, I think there’s still hope for Romano despite the shaky start, but it likely won’t be some sort of overnight fix.

 

Notes

 

• Reed Garrett got the first crack at save chances with Edwin Díaz taking a break from the role, and Garrett wound up with back-to-back losses, allowing six hits and six earned runs, and has not pitched since. A day after Garrett’s last outing (in which Díaz earned a hold), the Mets rushed Díaz back into the closer role on short rest where he proceeded to give up two hits and a run to blow the save chance. It’s anyone’s guess as to who gets the next chance here, but I still believe in Díaz long term and he’s the only Met reliever I’d be rostering in save-only leagues right now. (Removed Díaz after he was placed on the IL)
• Evan Phillips worked a clean inning in his first rehab outing Sunday and should be ready to return to the Dodgers bullpen after one or two more rehab appearances. The Dodgers have been unorthodox with their bullpen usage in the past but I think it’s pretty safe to assume Phillips goes right back into the closer role here once he returns later this week.

 

• James McArthur feels pretty safe in the closer role because the Royals don’t have much competition there but things still aren’t trending the right way over the past three weeks. McArthur still isn’t walking many batters, which is great obviously, but he has just a 14.3% strikeout rate over his past eight innings and a 1.38 WHIP despite a 2.9% walk rate and .269 BABIP. There’s swing and miss stuff there so I’m not overly concerned yet, but he does drop a bit this week as both the floor and ceiling look a bit lower than originally thought.
• Kirby Yates hasn’t been particularly good over his past eight innings, with seven walks (20% walk rate) and a 4.67 xFIP/4.68 SIERA despite allowing only two earned runs. The walk rate is certainly a concern, but I think Yates may have a tighter grip on this role than originally thought, partly because David Robertson has allowed seven earned runs over his past four innings and also, do we expect this team to be buyers at the deadline? They have deGrom and Scherzer coming back potentially, but at 25-29 right now, maybe Yates could remain the closer through the deadline. He’s a safer bet to keep his role than the guys below him on the list at least.

 

• It’s painful to move Trevor Megill down the list this week, but we are getting closer to Devin Williams’ return, as he’s about four-to-six weeks away from being ready. If we knew Megill would be closing out games for the rest of the season, he’d easily be in the top ten, and probably in the first tier but with just one month to go as closer, it’s tough to justify that. Tanner Scott as well, he’s been good over his last 13.1 innings (basically after the Ozuna walk-off) but I’d say it’s unlikely he is closing out games wherever he ends up being traded to.
• I don’t know what to do with Jason Foley and I think the safe thing to do is just not roster any Detroit relievers if you can. I thought Foley might be back in the closer role since there are no other options there, but then he had a pretty eventful weekend. He got one out Friday to pick up a cheap save, before working the eighth inning Saturday for a hold while Tyler Holton got a save, and then coming back on Sunday Foley and Holton allowed 3 ER a piece in the 7th and 8th inning. Foley may get the next save chance, but I don’t think this headache is worth it.

 

 

And if you want more daily reliever updates, please check out our Reliever Ranks series

 

Watch List

 

 

Rank	Pitcher	Change
1	Emmanuel ClaseT1	-
2	Josh Hader	+1
3	Mason Miller	+1
4	Andrés Muñoz T2	+2
5	Ryan Helsley	-3
6	Evan Phillips	+UR
7	Pete Fairbanks	-2
8	Jhoan Duran	-1
9	Clay Holmes T3	-
10	Camilo Doval	-2
11	David Bednar	-1
12	Robert Suarez	-
13	Paul Sewald	-
14	Raisel Iglesias	-
15	Craig Kimbrel	+1
16	James McArthur	-5
17	Kirby Yates	+4
18	Jordan Romano	-3
19	José Alvarado T4	-
20	Trevor Megill	-3
21	Tanner Scott	-3
22	Michael Kopech	+1
23	Kenley Jansen T5	-1
24	Kyle Finnegan	-
25	Alexis Díaz	+3
26	Carlos Estévez	-1
27	Jason Foley	-7
28	Reed Garrett	-2
29	Héctor Neris	-2
30	Jalen Beeks	-