Fantasy Baseball Relief Pitcher Rankings – 3/29/24 Depth Chart

Welcome back to the latest edition of our Reliever Ranks series! This will bring you up-to-date bullpen depth charts every morning for the day’s games and makes for an excellent tool for those looking to stream saves or wins. This series runs seven days a week, so check in every morning to get your daily bullpen fix!

 

Notes

 

Transaction and Schedule Notes

 

• Baseball is back (to stay this time)! With Opening Day here, we finally got the flurry of inevitable IL moves.
• We were two games shy of a full slate with both the Atlanta/Philadelphia and Milwaukee/New York Mets games being postponed in advance of games today. Both games will be played today.
• Because of the nearly full slate, ten teams have Friday off to rest their bullpens.

 

• Primary Closer: these are the relievers that should be rostered in most 12-team mixed leagues, as they will be your best option for saves.
• Next in Line: these relievers will have more value in holds leagues, but that doesn’t mean they have no value in standard mixed leagues. There’s still 10+ save potential for some of them, and they will likely help in other categories as well.
• Holds Leagues Options: here are the rest of the high-leverage reliever options, and while they aren’t in the top two pecking order for saves, they should still provide value in deeper holds leagues.
• Bulk RP (wins): expect to see these relievers entering games early on, around the fifth inning or so, making them a potential source of wins (but little to nothing else).
• Injured List: these pitchers are currently on the IL, but could return this season and may be worth stashing depending on your league’s IL rules.
• Minor Leagues: these are either potential prospects or notable minor league arms that could be worth monitoring in certain leagues.

 

NYY 5 – HOU 4

HD: Ian Hamilton (1)

SV: Clay Holmes (1)

• The Yankees bullpen followed the plan to a tee, albeit with a few more hits allowed than they probably wanted. Jonathan Loáisiga threw two scoreless innings for the win, Ian Hamilton secured his first hold of the season, and Clay Holmes pitched around three hits for his first save of the season, with Juan Soto bailing him out with an outfield assist in his Yankees debut.
• Houston’s usually steady bullpen, on the other hand, got off to a rocky start, with last season’s stalwarts Rafael Montero and Ryan Pressly both giving up runs. The former was charged with the blown save, and the latter was charged with the loss. On the bright side, Josh Hader struck out the side in his inning of work.

 

PIT 6 – MIA 5 (12)

HD: George Soriano (1), Andrew Nardi (1), Anthony Bender (1)

SV: Jose Hernandez (1)

• After Mitch Keller spotted Miami five runs in his 5.2 innings of work, the Pirates bullpen held strong for the remaining 6.1 innings, allowing zero runs on only one hit. Luis L. Ortiz pitched around two walks in his two innings of work to get the win, and Jose Hernandez took home the save with a perfect inning of work. Aroldis Chapman made his first appearance as a Pirate with a scoreless ninth while the game was still tied.
• Miami got all the holds, with Soriano, Bender, and Nardi all getting one (Nardi kinda skated the line of what really counts as a hold), but let the victory (and hypothetical save) slip through their fingers. Sixto Sánchez finally made his return after several lost seasons, and he unfortunately ended up with the blown save in his first appearance. Tanner Scott got an inning of work in the knotted up ninth, walking two but also striking out two.

 

DET 1 – CHW 0

HD: Shelby Miller (1), Andrew Chafin (1)

SV: Jason Foley (1)

• There were no losers in this pitcher’s duel, with Tarik Skubal throwing six scoreless innings before giving way to the Tigers reliever corps for three scoreless innings and … wait a minute, is that Jason Foley’s music!?! In a surprise move, it was Jason Foley who got the call for the save in this one, striking out both of his batters faced. As of now, there is no word as to why it was Foley and not Alex Lange, so we’ll need to monitor the situation further. I guess that makes Lange the loser in this one. For those following along at home, we did have the Tigers closer situation listed as shaky, and now we have a committee, so stay tuned!
• Ok, so I lied. This is baseball, there is always a loser and unfortunately, Garrett Crochet was saddled with the loss despite a very nice one-run, eight-K debut. I know this is reliever ranks, but sometimes you gotta shout out the starters, too. The White Sox bullpen matched the Tigers with three scoreless innings of their own. Michael Kopech handled the eighth inning in this one, allowing one hit and one walk.

 

MIN 4 – KCR 1

HD: Brock Stewart (1)

SV: Griffin Jax (1)

• Griffin Jax notched the first save of the season for the Twins, with Brock Stewart getting the hold ahead of him. This is pretty much what was expected, but we’ll definitely need to see if this repeats before we can consider this no longer a committee.
• Nick Anderson threw a scoreless seventh, followed by Angel Zerpa for a scoreless eighth before Chris Stratton let the close game get away with two runs in the ninth. So unfortunately, no early indication on whether Will Smith or James McArthur will get the bulk of the save chances.

 

LAD 7 – STL 1

HD: None

SV: Ryan Yarbrough (1)

• The Fratty Pirate pitched three scoreless innings to get the first three inning save of the season!
• The Cardinals pitched, but not very effectively. Matthew Liberatore was the bright spot, throwing a clean eighth inning.

 

SDP 6 – SFG 4

HD: Tom Cosgrove (1)

SV: Robert Suarez (2)

• Robert Suarez is your major league leader in Saves… after three games. With a three-run cushion, Suarez did end up allowing a two-out HR to Michael Conforto before retiring Patrick Bailey for the save. Tom Cosgrove was once again the first man in after the starter, this time securing a hold. Jhony Brito followed, and his 2024 troubles came with him. Brito once again allowed two runs in only 1/3 of an inning for his second blown save of the season. I guess that means the Padres lead the league in saves AND blown saves. Also of note, Yuki Matsui threw 1.2 clean-ish innings for the win (he did allow an inherited runner to score) ahead of Suarez, seemingly cementing himself (or at least, really strongly gluing himself) as the top setup option.
• Luke Jackson had himself a day. A not very good day. Jackson allowed three runs on two hits and a walk without retiring a batter, being charged with a blown save and the loss.

 

TEX 4 – CHC 3

HD: None

SV: None

• Nobody on Texas ended up with a hold or a save, but it is worth pointing out that José Leclerc allowed the tying run to score on a wild pitch, while also walking two. Not exactly the stuff you want from your closer. The ageless (at least for baseball … yeesh) David Robertson came in for the tenth inning and got the win. While he didn’t allow any runners to score on any wild pitches, he too walked two batters. So we wait and watch.
• Leclerc didn’t get charged with a blown save, so Chicago had to make up for it by getting two themselves. Nearly the entire saves/holds hierarchy pitched here with Julian Merryweather, Mark Leiter Jr., and Héctor Neris not allowing runs … while Yency Almonte and Adbert Alzolay allowed a run apiece and were charged with the aforementioned blown saves.

 

BOS 6 – SEA 4

HD: Isaiah Campbell (1), Joely Rodríguez (1), Chris Martin (1)

SV: Kenley Jansen (1)

• After a late start to spring, it was unsure if Kenley Jansen would be ready for Opening Day. Lo and behold, the day arrived and Jansen was ready for the call and secured his first save of the season with two Ks and a walk in a scoreless inning. Chris Martin secured the hold ahead of him with a two-k scoreless inning of his own.
• The Mariners were playing from behind the entire night, so the middle innings eaters got the work in this one with Tayler Saucedo handling the sixth, Cody Bolton the seventh, and Austin Voth the ninth. Only Voth managed to keep runs off the board.