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Fantasy Baseball Relief Pitcher Rankings – 4/30/24 Depth Chart

Breakdowns of key bullpen usage from yesterday's slate of games.

Benjamin Haller
Fantasy 4/30/2024

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

 

  • Six teams had a scheduled day off yesterday with the Cardinals and Tigers also being postponed. Fresh bullpens today include the Red Sox, Giants, Guardians, Astros, Rangers, and Rockies.
  • Tampa Bay was forced to place Chris Devenski on the 15-day injured list with knee tendinitis. Lefty Jacob Lopez was recalled from Triple-A and will fill a low-leverage role.
  • The Dodgers placed Ryan Brasier on the 15-day injured list with a calf strain and replaced him with Gus Varland. Brasier has seen high-leverage work this year so expect Joe Kelly to see more hold opportunities.

 

Yesterday’s Performances

 

NYY 0 – BAL 2

HD: Yennier Cano (7), Cionel Pérez (1)

SV: Danny Coulombe (1)

  • Caleb Ferguson gave up a run off the back of a fielding error from Anthony Volpe but otherwise, the Yankees bullpen did its job as they kept the game close against one of the hottest lineups in baseball. Dennis Santana was impressive through multiple frames.
  • A masterclass from the Orioles bullpen kept the Yankees scoreless after Grayson Rodriguez failed to get out of the fifth inning. The Yankees just had two hits in the final three frames as the Orioles worked around Craig Kimbrel’s back tightness. Danny Coulombe notched his first save of the year despite Yennier Cano doing much of the hard work to retire four batters. Coulombe has an impressive 14:2 strikeout-to-walk ratio

 

KCR 5 – TOR 6

W: Génesis Cabrera (1-0)

HD: Erik Swanson (4), Tim Mayza (4), Trevor Richards (3)

SV: Nate Pearson (1)

  • The Royals needed to find some innings out of the pen after starter Jonathan Bowlan was knocked out of the game after giving up three homers by the third inning. Tyler Duffey, Angel Zerpa, Matt Sauer, and Nick Anderson all appeared in relief.
  • Yariel Rodríguez failed to make it out of the fourth inning and Génesis Cabrera mopped up a mess with two on and two out to earn the win in relief. The Blue Jays bullpen gave up two solo homers to make it interesting before former starter Nate Pearson earned his first save of the season. Both Jordan Romano and Yimi García have pitched two days straight but giving Pearson the nod over Swanson was noteworthy.

 

CHC 3 – NYM 1

W: Mark Leiter Jr. (1-1)

L: Edwin Diaz (0-1)

SV: Héctor Neris (4)

  • Veteran reliever Mark Leiter Jr. got the final two outs in the eighth after starter Jameson Taillon spun a gem. With the Cubs taking the lead in the top of the ninth, Leiter Jr. earned the win which was his first of the campaign. Héctor Neris made things interesting with two walks and two strikeouts to shut out the Mets in the bottom of the ninth inning to notch his fourth save of the year and third in the last week.
  • Christopher Morel blasted a two-run homer off Edwin Diaz to give the Cubs the lead in the ninth inning. It was Diaz’s first poor outing of the season after four straight perfect save conversions. Diaz did strikeout three working out of the inning but it was enough to give the Cubs an unassailable advantage. Diaz was the only reliever used after Luis Severino went eight brilliant frames.

 

MIN 3 – CWS 2

W: Griffin Jax (2-2)

L: John Brebbia (0-1)

SV: Caleb Thielbar (2)

  • An eighth straight win for the Twins was anchored by another dominant showing from Griffin Jax before Caleb Thielbar earned his second straight save opportunity to murky the late-inning situation in Minnesota. Jax should still have the first shot of saves going forward and it was more than likely he was employed in the eighth inning here because of the game script. A win is still a nice bonus for the veteran reliever.
  • Like Jax, closer Michael Kopech handled the eighth innings as the scores were level but John Brebbia could not follow his example in the ninth. Brebbia allowed a double before Max Kepler continued his hot start to the season with the game-deciding hit and run.

 

TBR 1 – MIL 0

HD: Shawn Armstrong (2), Kevin Kelly (1)

SV: Jason Adam (1)

  • It was not as polished as his performances as a closer last season but Jason Adam stepped in as the closer for the Rays with Pete Fairbanks sidelined and escaped with his first save of the year. He allowed a hit, walked a batter, and hit Rhys Hoskins to load the bases but a strikeout of Blake Perkins ended the contest. Phew!
  • Bryan Hudson was excellent in relief of Bryse Wilson as the Brewers’ offense could not back up a solid pitching performance. Wilson has moved into the rotation recently and will be encouraged by his showing.

 

PHI 5 – LAA 6

W: Adam Cimber (2-0)

HD: Matt Moore (5)

SV: Carlos Estévez (5)

  • Seranthony Domínguez allowed two runs on three hits in a messy seventh frame as the Angels scored two runs off a wild pitch and throwing error combo from the Phillies.
  • It never seems to be pretty but it continues to be productive for Carlos Estévez as the Angels veteran closer earned his fifth save of the season despite giving up a single, a double, and a sac fly in the final frame. Matt Moore notched his fifth hold of the year and flashed his stuff with two eye-catching strikeouts.

 

The best of the rest…

  • A two-run walk-off home run from Mitch Garver gave the Mariners a robbery win as A.J. Minter hung one over the plate on a 3-2 count for the veteran slugger to send over the fence. A rare blemish from the Atlanta bullpen.
  • Alexis Díaz was employed in the ninth inning despite a non-save situation. The closer allowed a run on three hits and his showing was far from clean. Luckily an 11-strikeout performance from Nick Lodolo was enough to give the Reds the win.
  • The Athletics keep working hard for wins and two clean frames each from Dany Jiménez and Michael Kelly gave the bullpen a much-needed night off.
  • Evan Phillips pitched a clean inning in a non-save situation for the Dodgers in Arizona. Phillips struck out one and boasts a beautiful 0.71 ERA on the season through 13 appearances.
  • A number of fielding errors from the Marlins didn’t help their season as they fell to their 24th loss of the year in 30 games. Yikes. Tanner Scott did throw a clean inning in the ninth down 5 runs if you are looking for a positive?!

 

Bullpen Depth Charts

 

Also, if you’re looking for a detailed list or ranking of RPs, check out Rick Graham’s weekly pieces:

The Hold Up: Ranking the Top 100 Relievers for Holds Every Thursday

Closing Time: Ranking the Top 30 Closers

Top 100 Relievers for Save+Hold Leagues

 

Benjamin Haller

A Yorkshireman living in Australia, loving Major League Baseball from afar. As I wait for my A's to build their new stadium, I spend my time coaching soccer, writing for sportbc.blog, and over-analyzing relief pitcher scoring in fantasy baseball. Follow me @benjaminhaller1 for thousands of retweets

2 responses to “Fantasy Baseball Relief Pitcher Rankings – 4/30/24 Depth Chart”

  1. JMFL says:
    April 30, 2024 at 9:41 AM

    Grayson did 5 2/3 shutout IP. So he didnt ‘fail to get out of the fifth’. Otherwise love the article, keep up the great work

    Reply
  2. Babbo B says:
    April 30, 2024 at 4:51 PM

    Not sure Jax will have first shot at saves going forward with Duran being activated today as expected.

    Reply

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