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Fantasy Baseball Relief Pitcher Rankings – 5/19/24 Depth Chart

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

Scott McDermott
Fantasy 5/19/2024

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

 

  • Saturday would’ve been a full slate but it had to go ahead and start pouring in Atlanta right at game time.
  • The Braves and Padres will make things up on Monday as part of a split doubleheader.  Game 1 will be at 12:20 p.m. EDT and Game 2 is at 6:20 p.m.
  • Not much news of note, but Evan Phillips did throw a bullpen and felt good. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts says he expects Phillips to be about a week away.

 

Yesterday’s Performances

 

PIT 0 – CHC 1

W: Héctor Neris (4-0)

L: David Bednar (2-3)

  • A day after looking like a bunch of Tee-ball players against Paul Skenes, the Cubs offense continued to sputter facing the slightly less intimidating Bailey Falter, who held them scoreless for 7.2 innings.
  • The Cubs, however, had a literal ace in the hole in the form of Shota Imanaga, who matched Falter zero for zero. Imanaga should be drafted as a top-10 starter next season.
  • Mark Leiter Jr. struck out the side in the eighth and he remains the brightest spot in Chicago’s beleaguered bullpen. Falter found some trouble in the bottom half (we won’t use any ‘falter’ jokes here but it’s tempting) until Colin Holderman bailed him out of a bases-loaded jam to keep it scoreless going into the ninth.
  • Héctor Neris might have a 1.65 WHIP but he seems to keep getting it done. He was spotless in this one, striking out two on twelve pitches. That would earn him his fourth win as…
  • David Bednar surrendered a lead-off double to Cody Bellinger. A line drive to center by Christopher Morel would bring Belly around third and WE’VE GOT A PLAY AT THE PLATE — Michael A. Taylor’s throw was just a little bit off though and Bellinger was able to get under the tag. The play was reviewed and Pirates catcher Joey Bart might’ve gotten him but didn’t hang on to the ball. Cubs win, 1-0, in a dramatic ninth-inning walk-off.

 

PHI 4 – WAS 3

W: Gregory Soto (1-1)

L, BS: Kyle Finnegan (1-3)

  • Nationals starter MacKenzie Gore threw six strong frames and probably didn’t need to come out for the seventh as he lost the lead on a Bryson Stott homer.
  • The Nats would re-take the lead in the top of the ninth against Orion Kerkering, plating a run on a Jesse Winker single.
  • It wouldn’t last. Kyle Finnegan gave up a tying homer to unlikely hero Kody Clemens to force the game into extras.
  • Washington then wasn’t able to score on Soto, who struck out both CJ Abrams and Joey Meneses. Soto’s been up and down but was sharp in this one.
  • Washington left Finnegan on for the 10th as he only threw nine pitches in the previous inning. But Philly used a pair of warning-track fly balls to move the inherited runner to third and then home to win the game.
  • Fun fact: Kyle Schwarber was the only Phillies player in the game to draw a walk.  He drew four of them.

 

OAK 3 – KCR 5

HD: John Schreiber (11), Angel Zerpa (7)

SV: James McArthur (11)

  • It’s always a shame when Oakland is in a game in the late innings but can’t quite get the lead to make it Miller Time. But alas.
  • Seth Lugo got into trouble a few times but pitched well enough to get to 7-1 on the season.  He struck out 10 in 5.2 IP.
  • Closer James McArthur made things interesting, as he seemingly always does, by allowing runners on first and third with a two-run lead and Oakland masher Brent Rooker at the plate. After a lengthy battle, McArthur was able to get Rooker to fan at a wipe-out slider on a full count to end it.

 

BAL 3 – SEA 4

W: Ryne Stanek (2-0)

L: Yennier Cano (2-2)

HD: Trent Thornton (4)

SV: Andrés Muñoz (8)

  • Baltimore got a tremendous outing from Grayson Rodriguez, who came off the IL and carried a no-hitter to the sixth inning.
  • The O’s bullpen wasn’t so lucky. Danny Coulombe came on in the seventh and in a blink the game was tied 2-2. The Mariners would scrape two more runs off Yennier Cano while their own bullpen gave up just two hits.
  • Andrés Muñoz made a mistake to the ascendant Gunnar Henderson, but with a two-run lead, the solo shot didn’t prove costly. Munoz settled down after and struck out Adley Rutschman for the win.

 

TBR 5 – TOR 4

W: Erasmo Ramírez (3-0)

L: Nate Pearson (0-1)

HD: Jason Adam (10)

SV: Garrett Cleavinger (3)

  • Tampa’s been on a run this week, winning their fourth straight. All four games have been decided by one or two runs, so their bullpen has been busy.
  • Pete Fairbanks appeared to have the night off as he pitched in three of the last four, though in each appearance he threw less than 10 pitches.
  • Toronto had a one-run lead going into the eighth but a homer by Jonny DeLuca with a man on flipped the script.  Jason Adam continues to excel as a setup man and Garrett Cleavinger was asked to lock it down against the 8-9-1 hitters of Toronto’s line-up.  Cleavinger set them down in order on fourteen pitches, eleven for strikes, and made it look easy as the Jays continued to scuffle.

 

MIA 10 – NYM 9

  • Where art thou, Edwin Diaz?  After missing all of 2023 with a blown-out knee, the star closer for the Mets might not be all the way back. He certainly doesn’t look comfortable and mentioned in his post-game interview that he’s lacking confidence.
  • He might have reason to, as he blew a four-run lead in this appearance, giving up a game-tying homer to Josh Bell that was far more than a pop-up. This is Diaz’s third blown game in a row and his ERA now stands at 5.50.
  • Diaz’s advanced metrics still look pretty good, but they’re not the same eye-popping figures he put up in ’22. His slider (still thrown around 60% of the time) is down to a 34% CSW. It was 46% two years ago, and the fastball has dropped from 40% to 32%. His PLV has only dropped from 5.32 in ’22 to 5.25 this season, so the stuff is still mostly there.
  • Long balls appear to be the problem. His HR/FB rate is an egregious 28.6% when it’s usually around 10%. The only thing you can really do is hold on here and hope that maybe a few lower-leverage situations give him his confidence back and he’s able to keep the ball in the park. Better days should be ahead but don’t expect his former dominance to magically come back overnight.

 

HOU 2 – MIL 4

W: Hoby Milner (2-0)

HD: Elvis Peguero (6), Bryan Hudson (6)

SV: Trevor Megill (6)

  • Houston starter Justin Verlander was cruising until a three-run shot by William Contreras, who might be having the best offensive season by a catcher since Mike Piazza, turned the game around for the Brew Crew.
  • Trevor Megill has been GETTING IT DONE. He struck out Yainer Diaz and Jon Singleton before conceding a bloop single to Jake Meyers, which allowed the tying run to come to the plate.
  • With their last out on the line, Houston pinch-hit Victor Caratini, who’s already been the hero a couple of times. But Megill wouldn’t have it, touching 100.3 mph on his final pitch to get Caratini looking. Megill is a top-10 closer until Williams returns.

 

LAA 2 – TEX 3

W: Yerry Rodríguez (1-0)

L: Carson Fulmer (0-2)

  • This would be the wildest game of the night as it took 13 innings to decide it. Both teams emptied their bullpens.
  • The Angels had plenty of chances but went 0-for-18 with RISP to keep leaving the door open. The Rangers were 2-for-11, not much better.
  • In the bottom of the 13th, the Rangers had runners on first and third with one out. They chose to intentionally walk Corey Seager to load the bases.
  • Things would end somewhat anticlimactic as the next pitch clipped Nathaniel Lowe in the shin, bringing home the deciding run.
  • Yerry Rodríguez earned the win here but both David Robertson and Kirby Yates were excellent, totaling five strikeouts in three innings between them. Yates has lowered his ERA to 0.98 on the season.

 

Best of the Rest

 

  • San Francisco won going away as the recently-called-up Luis Matos has gone nuclear, this time driving in six runs.  It’s always nice to see Tyler Rogers and Taylor Rogers follow each other out of the ‘pen as they worked the eighth and ninth in a 14-4 win over the Rockies.
  • The Cardinals’ JoJo Romero has been excellent all season and was rewarded with his first win.  It was also his first blown save, as he gave up the tying run before St. Louis dropped five on Boston in the next half-inning.  Romero hadn’t given up a run since the First of May.

 

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

 

Scott McDermott

Scott lives in Virginia Beach with his wife, two daughters, and a couple of furballs. When he’s not dissecting box scores and pondering over the optimal starting lineup for the Cincinnati Reds, he covers fantasy baseball for Pitcher List. He’s also the author of the award-winning book series 'Election 2064', available on Amazon.

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