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Fantasy Baseball Relief Pitcher Rankings – 9/20/24 Depth Chart

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

Josh Mockensturm
Fantasy 9/20/2024

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

 

Transactions and Schedule

 

  • There were 12 games on Thursday, so six teams had the day off: CHW, KCR, DET, OAK, COL, SDP
  • Lucas Sims was activated from the 15-day injured list by Boston and should see action with moderate leverage, especially if Kenley Jansen ends up missing some time.

 

Yesterday’s Performances

HOU 3 – LAA 1

W: Bryan Abreu (3-3)

L: Ryan Miller (0-1)

SV: Josh Hader (32)

  • Houston had a rough start to the season, and their bullpen was no exception. Of course, now they lead their division and the bullpen, while not elite, has been getting the job done. Today was a near-perfect three innings of relief, with only one hit between three pitchers. Héctor Neris handled the seventh and kept the bases empty. Bryan Abreu earned his third win of the season with a scoreless eighth, allowing only one hit. Josh Hader closed things out with his 32nd save of the season on a perfect ninth inning.
  •  Ryan Miller earned his first loss of the season, allowing a bases loaded double to Jon Singleton that put the Astros ahead. Miller ended up walking four batters in his inning of work, although two of those walks were intentional.

 

CHC 7 – WSN 6

W: Ethan Roberts (1-0)

L: Robert Garcia (3-6)

BS: Drew Smyly (3), Robert Garcia (4)

HD: Shawn Armstrong (5), Jorge López (10)

SV: Porter Hodge (6)

  • Porter Hodge pitched around a double and a walk to earn his sixth save of the season. The podge ahead of Hodge all earned decisions of some kind with Shawn Armstrong and Jorge López earning holds, Ethan Roberts notched his first win of the season, and Drew Smyly… got a blown save after allowing two inherited runs, and one run of his own to score.
  • Robert Garcia was charged with his fourth blown save, and sixth loss, of the season after coughing up two runs on three hits in the seventh inning.

 

PIT 3 – STL 2

W: Carmen Mlodzinski (4-5)

L: JoJo Romero (7-3)

BS: Andrew Kittredge (7)

HD: Dennis Santana (8)

SV: Aroldis Chapman (10)

  • After the Pirates tied things up in the top of the seventh, Carmen Mlodzinski came into the game and threw a scoreless seventh to earn his fourth win of the season. Dennis Santana followed with a perfect eighth inning to earn his eighth hold, striking out one. That left Aroldis Chapman for the ninth, and he was able to secure his 10th save of the season despite allowing a hit and no strikeouts.
  • Andrew Kittredge was charged with this seventh blown save of the season after allowing a game-tying home run in the top of the seventh inning. JoJo Romero then came out for the eighth and though he allowed a lead-off single, he quickly got a double play on the next batter. With two outs, Romero walked Oneil Cruz and after a pinch hitter was announced, the Cardinals turned to Ryan Fernandez to try and get Connor Joe out. He was not successful. Back-to-back singles later, and the Pirates took the lead and Romero eventually took the loss.

 

 

TBR 2 – BOS 0

HD: Edwin Uceta (6)

SV: Garrett Cleavinger (6)

  • Tampa Bay gonna Tampa Bay. Edwin Uceta handled the eighth inning for Tampa, striking out two on his way to his sixth hold. That meant the save opportunity went to Garrett Cleavinger, and he converted the opportunity for his sixth save of the season, striking out two.
  • Boston got a solid start from starter Brayan Bello and their bullpen only allowed an unearned run after a throwing error on a stolen base attempt during Justin Slaten’s seventh inning, but the Rays pitchers outdueled the Sox. Greg Weissert threw a scoreless eighth after Slaten.

 

 

SEA 3 – NYY 2

HD: JT Chargois (2), Troy Taylor (5), Trent Thornton (10)

SV: Andrés Muñoz (22)

  • The Mariner’s bullpen pieced together 3.2 scoreless innings of relief in support of Logan Gilbert. After striking out the first batter of the sixth, Gilbert was relieved by JT Chargois who easily dispatched the next two batters on five pitches to earn his second hold of the season. Troy Taylor had the tough job of handling the heart of the lineup in the seventh and managed to pitch around some trouble, getting Aaron Judge to fly out on his first pitch and Jazz Chisholm Jr. to strikeout on four pitches for his fifth hold of the season. Trent Thornton got three quick outs for his 10th hold of the season allowing Andrés Muñoz to handle the ninth for his 22nd save of the season in dominant fashion, striking out the side.
  • The league leader in blown saves, Clay Holmes, got some work in a losing effort, throwing a scoreless eighth inning.

 

BAL 5 – SFG 3

W: Gregory Soto (3-5)

L: Ryan Walker (9-4)

BS: Andrew Kittredge (7)

HD: Dennis Santana (8)

SV: Aroldis Chapman (10)

  • Baltimore had the win lined up going into the top of the ninth, Seranthony Domínguez came on to try and earn the save… and he instead got the blown save after allowing the tying run to score on two walks and a hit and was pulled after only recording one out. Gregory Soto finished the inning for Domínguez and stopped the bleeding. Soto earned his third win of the season after the O’s walked things off in the bottom of the ninth.
  • Until yesterday, Ryan Walker hadn’t allowed an earned run since July 27th. In fact, as one of our PL Discord users pointed out prior to his appearance, Walker had thrown 18.2 innings in August and September, allowing 0 ER, seven hits, four walks, and an incredible 29 Ks! Well, you can’t be perfect all the time and Walker was charged with his fourth loss of the season after giving up a 2-run shot to Anthony Santander (you know, that super underrated guy who now has 42 home runs!). Walker has been a revelation for the Giants after Doval’s struggles, so he’ll shake this one off and probably rattle off another dominant stretch,

 

The best of the rest…

 

  • I know this is reliever ranks, but how can you not mention that Shohei Ohtani reached the 50-50 club with an absolutely ridiculous day at the plate!? It did get bad enough that we had a position player pitching, so should any save chances arrive for Miami this weekend, the committee is available.
  • A.J. Puk and Justin Martinez got some work in what was shaping up to be a hold/save situation, but two runs in the top of the eighth put the Diamondbacks up beyond that threshold. having already warmed up, both pitchers still came into the game.
  • The Mets also opted to send their closer out in a non-save situation with Edwin Díaz handling the ninth with a 4-run lead. Diaz hadn’t pitched in three days, and the Mets didn’t want to take any chances against their NL East rivals with the heart of the lineup coming up.
  • Cleveland pulled out the win in extras on a single off of Caleb Thielbar that scored the ghost runner. The Guardians bullpen delivered 5.2 scoreless relief innings with nary a hit, with appearances from most of their save/hold hierarchy including Emmanuel Clase and Hunter Gaddis in their second straight appearance. Should a save chance come up today, it could fall to Cade Smith.

 

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

Josh Mockensturm

Josh is an Ohio Born, North Carolina residing Boston Red Sox fan thanks to his mom (and her love of Wade Boggs). If he's not watching or reading about baseball, he's probably watching a movie, reading a book, or making a dumb spreadsheet about Baseball, movies, or books.

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