Welcome to the RP Roundup, my daily fantasy baseball article reviewing every reliever performance from the previous day.
TEX 8 – BAL 5
W: Cole Winn | L: Yennier Cano
Cole Winn (W) — 1.1 IP, 0 ER, 0 H, 1 BB, 1 K, 3 Whiffs, 35.7% CSW. The locations weren’t perfect, but I actually like this approach better for Winn leaning on his splitter (like his not brother Keaton) and slider.
Jakob Junis — 1.0 IP, 0 ER, 1 H, 0 BB, 1 K, 2 Whiffs, 33.3% CSW. Location demon. He threw some great changeups in this one.
Robert Garcia — 1.0 IP, 0 ER, 0 H, 0 BB, 1 K, 2 Whiffs, 33.3% CSW. Garcia threw some nasty changeups as well, fastball caught too much of the plate, but he got away with it.
Chris Martin — 1.0 IP, 2 ER, 2 H, 0 BB, 1 K, 2 Whiffs, 31.6% CSW. Martin got the ninth inning here, more or less confirming he and Garcia are sharing the closer role. He’s surviving with diminished stuff, but I don’t know how long it can last.
Grant Wolfram — 1.1 IP, 2 ER, 3 H, 0 BB, 2 K, 3 Whiffs, 29.2% CSW. Could be interesting, but likely loses role when Akin returns.
Yennier Cano (L) — 1.0 IP, 1 ER, 2 H, 0 BB, 0 K, 0 Whiffs, 11.1% CSW. Command was actually pretty good. He may need a AAA stint to figure some things out arsenal wise.
Yaramil Hiraldo — 1.0 IP, 3 ER, 2 H, 1 BB, 0 K, 1 Whiffs, 16.7% CSW. If he can ever find some consistency with his command, he’d become interesting.
Anthony Nunez — 2.0 IP, 1 ER, 2 H, 0 BB, 2 K, 4 Whiffs, 42.9% CSW. I wonder what the plan is for Nunez here, as he has a pitch mix of a legit starter, but the Orioles likely don’t want to push his innings this year. Maybe we see him get the Grant Taylor treatment? Or maybe he gets sent down to AAA and stretched out? If he’s on the MLB roster, he’s at least worth keeping an eye on.
PIT 8 – CIN 3
W: Yohan Ramírez | HLD: Dennis Santana
Yohan Ramírez (W) — 0.2 IP, 0 ER, 0 H, 0 BB, 2 K, 3 Whiffs, 50.0% CSW. Command has never been his thing, but we can dream on his stuff.
Hunter Barco — 2.0 IP, 2 ER, 4 H, 1 BB, 3 K, 4 Whiffs, 25.5% CSW. Barco is taking his licks as an MLB pitcher, but he should eventually see some starts.
Dennis Santana (HLD) — 1.0 IP, 0 ER, 1 H, 0 BB, 0 K, 1 Whiffs, 17.6% CSW. Santana getting the 8th shouldn’t surprise anyone. He has really good command here and some nice defense behind him.
Gregory Soto — 1.0 IP, 0 ER, 1 H, 1 BB, 1 K, 2 Whiffs, 41.2% CSW. Classic Soto scattershot strikezone plot in this one, but the stuff is good enough to get him by on most days. I prefer him to Santana, but I don’t particularly love the thought of rostering either of them.
Brock Burke — 2.1 IP, 0 ER, 0 H, 1 BB, 2 K, 1 Whiffs, 25.0% CSW. No fastball command, but was still able to get 7 outs.
Sam Moll — 1.0 IP, 0 ER, 0 H, 0 BB, 1 K, 1 Whiffs, 33.3% CSW. The stuff looks better for Moll. Can he find a way to stay on the roster when Ferguson returns?
Pierce Johnson — 1.0 IP, 2 ER, 2 H, 0 BB, 1 K, 1 Whiffs, 30.0% CSW. He really only has his curveball anymore, and if he’s not locating it perfectly, hitters can just sit and tee off on it.
WSN 2 – PHI 3
SV: Jhoan Duran | HLD: Tanner Banks | HLD: Brad Keller
PJ Poulin — 1.0 IP, 0 ER, 0 H, 0 BB, 1 K, 2 Whiffs, 44% CSW. We got our first Opener of the year.
Ken Waldichuk — 2.0 IP, 0 ER, 1 H, 0 BB, 0 K, 3 Whiffs, 26.1% CSW. Waldichuk has actually been throwing pretty well, and I wonder if we see him get stretched out and eventually make some starts. Or he can be a better-than-average third lefty/long reliever.
Tanner Banks (HLD) — 1.2 IP, 1 ER, 3 H, 0 BB, 2 K, 4 Whiffs, 24.3% CSW. Banks ran into trouble in his second inning of work, but anyway, it was another ho-hum outing from the lefty.
Brad Keller (HLD) — 1.0 IP, 0 ER, 0 H, 1 BB, 0 K, 1 Whiffs, 33.3% CSW. No fastball command for Keller in this one, but he was able to use the full five-pitch arsenal to make it through.
Jhoan Duran (SV) — 1.0 IP, 0 ER, 1 H, 0 BB, 2 K, 4 Whiffs, 35.0% CSW. Duran also struggled with command in this one, but we’ll take the save and move on.
CHW 2 – MIA 9
Bryan Hudson — 1.2 IP, 1 ER, 1 H, 1 BB, 1 K, 0 Whiffs, 32.0% CSW. It’s not there right now for Hudson.
Jedixson Paez — 1.1 IP, 3 ER, 2 H, 1 BB, 0 K, 1 Whiffs, 14.3% CSW. Paez was DFA’d after this and should return to the Red Sox and stretch out as a starter for AA Portland.
Andrew Nardi — 1.0 IP, 0 ER, 0 H, 0 BB, 2 K, 4 Whiffs, 50.0% CSW. So good. I know it’s the White Sox, but Nardi should be a closer someday, even as a lefty.
Anthony Bender (W) — 1.2 IP, 0 ER, 0 H, 1 BB, 1 K, 2 Whiffs, 25.9% CSW. Still trying to find his fastball command, but the breakers are great.
Calvin Faucher — 1.0 IP, 0 ER, 0 H, 0 BB, 2 K, 2 Whiffs, 35.3% CSW. This whole bullpen grades out with A- or better stuff. Faucher’s cutter and ability to locate it are the key here, but he’s also throwing 97+ MPH with a four-seamer all of a sudden. Oh, and the curveball is crazy as well.
Pete Fairbanks — 1.0 IP, 0 ER, 0 H, 0 BB, 3 K, 4 Whiffs, 46.7% CSW. I don’t really love wasting Fairbanks bullets in a non-save situation, but he looked great.
COL 1 – TOR 5
L: Juan Mejia | HLD: Mason Fluharty | HLD: Braydon Fisher
Juan Mejia (L) — 1.1 IP, 2 ER, 4 H, 1 BB, 0 K, 3 Whiffs, 18.4% CSW. This was not good, and we should probably move on and not get our hopes up for a Rockies reliever anytime soon.
Jaden Hill — 0.2 IP, 0 ER, 1 H, 1 BB, 2 K, 3 Whiffs, 43.8% CSW. Maybe if he can find some consistent command? Then again, see the above text.
Brennan Bernardino — 1.0 IP, 0 ER, 1 H, 0 BB, 1 K, 3 Whiffs, 33.3% CSW. Nope.
Zach Agnos — 2.0 IP, 3 ER, 7 H, 1 BB, 3 K, 9 Whiffs, 28.9% CSW. 9 Whiffs and 7 hits in two innings is something.
Mason Fluharty (HLD) — 0.2 IP, 0 ER, 1 H, 0 BB, 1 K, 3 Whiffs, 46.7% CSW. We know how good the cutter and sweeper are, but he also mixed in a nasty changeup here.
Braydon Fisher (HLD) — 1.1 IP, 0 ER, 1 H, 0 BB, 0 K, 2 Whiffs, 30.4% CSW. Spinning those breakers, and locating them well too. He threw one of his 6 fastballs for strikes, but that’s probably for the best/by design.
Jeff Hoffman — 1.0 IP, 0 ER, 1 H, 0 BB, 1 K, 3 Whiffs, 33.3% CSW. No concerns for Hoffman thus far despite the Opening Day home run allowed. He looks great right now.
ATH 5 – ATL 2
SV: Mark Leiter Jr. Jr. | HLD: Hogan Harris | HLD: Justin Sterner | HLD: Scott Barlow
Hogan Harris (HLD) — 1.0 IP, 0 ER, 0 H, 2 BB, 0 K, 1 Whiffs, 26.1% CSW. Still no fastball command, making it really hard to trust Harris despite the boosted stuff.
Justin Sterner (HLD) — 1.0 IP, 0 ER, 0 H, 1 BB, 2 K, 3 Whiffs, 21.4% CSW. Best outing we’ve seen from Sterner this year, and this is why I was thinking he’d be the team’s closer this year. He mixed all three pitches evenly and was tough on lefties too.
Scott Barlow (HLD) — 1.0 IP, 0 ER, 0 H, 0 BB, 0 K, 0 Whiffs, 20.0% CSW. Not much left in the tank for Barlow at this point, but tight command got him through another outing.
Mark Leiter Jr. Jr. (SV) — 1.0 IP, 0 ER, 2 H, 0 BB, 1 K, 2 Whiffs, 30.8% CSW. I don’t think this outing makes him the closer, they are still likely to mix and match. Interesting to see him throw more curveballs than splitters, and he located the sinker well enough to survive.
Joel Payamps — 1.0 IP, 1 ER, 1 H, 0 BB, 2 K, 4 Whiffs, 35.7% CSW. Outside of hanging a sweeper to Langeliers, Payamps looked really good here. I could see him taking Tyler Kinley’s secondary setup role at some point.
Martín Pérez — 4.1 IP, 0 ER, 2 H, 0 BB, 3 K, 6 Whiffs, 23.4% CSW. Pérez showing he can still located well if needed. He’s probably going to move into the rotation after this.
LAA 2 – CHC 0
L: Phil Maton | SV: Jordan Romano | HLD: Chase Silseth | HLD: Drew Pomeranz
Chase Silseth (HLD) — 1.0 IP, 0 ER, 1 H, 1 BB, 1 K, 1 Whiffs, 35.7% CSW. The offspeed heavy approach is working for now, which is good because his fastballs are vulnerable.
Drew Pomeranz (HLD) — 1.1 IP, 0 ER, 1 H, 0 BB, 2 K, 2 Whiffs, 25.0% CSW. Great work from Pomeranz here, Blake Snell blueprinting his way to a hold.
Jordan Romano (SV) — 0.2 IP, 0 ER, 0 H, 1 BB, 1 K, 1 Whiffs, 41.7% CSW. This isn’t the old Jordan Romano. This isn’t exciting, but if you want to “Vargas-Rule” this, I get it. The command has been terrible in his first three outings, and the slider isn’t that good anymore.
Hoby Milner — 0.1 IP, 0 ER, 0 H, 0 BB, 0 K, 0 Whiffs, 33.3% CSW. Three sinkers, located well.
Phil Maton (L) — 0.2 IP, 2 ER, 2 H, 2 BB, 1 K, 4 Whiffs, 32.1% CSW. Maton had no command in this one, which I think we can chalk up to a blip more than a concerning trend.
Ben Brown — 3.1 IP, 0 ER, 1 H, 1 BB, 5 K, 9 Whiffs, 42.0% CSW. 11 sinkers and 2 changeups to prove Brown has more than just his four-seamer and curveball. The sinker and changeup aren’t particularly great, but Brown could be great as a two-pitch late-inning reliever. Until that day comes, though, there’s not enough consistent fantasy value.
TBR 2 – MIL 6
HLD: Jared Koenig | HLD: Grant Anderson | HLD: Abner Uribe
Cole Sulser — 1.1 IP, 2 ER, 4 H, 0 BB, 0 K, 2 Whiffs, 29.0% CSW. Changeup wasn’t quite as good this time out, and he left a few cutters and fastballs over the plate.
Yoendrys Gómez — 2.0 IP, 1 ER, 1 H, 2 BB, 2 K, 2 Whiffs, 23.3% CSW. Not interesting yet.
Jared Koenig (HLD) — 1.0 IP, 0 ER, 1 H, 0 BB, 1 K, 1 Whiffs, 31.2% CSW. Locating well so far and proving his spring was an anomaly.
Grant Anderson (HLD) — 1.0 IP, 0 ER, 1 H, 0 BB, 1 K, 1 Whiffs, 15.8% CSW. Anderson doesn’t get enough love in this deep bullpen.
Abner Uribe (HLD) — 1.0 IP, 0 ER, 1 H, 1 BB, 0 K, 0 Whiffs, 27.3% CSW. Even with Megill off today, Uribe still got the 8th inning. He also has not looked particularly great. The command is still all over the place, that’s not surprising, but he’s also down almost 2 MPH on his sinker.
Angel Zerpa — 1.0 IP, 0 ER, 0 H, 1 BB, 0 K, 0 Whiffs, 14.3% CSW. Zerpa could probably get way more swing and miss, but similar to Jose A. Ferrer, he just leans on his sinker to get weak contact. That’s fine, just frustrating for fantasy purposes.
NYM 0 – STL 3
SV: Riley O’Brien | HLD: Gordon Graceffo | HLD: Ryne Stanek | HLD: JoJo Romero
Richard Lovelady — 2.0 IP, 1 ER, 2 H, 1 BB, 2 K, 3 Whiffs, 31.0% CSW. Good on Lovelady to eat some innings for the Mets last night. He actually looked pretty good, that sweeper is why teams keep taking chances on him.
Gordon Graceffo (HLD) — 1.0 IP, 0 ER, 0 H, 0 BB, 0 K, 1 Whiffs, 33.3% CSW. Only needed three pitches for three outs.
Ryne Stanek (HLD) — 1.0 IP, 0 ER, 0 H, 1 BB, 1 K, 4 Whiffs, 27.3% CSW. Standard A stuff and F command again for Stanek, although the command was a bit better here still. Maybe one day he’ll figure out his four-seam command.
JoJo Romero (HLD) — 1.0 IP, 0 ER, 0 H, 0 BB, 1 K, 1 Whiffs, 46.2% CSW. Romero has been the Cardinals best reliever so far, yet has no saves to show for it. He’s clearly getting the opposing teams top left handed bat/pocket though, as he faced Lindor and Soto last night. He’ll eventually get some saves.
Riley O’Brien (SV) — 1.0 IP, 0 ER, 0 H, 0 BB, 0 K, 0 Whiffs, 18.2% CSW. O’Brien and Stanek flipped roles last night, and we got some much-improved command from O’Brien. 0 Whiffs is annoying but he was able to limit hard contact here.
BOS 2 – HOU 9
SV: Cody Bolton
Ryan Watson — 1.1 IP, 2 ER, 2 H, 2 BB, 2 K, 5 Whiffs, 25.9% CSW. Blegh. Not sure if he sticks with the Red Sox all season.
Jovani Morán — 2.0 IP, 1 ER, 1 H, 0 BB, 2 K, 3 Whiffs, 23.1% CSW. Good outing from Morán, who needed this. There’s a solid four-pitch mix here if he’s locating his fastball.
Cody Bolton (SV) — 3.0 IP, 1 ER, 3 H, 1 BB, 5 K, 6 Whiffs, 36.0% CSW. This Red Sox lineup can’t do much right now.
DET 5 – ARI 7
W: Andrew Hoffmann | L: Will Vest | SV: Paul Sewald | BS: Kenley Jansen
Drew Anderson — 1.0 IP, 2 ER, 2 H, 0 BB, 2 K, 3 Whiffs, 56.2% CSW. This was better than the 2 ER show, and I really like the changeup.
Will Vest (L) — 0.2 IP, 3 ER, 1 H, 2 BB, 0 K, 3 Whiffs, 18.5% CSW. Oh no. He had no changeup command and tried sneaking a slider down and in on Carroll who cleared it out for a double. That will happen against an elite hitter. I’m a little worried, but it’s early.
Kenley Jansen (BS) — 0.1 IP, 1 ER, 1 H, 0 BB, 1 K, 1 Whiffs, 37.5% CSW. Kenley allowing a go-ahead 3-run home run to Jose Fernandez (who?) was a surprise, obviously. He left a cutter middle up to the rookie making his MLB debut (and had already taken Mize deep). Again, the 27th-ranked prospect in the Diamondbacks organization, known for his defense, hitting a game-winning home run against (potential) future Hall of Famer Kenley Jansen. Baseball is indeed the best.
Andrew Hoffmann (W) — 2.0 IP, 0 ER, 0 H, 1 BB, 3 K, 3 Whiffs, 31.2% CSW. Hoffmann has a really good changeup and used it to get his lefties out today (I’m once again suggesting that HE should be the lefty reliever in this bullpen, not Morillo or Ginkel).
Paul Sewald (SV) — 1.0 IP, 0 ER, 0 H, 0 BB, 3 K, 2 Whiffs, 38.5% CSW. Back-to-back saves to start the week from Sewald, who’s looked great so far. Nothing to be concerned about yet.
SFG 9 – SDP 3
JT Brubaker — 2.0 IP, 0 ER, 2 H, 0 BB, 1 K, 5 Whiffs, 39.3% CSW. sure, nothing to chase here though.
José Buttó — 1.0 IP, 0 ER, 1 H, 0 BB, 2 K, 3 Whiffs, 27.8% CSW. Still a tweener arsenal with no true go-to offering.
Kyle Hart — 2.1 IP, 4 ER, 4 H, 1 BB, 2 K, 2 Whiffs, 23.8% CSW. This was a step back from his debut, sweepers still cool though.
Bradgley Rodriguez — 1.2 IP, 0 ER, 1 H, 0 BB, 1 K, 0 Whiffs, 29.4% CSW. A lot to get excited about with the changeup/four-seam combo here. And he’s only 22 years old.
Jeremiah Estrada — 1.0 IP, 0 ER, 1 H, 0 BB, 2 K, 5 Whiffs, 44.4% CSW. Better, but the velocity is still down 2 MPH, the command was not great, and he just avoided the slider. Hopefully, this can be used as a step in the right direction though.
David Morgan — 1.0 IP, 0 ER, 2 H, 0 BB, 1 K, 1 Whiffs, 7.7% CSW. Meh, I think Bradgley has passed him.
NYY 5 – SEA 0
Brent Headrick — 1.0 IP, 0 ER, 1 H, 0 BB, 1 K, 3 Whiffs, 50.0% CSW. Only threw one offspeed pitch here as the four-seamer was on point.
Tim Hill — 1.0 IP, 0 ER, 0 H, 0 BB, 0 K, 2 Whiffs, 42.9% CSW. Just flung some sinkers over the plate and got three easy outs.
Cole Wilcox — 2.0 IP, 0 ER, 2 H, 0 BB, 3 K, 6 Whiffs, 45.2% CSW. Ehh, probably best left as the long reliever/mop up guy.
Casey Legumina — 1.2 IP, 0 ER, 0 H, 0 BB, 1 K, 3 Whiffs, 27.8% CSW. Not bad, just stuck in a deep bullpen.
CLE 1 – LAD 4
HLD: Alex Vesia | HLD: Jack Dreyer
Kolby Allard — 2.2 IP, 1 ER, 2 H, 1 BB, 5 K, 5 Whiffs, 25.5% CSW. Not worth it.
Matt Festa — 1.1 IP, 2 ER, 4 H, 0 BB, 2 K, 5 Whiffs, 37.9% CSW. No sweeper command left Festa stuck with his four-seamer here.
Alex Vesia (HLD) — 1.0 IP, 0 ER, 0 H, 0 BB, 1 K, 1 Whiffs, 35.7% CSW. Four-seamer was awesome, per usual.
Jack Dreyer (HLD) — 1.0 IP, 0 ER, 0 H, 1 BB, 1 K, 2 Whiffs, 33.3% CSW. Dreyer is basically Vesia-lite, and we’ll certainly take that.
Edwin Díaz — 1.0 IP, 1 ER, 1 H, 1 BB, 2 K, 3 Whiffs, 30.3% CSW. No four-seam location, and the velo is still down (95.7 MPH). Too early to panic, but it’s worth monitoring.
Also, if you’re looking for the detailed list or ranking of Relievers, check out my weekly RP Ranks
