Fantasy Baseball Reliever Roundup

Welcome to the RP Roundup, my daily fantasy baseball article reviewing every reliever performance from the previous day.

ARI 4 – BAL 3

Arizona Diamondbacks
Taylor Clarke – HLD (5)	1.2 IP	0 ER	0 H	0 BB	1 K	1 Whiffs	20% CSW
Juan Morillo – HLD (6)	0.2 IP	1 ER	2 H	2 BB	0 K	1 Whiffs	29% CSW
Ryan Thompson – HLD (4)	0.1 IP	0 ER	0 H	0 BB	0 K	0 Whiffs	0% CSW
Paul Sewald – SV (6)	1.0 IP	0 ER	0 H	0 BB	1 K	3 Whiffs	36% CSW

We got the first rough outing for Juan Morillo this year, and it wasn’t even as bad as the line makes it look. The single to Basallo was luck/good hitting, and the single to Taveras was a changeup he left up that Taveras did a great job with. It’s not like the control was terrible either (despite the two walks), as he was in the zone more than 50% of the time.

Baltimore Orioles
Rico Garcia	1.1 IP	0 H	2 K	2 Whiffs	46% CSW
Grant Wolfram	1.1 IP	0 H	3 K	4 Whiffs	50% CSW
Yennier Cano	1.0 IP	0 H	2 K	1 Whiffs	36% CSW
Nick Raquet	0.2 IP	1 H	0 K	0 Whiffs	21% CSW

Grant Wolfram continues to make things work with a subpar fastball, largely thanks to that plus curveball. Even when Keegan Akin and Dietrich Enns return, I think Wolfram should get a chance to hang on to the top lefty role.

KCR 1 – DET 2

Kansas City Royals
Matt Strahm – HLD (5)	1.0 IP	0 ER	1 H	1 BB	1 K	3 Whiffs	29% CSW
Nick Mears – L (1)	1.0 IP	2 ER	2 H	1 BB	0 K	0 Whiffs	11% CSW

The Royals listened and removed Schreiber from the 8th, going with Nick Mears instead…but it did not go well. All of a sudden Mears stuff and command just evaporated. Hopefully, it was just a one-time thing and not what’s to come, but yeah, this was ugly.

Detroit Tigers
Will Vest – W (1)	1.0 IP	0 ER	0 H	0 BB	3 K	2 Whiffs	46% CSW
Kenley Jansen – SV (3)	1.0 IP	0 ER	1 H	0 BB	0 K	2 Whiffs	33% CSW

Kenley Jansen turned back the clock here, touching 97 MPH at one point! It could be just a result of what was at stake for him, or maybe he’s rejuvenated and just going to let it fly again. Either way, it’s exciting.

WSN 5 – PIT 4

Washington Nationals
Miles Mikolas	3.1 IP	3 ER	3 H	2 BB	0 K	3 Whiffs	24% CSW
Mitchell Parker – W (1)	2.0 IP	0 ER	2 H	0 BB	5 K	12 Whiffs	39% CSW
Cionel Pérez – HLD (3)	1.0 IP	0 ER	0 H	1 BB	0 K	0 Whiffs	10% CSW
Clayton Beeter – HLD (2)	0.2 IP	0 ER	0 H	0 BB	0 K	0 Whiffs	25% CSW
Gus Varland – SV (2)	1.0 IP	0 ER	1 H	1 BB	1 K	4 Whiffs	42% CSW

Mitchell Parker threw 35 sliders/curveballs during this 46 pitch outing, as he was only able to throw one fastball over the plate here. It’s fair to say that slider still works, I guess.
Is Gus Varland closer season here? We know Clayton Beeter has the better pure stuff, but it makes sense if the Nationals don’t trust his command in the ninth inning. Varland’s command wasn’t great here either, but the stuff is real, and if they let Varland run with this role, I think there could be something here.

Pittsburgh Pirates
Yohan Ramírez	2.0 IP	0 H	2 K	6 Whiffs	38% CSW
Mason Montgomery	1.0 IP	1 H	2 K	4 Whiffs	39% CSW
Isaac Mattson	2.0 IP	2 H	1 K	2 Whiffs	15% CSW

Yohan Ramírez is really, really good, and given his role here, he just kind of is forgotten about. It’s tough to roster him in fantasy since he isn’t getting holds or wins, but he may be a safe ratio booster with some strikeout upside.
Mason Montgomery may be getting closer; we’ve been getting more consistent C-range location grades recently. I don’t want to overreact and get too excited yet, but things are trending up.

SFG 1 – CIN 2

San Francisco Giants
Caleb Kilian	1.0 IP	1 H	1 BB	1 K	3 Whiffs	27% CSW
Keaton Winn	1.0 IP	0 H	0 BB	2 K	2 Whiffs	38% CSW
Ryan Walker	1.0 IP	0 H	0 BB	0 K	1 Whiffs	38% CSW

Robbie Ray started this game, but Ryan Walker didn’t enter directly after him; instead, coming in in the 8th inning here. The Giants have struggled this season, so it’s hard to even gauge what the teams leaning toward for the closer role. The three guys who pitched in this game have had their moments, but lack consistency.

Cincinnati Reds
Graham Ashcraft – HLD (5)	1.0 IP	0 H	0 BB	2 K	3 Whiffs	46% CSW
Tony Santillan – HLD (6)	1.0 IP	1 H	1 BB	1 K	3 Whiffs	25% CSW
Emilio Pagán – SV (5)	1.0 IP	0 H	0 BB	1 K	2 Whiffs	57% CSW

Emilio Pagán had something happen with his hamstring on the last pitch of the game, so that is something to monitor here going forward. As much as I like Graham Ashcraft as the potential next closer here, I’d imagine Francona is leaning towards Tony Santillan. Santillan’s velocity actually looked much better here, and I’m not even sure he needs to get back to that 97 MPH range, as the lower arm angle this year, at least, is helping with some better shaping of his arsenal.

CHC 10 – PHI 4

Chicago Cubs
Colin Rea – W (2)	6.0 IP	3 ER	4 H	0 BB	5 K	7 Whiffs	25% CSW
Jacob Webb	0.1 IP	1 ER	2 H	0 BB	0 K	1 Whiffs	20% CSW
Caleb Thielbar – HLD (1)	0.2 IP	0 ER	1 H	1 BB	2 K	3 Whiffs	39% CSW
Ryan Rolison	1.0 IP	0 ER	1 H	0 BB	0 K	0 Whiffs	36% CSW

I don’t love where Caleb Thielbar’s command has been lately, but the stuff is still great, and I wouldn’t worry too much in holds leagues.

Philadelphia Phillies
Tim Mayza – L (1)	0.1 IP	3 ER	1 H	2 BB	0 K	1 Whiffs	15% CSW
Brad Keller	0.2 IP	0 ER	1 H	0 BB	2 K	2 Whiffs	40% CSW
Chase Shugart	2.0 IP	0 ER	2 H	1 BB	3 K	2 Whiffs	22% CSW
Tanner Banks	1.0 IP	3 ER	3 H	1 BB	1 K	1 Whiffs	28% CSW

It feels like Tanner Banks has taken a step back, and Tim Mayza is Tim Mayza, so this team may be in the market for another left-handed reliever.

LAA 7 – NYY 1

Los Angeles Angels
Chase Silseth	1.0 IP	0 ER	0 H	0 BB	1 K	4 Whiffs	28% CSW
Ryan Zeferjahn	1.0 IP	0 ER	1 H	0 BB	2 K	4 Whiffs	30% CSW

Ryan Zeferjahn still has nasty stuff, will he be able to work his way up the high-leverage ladder here?

New York Yankees
Paul Blackburn	1.0 IP	1 ER	3 H	1 BB	1 K	1 Whiffs	20% CSW
Yerry De los Santos	2.0 IP	1 ER	3 H	2 BB	1 K	0 Whiffs	25% CSW
Brent Headrick	1.0 IP	0 ER	1 H	1 BB	0 K	2 Whiffs	24% CSW

Yerry De los Santos is back with the Yankees, but I doubt it is for very long.

MIA 5 – ATL 6

Miami Marlins
Michael Petersen – HLD (1)	2.0 IP	0 ER	1 H	0 BB	1 K	1 Whiffs	18% CSW
Pete Fairbanks – L (1)	1.0 IP	3 ER	3 H	0 BB	1 K	6 Whiffs	27% CSW

Pete Fairbanks was clearly shaking off some rust here as he hadn’t pitched in over a week, and the command here showed it. I think he’ll be fine, and he’ll be their closer more often than not, but he just needs to get back into some sort of rhythm again.

Atlanta Braves
Dylan Lee	1.0 IP	0 ER	0 H	2 K	4 Whiffs	45% CSW
Tyler Kinley	1.0 IP	0 ER	1 H	0 K	0 Whiffs	17% CSW
Robert Suarez – W (2)	1.0 IP	1 ER	3 H	1 K	2 Whiffs	24% CSW
Raisel Iglesias – SV (3)	1.0 IP	0 ER	0 H	2 K	3 Whiffs	50% CSW

Raisel Iglesias looks good so far, but I have my concerns about him when the command isn’t great (which will happen). He ditched his slider because it was getting hammered last year, but now he’s left with three pretty blegh pitches that aren’t even too dissimilar from each other. With Robert Suarez getting hit around a little bit here and Iglesias easily slamming the door, it probably gives Iglesias some more wiggle room as far as being the closer goes, but I still don’t feel too comfortable about Iglesias long term.

BOS 0 – MIN 6

Boston Red Sox
Jack Anderson	3.0 IP	1 ER	1 H	1 BB	4 K	8 Whiffs	29% CSW
Aroldis Chapman	1.0 IP	0 ER	0 H	0 BB	3 K	4 Whiffs	36% CSW

There are not many positives to take from this Red Sox team right now, but seeing Aroldis Chapman’s velocity return here was certainly a nice sight. Hopefully this sticks.

Minnesota Twins
Taylor Rogers	1.0 IP	0 ER	1 H	1 BB	1 K	1 Whiffs	23% CSW
Cole Sands	1.0 IP	0 ER	1 H	0 BB	1 K	0 Whiffs	27% CSW

Cole Sands still looks fine, and he could be a better-than-average reliever here, but the team doesn’t seem to fully trust him yet. Or anyone in this bullpen, I guess, which makes sense.

TOR 9 – MIL 7

Toronto Blue Jays
Mason Fluharty	1.0 IP	0 ER	0 H	1 BB	2 K	3 Whiffs	36% CSW
Braydon Fisher	1.0 IP	1 ER	1 H	0 BB	2 K	3 Whiffs	41% CSW
Tyler Rogers	1.0 IP	0 ER	1 H	0 BB	0 K	2 Whiffs	18% CSW
Jeff Hoffman – BS (3)	0.2 IP	2 ER	2 H	3 BB	1 K	3 Whiffs	25% CSW
Louis Varland – W (1)	1.1 IP	0 ER	2 H	0 BB	2 K	3 Whiffs	37% CSW

This game was a mess in the ninth inning with two blown saves by prominent closers. Jeff Hoffman had no feel for his splitter (or fastball) here and probably stuck with it for too long as he wound up throwing 10 splitters, none of which were in the strike zone. He was able to locate the slider, but that may have been too little, too late. I doubt this results in a change in the closer role in Toronto, but this team was itching for an alternative to Hoffman this offseason, and the way Louis Varland is throwing the ball right now, I don’t think a change should be totally ruled out (but I doubt it happens this week).

Milwaukee Brewers
DL Hall – HLD (1)	0.2 IP	0 ER	0 H	0 BB	0 K	0 Whiffs	20% CSW
Angel Zerpa – HLD (2)	1.0 IP	0 ER	1 H	0 BB	1 K	1 Whiffs	33% CSW
Abner Uribe – HLD (4)	1.0 IP	1 ER	2 H	0 BB	1 K	3 Whiffs	35% CSW
Trevor Megill – BS (1)	1.0 IP	3 ER	3 H	1 BB	0 K	1 Whiffs	25% CSW
Grant Anderson – L (1)	1.0 IP	2 ER	2 H	1 BB	0 K	0 Whiffs	11% CSW

I’m not worried so much about Trevor Megill’s fastball velocity being slightly down; it still plays up at 97 MPH. I’m worried about the atrocious command and the fact that he keeps putting lead-off guys on, whether by walk or hit by pitch. There are two fastballs and two curveballs over the middle of the plate from this game; he got away with three of them, but one was a hard-hit double. The double doesn’t do the damage it did if he hadn’t walked the lead-off man. So Megill just needs to worry about getting ahead of hitters and pitching with confidence again. He should be fine, and it’s not like Abner Uribe has been lights out either.

CLE 5 – STL 6

Cleveland Guardians
Shawn Armstrong	1.0 IP	0 ER	1 H	0 BB	1 K	2 Whiffs	20% CSW
Erik Sabrowski – HLD (7)	1.0 IP	2 ER	1 H	1 BB	2 K	3 Whiffs	29% CSW
Cade Smith – BS (2)	1.0 IP	0 ER	1 H	0 BB	1 K	3 Whiffs	22% CSW
Tim Herrin – L (1)	0.1 IP	0 ER	0 H	0 BB	0 K	0 Whiffs	0% CSW

Erik Sabrowski showed his first signs of being human, as his command wasn’t great here, and Wetherholt jumped on a fastball down and way to take him deep to left. Nothing to worry about here long term, but he also isn’t one to have the best command night in and night out.
This was a tough blown save for Cade Smith as the inning should have been over, but an error, stolen base, and base hit wound up tying the game with two outs in the ninth. He’s fine, the stuff looks great.

St. Louis Cardinals
George Soriano	1.0 IP	0 ER	0 H	1 BB	1 K	2 Whiffs	33% CSW
JoJo Romero	1.1 IP	0 ER	1 H	1 BB	0 K	0 Whiffs	25% CSW
Ryne Stanek	0.2 IP	3 ER	4 H	0 BB	0 K	3 Whiffs	20% CSW
Matt Svanson	1.0 IP	0 ER	0 H	0 BB	2 K	0 Whiffs	33% CSW
Riley O’Brien – W (2)	1.0 IP	0 ER	0 H	0 BB	1 K	2 Whiffs	27% CSW

Ryne Stanek is infuriating. Either he is missing outside of the zone completely, or he is living right in the middle of the zone, as he was here. 12 of his 30 pitches were in the middle of the strike zone here, and he allowed some loud contact as a result.
Riley O’Brien going 10/15 sliders or sweepers here was great to see again, and I love everyone he’s got going on right now with this pitch mix.

COL 6 – HOU 7

Colorado Rockies
Antonio Senzatela	3.1 IP	2 H	3 K	6 Whiffs	30% CSW
Juan Mejia	1.0 IP	2 H	1 K	1 Whiffs	31% CSW
Zach Agnos	1.0 IP	0 H	2 K	3 Whiffs	44% CSW

I’m aware of what Antonio Senzatela’s season numbers look like. No, you should not be interested in this.

Houston Astros
AJ Blubaugh – W (2)	1.1 IP	1 ER	1 H	1 BB	1 K	7 Whiffs	26% CSW
Steven Okert – HLD (1)	1.0 IP	0 ER	0 H	1 BB	1 K	3 Whiffs	29% CSW
Kai-Wei Teng – HLD (1)	1.1 IP	1 ER	0 H	2 BB	2 K	5 Whiffs	27% CSW
Bryan King – HLD (2)	1.1 IP	0 ER	3 H	0 BB	2 K	3 Whiffs	36% CSW
Enyel De Los Santos – SV (1)	0.1 IP	0 ER	0 H	0 BB	1 K	2 Whiffs	60% CSW

Bryan King almost got the five-out save here, but couldn’t quite make it through. He’s not overly exciting, but this bullpen doesn’t have much going right at this point, so you could do worse than taking a chance on King as we wait for Josh Hader to return.

SEA 1 – SDP 4

Seattle Mariners
Casey Legumina	1.0 IP	1 ER	3 H	0 BB	1 K	3 Whiffs	29% CSW

Casey Legumina actually has a fun arsenal, but he’s not overpowering, so he’ll get BABIP’d at times.

San Diego Padres
Adrian Morejon – HLD (2)	1.0 IP	0 BB	1 K	2 Whiffs	44% CSW
Jason Adam – HLD (1)	1.0 IP	1 BB	0 K	0 Whiffs	11% CSW
Mason Miller – SV (5)	1.0 IP	0 BB	1 K	4 Whiffs	40% CSW

Adrian Morejon looked great here, and you should be patient with him despite his early-season struggles.

TEX 1 – ATH 2

Texas Rangers
Chris Martin	0.1 IP	0 H	0 BB	1 K	2 Whiffs	40% CSW
Robert Garcia	1.2 IP	0 H	1 BB	3 K	7 Whiffs	41% CSW
Luis Curvelo	0.0 IP	0 H	1 BB	0 K
Tyler Alexander	1.1 IP	1 H	0 BB	2 K	1 Whiffs	31% CSW

Robert Garcia still has some command issues he has yet to figure out, but this was certainly better

Athletics
Justin Sterner – HLD (5)	0.2 IP	1 H	0 BB	1 K	1 Whiffs	33% CSW
Hogan Harris – HLD (4)	0.2 IP	0 H	2 BB	0 K	2 Whiffs	16% CSW
Elvis Alvarado – HLD (3)	0.1 IP	0 H	0 BB	0 K	0 Whiffs	0% CSW
Mark Leiter Jr. Jr. – SV (2)	1.0 IP	0 H	0 BB	2 K	4 Whiffs	62% CSW

It may be hard to guess who is getting the save for this team on a day-to-day basis, but there’s definitely value here in holds leagues with guys like Justin Sterner and Hogan Harris, maybe Elvis Alvarado eventually.

NYM 1 – LAD 2

New York Mets
Brooks Raley – L (1)	1.0 IP	1 ER	1 H	2 BB	1 K	1 Whiffs	33% CSW

Uncharacteristically poor command from Brooks Raley here, as everything that can go wrong with the Mets seems to be going wrong. He should be fine moving forward.

Los Angeles Dodgers
Blake Treinen – W (1)	0.1 IP	0 ER	0 H	0 BB	1 K	1 Whiffs	43% CSW
Alex Vesia – SV (2)	1.0 IP	0 ER	0 H	0 BB	3 K	7 Whiffs	80% CSW

Edwin Díaz was off today as he threw a bullpen before the game, so Alex Vesia filled in for the ninth and was one pitch away from an immaculate inning. Vesia also didn’t throw one pitch in the strike zone here.

If you’re looking for potential relievers to stream today, check out RP Streamers

Also, if you’re looking for the detailed list or ranking of Relievers, check out my weekly RP Ranks

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Fantasy Baseball Relief Pitcher Roundup: 4/14

Rick Graham