Fantasy Baseball Relief Pitcher Rankings

St. Louis Cardinals
Justin Bruihl	1.1 IP	1 ER	0 H	1 BB	1 K	1 Whiffs	26% CSW
Matt Svanson	2.1 IP	1 ER	3 H	1 BB	1 K	2 Whiffs	20% CSW
Chris Roycroft	1.0 IP	2 ER	2 H	2 BB	2 K	2 Whiffs	30% CSW

Matt Svanson may need a AAA stint to figure out some things, specifically, what he wants to do with his fastball/sinker. It’s not a good pitch right now, and he’s having trouble locating it. Maybe the answer is just leaning more on his sweeper and cutter.

Detroit Tigers
Drew Anderson	1.0 IP	1 ER	1 H	0 BB	1 K	4 Whiffs	35% CSW
Brant Hurter (W)	1.0 IP	0 ER	0 H	1 BB	0 K	0 Whiffs	23% CSW
Will Vest (HLD)	1.0 IP	0 ER	1 H	0 BB	1 K	4 Whiffs	26% CSW
Tyler Holton (HLD)	1.0 IP	0 ER	1 H	0 BB	0 K	0 Whiffs	0% CSW
Kenley Jansen	0.1 IP	0 ER	0 H	1 BB	1 K	2 Whiffs	38% CSW

Will Vest threw some vulnerable four-seamers here that he got away with, but the slider still looked good.

Toronto Blue Jays
Mason Fluharty	1.0 IP	1 ER	2 H	1 BB	0 K	1 Whiffs	15% CSW
Brendon Little (L)	0.1 IP	3 ER	3 H	0 BB	1 K	1 Whiffs	23% CSW
Tommy Nance	1.2 IP	0 ER	0 H	0 BB	1 K	1 Whiffs	25% CSW
Braydon Fisher	1.0 IP	0 ER	2 H	1 BB	1 K	4 Whiffs	28% CSW

Mason Fluharty opened in this one, and I’d just like to suggest that this never happens again, thank you.
I thought we may have been turning a corner with Brendon Little, but he can not afford to leave that sinker middle middle, even to lefties.

Chicago White Sox
Grant Taylor	1.0 IP	0 ER	0 H	0 BB	1 K	1 Whiffs	22% CSW
Chris Murphy (W)	1.0 IP	1 ER	2 H	0 BB	0 K	0 Whiffs	20% CSW
Jordan Hicks (HLD)	1.1 IP	0 ER	0 H	1 BB	0 K	1 Whiffs	16% CSW
Sean Newcomb (HLD)	0.1 IP	0 ER	0 H	1 BB	0 K	0 Whiffs	6% CSW
Seranthony Domínguez (SV)	1.0 IP	0 ER	1 H	1 BB	1 K	3 Whiffs	38% CSW

That’s two starts for Grant Taylor now, inching closer to that SP eligibility. But yeah, it’s really frustrating to roster him right now.
I know he throws hard, but Jordan Hicks fastball is mostly empty velocity. IF he were to lean more into his sweeper/splitter, he could be back in the “interesting” category.
Seranthony Domínguez had no command in this one but was able to grind through this outing and still record a save. His command tends to be volatile like this, so don’t expect a low WHIP.

Milwaukee Brewers
Aaron Ashby	1.2 IP	2 ER	4 H	1 BB	3 K	4 Whiffs	29% CSW
Abner Uribe (HLD)	1.1 IP	0 ER	0 H	0 BB	1 K	1 Whiffs	21% CSW
Trevor Megill (SV)	1.0 IP	0 ER	0 H	2 BB	2 K	1 Whiffs	27% CSW

Abner Uribe’s velocity is still down, and he also had no command of it here, but I think the slider should be able to carry him as long as he is locating it somewhat well.
Trevor Megill’s velocity is down a little bit as well, but his four-seamer shape still makes it tough to hit…as long as he is locating it. Megill’s fastball command is typically shaky, and was especially so here. I still think he has looked better than Uribe so far this year (by a decent-sized margin).

Kansas City Royals
Daniel Lynch IV	2.0 IP	1 H	0 BB	3 K	4 Whiffs	37% CSW
Alex Lange	2.0 IP	1 H	1 BB	4 K	8 Whiffs	34% CSW
John Schreiber	1.0 IP	0 H	2 BB	0 K	0 Whiffs	16% CSW
Steven Cruz	1.0 IP	0 H	0 BB	1 K	4 Whiffs	28% CSW

OK Alex Lange. He threw 16 changeups and 11 curveballs (38 total pitches) and just spotted his fastballs here and there to keep hitters honest. I could get into this pitch mix, I just don’t know how or if he could even produce a respectable walk rate with this usage long term.

Milwaukee Brewers
Brandon Sproat (L)	3.2 IP	4 ER	4 H	3 BB	4 K	5 Whiffs	24% CSW
Jared Koenig	0.1 IP	0 ER	2 H	2 BB	0 K	1 Whiffs	24% CSW
DL Hall	2.0 IP	0 ER	1 H	1 BB	2 K	4 Whiffs	26% CSW

Not a good outing from Jared Koenig, but hopefully this is just a blip and nothing more.

Kansas City Royals
Nick Mears (W)	1.0 IP	0 ER	0 H	0 BB	0 K	0 Whiffs	14% CSW
Eli Morgan (SV)	3.0 IP	0 ER	1 H	1 BB	5 K	6 Whiffs	38% CSW

Welcome back, Eli Morgan. That changeup has always been good. This isn’t something to be excited about, though.

Los Angeles Dodgers
Tanner Scott	1.0 IP	0 ER	1 H	1 K	1 Whiffs	29% CSW
Ben Casparius	1.0 IP	2 ER	2 H	1 K	4 Whiffs	45% CSW
Edgardo Henriquez	1.0 IP	1 ER	1 H	0 K	4 Whiffs	27% CSW

I keep getting the feeling that Tanner Scott’s usage is going to be annoying this season.
The 0-2 curveball Casparius threw to CJ Abrams that resulted in a home run was the definition of a hanger, but other than that, he looked great.

Washington Nationals
Brad Lord	2.0 IP	3 ER	5 H	1 BB	0 K	2 Whiffs	27% CSW
Gus Varland	1.0 IP	1 ER	2 H	0 BB	2 K	3 Whiffs	53% CSW
Cole Henry	2.0 IP	0 ER	1 H	0 BB	2 K	2 Whiffs	22% CSW

Gus Varland and Cole Henry still see weird usage. That could be because the Nationals haven’t had many save chances (and Henry did get one), but these two are at least the best righties in this bullpen behind Clayton Beeter.

Houston Astros
Kai-Wei Teng	2.1 IP	0 ER	2 H	0 BB	3 K	4 Whiffs	36% CSW
Steven Okert	1.0 IP	0 ER	0 H	0 BB	1 K	3 Whiffs	25% CSW

Kai-Wei Teng has a really good sweeper and curveball, but his fastball is not good. Maybe he just needs to throw his breakers like 75% of the time? He could be a fun reliever. Steven Okert throws his slider 60-70% of the time for this reason as well.

Athletics
Elvis Alvarado	2.0 IP	2 ER	3 H	2 BB	0 K	4 Whiffs	31% CSW
Hogan Harris	1.0 IP	3 ER	4 H	2 BB	1 K	1 Whiffs	15% CSW
Luis Medina	2.0 IP	1 ER	2 H	2 BB	4 K	9 Whiffs	28% CSW
Michael Kelly	1.0 IP	0 ER	1 H	1 BB	0 K	0 Whiffs	12% CSW

This bullpen is just going to be a nightmare to roster, isn’t it? I’m out on Elvis Alvarado and Hogan Harris for now, and Luis Medina’s command is not good enough to trust yet either.

Baltimore Orioles
Rico Garcia (HLD)	0.1 IP	0 ER	0 H	1 BB	0 K	1 Whiffs	20% CSW
Grant Wolfram (HLD)	1.0 IP	0 ER	1 H	0 BB	2 K	3 Whiffs	29% CSW
Anthony Nunez (BS)	1.0 IP	1 ER	2 H	1 BB	0 K	2 Whiffs	15% CSW
Ryan Helsley (L)	0.1 IP	1 ER	2 H	1 BB	0 K	1 Whiffs	23% CSW

I’ll give the Orioles credit here for trusting Anthony Nunez in the 8th inning up a run, but obviously, it backfired. He didn’t have his best stuff and had no command, but it shouldn’t affect our long-term view of Nunez.
Ryan Helsley looked a lot better than the line indicates (the BB was an IBB), and the Nick York walk-off double probably could have been caught, but anyway, there’s no concern here with Helsley after the loss.

Pittsburgh Pirates
Hunter Barco	2.1 IP	0 H	3 BB	1 K	1 Whiffs	22% CSW
Isaac Mattson	1.0 IP	1 H	1 BB	1 K	0 Whiffs	29% CSW
Dennis Santana (W)	1.0 IP	0 H	0 BB	1 K	1 Whiffs	31% CSW

Dennis Santana has had success so far this season, but there’s definitely some luck involved, as he’s not working with great stuff or even great command most of the time. This was the best velocity he’s had all year, so that’s a good sign at least.

San Diego Padres
Jeremiah Estrada (HLD)	1.0 IP	0 ER	0 H	0 K	0 Whiffs	10% CSW
Adrian Morejon (W)	1.0 IP	1 ER	2 H	2 K	5 Whiffs	31% CSW
Mason Miller (SV)	1.0 IP	0 ER	0 H	3 K	4 Whiffs	64% CSW

This isn’t the real Jeremiah Estrada, and I am beginning to get worried. His four-seamer averaged 94 MPH today, while it averaged 98 MPH last season. He actually could be OK with diminished velocity; we just need him to locate better (and he did today at least).
Mason Miller is the best reliever on the planet, and it is not particularly close.

Boston Red Sox
Ryan Watson	1.1 IP	0 ER	1 H	1 BB	1 K	2 Whiffs	27% CSW
Danny Coulombe	0.2 IP	0 ER	0 H	0 BB	1 K	1 Whiffs	38% CSW
Justin Slaten	1.0 IP	0 ER	1 H	0 BB	1 K	2 Whiffs	16% CSW
Zack Kelly	1.0 IP	0 ER	0 H	0 BB	1 K	2 Whiffs	56% CSW
Aroldis Chapman (L)	1.0 IP	1 ER	2 H	0 BB	1 K	4 Whiffs	35% CSW

After two quick outs, Aroldis Chapman gave up a double to Tatis and a single to Laureano and got himself stuck with a loss. Tatis was just sitting on his fastball, and he left his splitter up to Laureano, but otherwise, he looked fine.

Cincinnati Reds
Graham Ashcraft (HLD)	1.0 IP	0 H	1 BB	1 K	5 Whiffs	33% CSW
Tony Santillan (HLD)	1.0 IP	0 H	0 BB	1 K	1 Whiffs	27% CSW
Emilio Pagán (SV)	1.0 IP	1 H	2 BB	1 K	3 Whiffs	26% CSW

Tony Santillan continues to make it work with this much lower velocity he is working with (93.6 MPH here). The curveball (slurve?) can be that good.
Emilio Pagán feels like a ticking time bomb here, as the stuff is down and he’s really struggled with his command so far this season. He didn’t even try throwing a cutter here today, which is also odd.

Texas Rangers
Jalen Beeks	1.0 IP	1 H	0 K	2 Whiffs	25% CSW
Jacob Latz	1.0 IP	0 H	2 K	2 Whiffs	40% CSW
Carter Baumler	1.0 IP	0 H	1 K	2 Whiffs	33% CSW
Tyler Alexander	1.0 IP	1 H	1 K	1 Whiffs	38% CSW

Carter Baumler is still my favorite amongst this group, we just may not see him in leverage spots for a while.

Miami Marlins
Andrew Nardi	0.1 IP	1 ER	0 H	3 BB	1 K	2 Whiffs	24% CSW
Anthony Bender (BS)	0.1 IP	2 ER	2 H	0 BB	1 K	0 Whiffs	33% CSW
John King	0.2 IP	0 ER	0 H	0 BB	1 K	2 Whiffs	30% CSW
Calvin Faucher	1.0 IP	0 ER	0 H	1 BB	2 K	2 Whiffs	50% CSW
Michael Petersen (L)	1.0 IP	2 ER	1 H	3 BB	0 K	3 Whiffs	17% CSW

Ugh, Andrew Nardi could not locate anything here, and Anthony Bender caught too much of the plate. They’re both typically much better than this.
Calvin Faucher in the 7th and Michael Petersen in the 8th is quite the interesting usage. I wonder if Pete Fairbanks would have gotten the 8th if the weather had been more favorable (it was around 44 degrees in the 8th inning)? Anyway, I still love Petersen’s four-seamer, but he had no command of it today, and that has more or less always been his issue.

New York Yankees
Paul Blackburn	1.2 IP	0 ER	3 H	0 BB	2 K	4 Whiffs	32% CSW
Tim Hill	1.0 IP	0 ER	0 H	0 BB	0 K	0 Whiffs	14% CSW
Fernando Cruz (HLD)	0.2 IP	0 ER	0 H	0 BB	1 K	1 Whiffs	60% CSW
Camilo Doval (BS)	0.1 IP	2 ER	3 H	0 BB	1 K	2 Whiffs	26% CSW
Brent Headrick (W)	0.2 IP	0 ER	0 H	1 BB	0 K	1 Whiffs	29% CSW
David Bednar (SV)	1.0 IP	1 ER	3 H	1 BB	2 K	5 Whiffs	33% CSW

So Camilo Doval actually had better stuff in this one, getting back to the 95-96 MPH range, and dealt with some tough luck on the two doubles he allowed on his slider. It’s going to happen time to time with someone like him.
David Bednar allowed three hits and a walk while needing 33 pitches to get three outs in this one. The command wasn’t even that bad, and the hits, well the first one should have been an error if we are being honest, and the next two hits were seeing eye singles through the 6 hole. This felt very similar to a Devin Williams outing last season. All that said, I’m not too discouraged by this outing.

Tampa Bay Rays
Cole Sulser	2.0 IP	0 ER	1 H	2 BB	3 K	4 Whiffs	31% CSW
Mason Englert	1.0 IP	0 ER	0 H	0 BB	1 K	0 Whiffs	29% CSW

I’m not sure how the Rays feel right now, but I trust Cole Sulser over Kevin Kelly. This bullpen really, really needs Edwin Uceta to return, though.

Minnesota Twins
Taylor Rogers	1.0 IP	2 ER	3 H	0 BB	0 K	1 Whiffs	22% CSW
Anthony Banda	1.0 IP	0 ER	0 H	0 BB	1 K	2 Whiffs	47% CSW
Zak Kent	2.0 IP	1 ER	1 H	2 BB	0 K	2 Whiffs	18% CSW
Cody Laweryson	1.0 IP	0 ER	0 H	0 BB	1 K	1 Whiffs	33% CSW

There’s a chance Taylor Rogers fastball (sinker) is the worst fastball amongst MLB relievers, and he decided to throw it 9 times today, resulting in 3 hits. This is why you shouldn’t trust him.

Atlanta Braves
Tyler Kinley	1.0 IP	0 ER	0 H	0 BB	1 K	1 Whiffs	57% CSW

Arizona Diamondbacks
Taylor Clarke (HLD)	1.0 IP	1 K	2 Whiffs	33% CSW
Jonathan Loáisiga (HLD)	1.0 IP	0 K	1 Whiffs	20% CSW
Juan Morillo (HLD)	1.0 IP	1 K	2 Whiffs	21% CSW
Paul Sewald (SV)	1.0 IP	2 K	3 Whiffs	29% CSW

I am loving Juan Morillo right now, and he (deservedly so) seems locked into that top setup role in front of Paul Sewald right now. His changeup and slider are good enough offspeed offerings to pair with his great fourseamer.
Great bounce-back performance from Paul Sewald here. He looks really good right now.

Philadelphia Phillies
José Alvarado (HLD)	0.1 IP	0 H	1 BB	1 K	2 Whiffs	33% CSW
Brad Keller (HLD)	1.0 IP	1 H	0 BB	0 K	1 Whiffs	23% CSW
Jhoan Duran (SV)	1.0 IP	0 H	0 BB	1 K	2 Whiffs	38% CSW

I think Jhoan Duran is a tough pitcher for modeling systems, because he’s looked great to me so far this year, and I don’t really have too much concern here.

Colorado Rockies
Jimmy Herget	1.1 IP	0 ER	0 H	0 BB	2 K	3 Whiffs	47% CSW
Chase Dollander (L)	4.1 IP	1 ER	4 H	1 BB	6 K	10 Whiffs	30% CSW
Jaden Hill	0.2 IP	0 ER	0 H	1 BB	1 K	3 Whiffs	21% CSW
Juan Mejia	1.0 IP	0 ER	1 H	0 BB	1 K	3 Whiffs	57% CSW
Victor Vodnik	1.0 IP	0 ER	1 H	0 BB	0 K	0 Whiffs	17% CSW

Juan Mejia looked better here, but I still want nothing to do with this bullpen.

New York Mets
Tobias Myers	2.0 IP	0 ER	0 H	0 BB	1 K	2 Whiffs	20% CSW

On a night where Clay Holmes looked like Paul Skenes, Tobias Myers was able to locate his way to an easy two-inning appearance.

San Francisco Giants
Ryan Borucki	1.1 IP	1 ER	3 H	0 BB	1 K	1 Whiffs	18% CSW
Keaton Winn	1.0 IP	1 ER	2 H	1 BB	1 K	4 Whiffs	30% CSW
Caleb Kilian	1.0 IP	0 ER	0 H	0 BB	1 K	1 Whiffs	25% CSW
Christian Koss	1.0 IP	0 ER	0 H	0 BB	0 K	0 Whiffs	22% CSW

Keaton Winn is still interesting, but I don’t think it’s fair to consider him some savior in this bullpen. His high splitter usage will make him consistently volatile.
I still like Winn and Caleb Kilian a lot, but between the bullpen usage trends here and command inconsistencies, it will be really hard to trust either outside of deep holds leagues.

Seattle Mariners
Eduard Bazardo	1.1 IP	0 ER	1 H	0 BB	2 K	3 Whiffs	32% CSW

Eduard Bazardo had a little bit better command here, but I still worry about where his stuff is at right now.

Los Angeles Angels
Joey Lucchesi (HLD)	0.1 IP	0 H	1 BB	0 K	0 Whiffs	27% CSW
Chase Silseth (HLD)	1.0 IP	0 H	0 BB	2 K	5 Whiffs	44% CSW
Sam Bachman (HLD)	0.2 IP	1 H	0 BB	0 K	1 Whiffs	12% CSW
Drew Pomeranz (HLD)	0.1 IP	0 H	0 BB	0 K	0 Whiffs	0% CSW
Jordan Romano (SV)	1.0 IP	0 H	0 BB	1 K	1 Whiffs	27% CSW

Jo Adell had what may have been the best defensive game in the history of Major League Baseball last night, which helped out both Sam Bachman and Jordan Romano’s lines here. Bachman’s sinker/slider arsenal is fun, and I hope we keep seeing him in the 7th and 8th (I know Chase Silseth is pitching well right now, but Bachman is better).
Nothing here has changed my thoughts on Jordan Romano, who got Cole Young to fly out on ball 4, and then he struck out Leo Rivas (again) after Adell made one of the craziest home run robberies you’ll see. He still has ZERO fastball command, and even the slider command was off in this one.

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

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Fantasy Baseball Relief Pitcher Roundup: 4/4

Rick Graham

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Fantasy Baseball Relief Pitcher Roundup: 4/4

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