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Fantasy Baseball Relief Pitcher Roundup: 5/14

A Review of Key Bullpen and Reliever Usage from Yesterday's Games

Rick Graham

RP Roundup 5/15/2026

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

COL 2 – PIT 7

Colorado Rockies
Brennan Bernardino	1.1 IP	2 ER	2 H	0 BB	0 K	1 Whiffs	27% CSW
Victor Vodnik	0.2 IP	1 ER	2 H	1 BB	1 K	3 Whiffs	31% CSW
Tanner Gordon	4.0 IP	1 ER	3 H	1 BB	5 K	11 Whiffs	29% CSW
Juan Mejia	1.0 IP	0 ER	0 H	0 BB	1 K	0 Whiffs	44% CSW

Victor Vodnik pitching early in this game and not pitching well is why you don’t want to roster the Rockies “closer”. You can sell me on Senzatela in deeper leagues, maybe even Mejia, but Vodnik remains way too volatile.

Pittsburgh Pirates
Mason Montgomery	1.0 IP	0 ER	1 H	0 BB	3 K	6 Whiffs	64% CSW
Evan Sisk	1.0 IP	0 ER	0 H	0 BB	1 K	1 Whiffs	20% CSW
Dennis Santana	1.0 IP	0 ER	0 H	0 BB	0 K	1 Whiffs	17% CSW
Yohan Ramírez	1.0 IP	0 ER	0 H	1 BB	1 K	4 Whiffs	45% CSW

Mason Montgomery is working his way towards being one of the best SP/RP relievers available, as he has now opened three games.

WSN 1 – CIN 15

Washington Nationals
Zak Kent	2.2 IP	2 ER	2 H	0 BB	2 K	6 Whiffs	31% CSW
Joey Wiemer	1.0 IP	4 ER	5 H	1 BB	0 K	0 Whiffs	21% CSW

Zak Kent was optioned after the game, and Joey Wiemer is an OF, so let’s move on.

Cincinnati Reds
Sam Moll	1.0 IP	0 ER	0 H	0 BB	1 K	2 Whiffs	38% CSW
Luis Mey	1.0 IP	1 ER	1 H	1 BB	2 K	4 Whiffs	41% CSW
Connor Phillips	1.0 IP	0 ER	0 H	0 BB	0 K	0 Whiffs	25% CSW

One hit that was a bit lucky/good piece of hitting by Milas and some poor slider command aside, I’m still impressed with Luis Mey and hope to see his role grow. He should be ahead of Santillan and Phillips at this point.

DET 4 – NYM 9

Detroit Tigers
Tyler Holton	0.1 IP	2 ER	2 H	0 BB	0 K	0 Whiffs	14% CSW
Enmanuel De Jesús	0.2 IP	1 ER	1 H	1 BB	0 K	1 Whiffs	21% CSW
Brenan Hanifee	1.0 IP	1 ER	1 H	0 BB	0 K	1 Whiffs	29% CSW
Ricky Vanasco	1.1 IP	1 ER	2 H	1 BB	0 K	0 Whiffs	22% CSW

The Tigers B-squad bullpen did not fare well here, but no one here is really on the fantasy radar anyway.

New York Mets
Tobias Myers	1.0 IP	1 ER	1 H	0 BB	1 K	1 Whiffs	20% CSW
Craig Kimbrel	1.0 IP	0 ER	0 H	0 BB	1 K	3 Whiffs	26% CSW

Craig Kimbrel stuff looks pretty enticing, and it’s tempting to dive in here, but also remember he doesn’t have a role that produces holds (right now), so we can wait and see.

MIA 1 – MIN 9

Miami Marlins
Calvin Faucher	1.2 IP	0 ER	2 H	0 BB	1 K	2 Whiffs	29% CSW
Anthony Bender	2.0 IP	0 ER	0 H	0 BB	1 K	1 Whiffs	37% CSW
Lake Bachar	2.0 IP	0 ER	0 H	0 BB	2 K	5 Whiffs	30% CSW
John King	1.0 IP	3 ER	3 H	1 BB	0 K	0 Whiffs	18% CSW

I still don’t understand how the Marlins determine who will be pitching and when. I guess you can do that when everyone has great stuff? Anyway, Lake Bachar is still being underutilized.

Minnesota Twins
Kendry Rojas	2.0 IP	1 ER	1 H	2 BB	3 K	5 Whiffs	29% CSW

Kendry Rojas doesn’t have great command, but the stuff is still better than everyone else in this bullpen, except maybe Orze? It’d be fun to see Rojas get some high-leverage chances in the near future and see how he handles it.

SDP 1 – MIL 7

San Diego Padres
Ron Marinaccio	2.1 IP	1 ER	4 H	2 BB	2 K	6 Whiffs	23% CSW
Yuki Matsui	2.0 IP	0 ER	0 H	1 BB	3 K	5 Whiffs	35% CSW
Matt Waldron	2.0 IP	0 ER	1 H	0 BB	4 K	3 Whiffs	33% CSW

Yuki Matsui has been really great so far since returning to the Padres bullpen. I don’t think this level of dominance can stick (the arsenal just isn’t quite good enough), but he may be better than Peralta as that secondary lefty reliever.

Milwaukee Brewers
DL Hall	1.0 IP	0 ER	0 H	1 BB	1 K	1 Whiffs	22% CSW
Grant Anderson	1.0 IP	0 ER	1 H	1 BB	0 K	3 Whiffs	25% CSW
Brian Fitzpatrick	2.0 IP	0 ER	1 H	1 BB	2 K	4 Whiffs	23% CSW

DL Hall was throwing his sinker harder here (up 1.4 MPH), but it doesn’t really change the arsenal’s effectiveness that much (not to mention he had no command of the sinker here).

SEA 8 – HOU 3

Seattle Mariners
Nick Davila	1.1 IP	0 ER	0 H	1 BB	0 K	0 Whiffs	16% CSW
Domingo González	2.0 IP	0 ER	1 H	1 BB	2 K	5 Whiffs	31% CSW

Davila isn’t interesting, but there may be something here with Domingo González given his slider; I just don’t know if the fastball is good enough to survive.

Houston Astros
Cody Bolton	3.1 IP	1 ER	3 H	2 BB	2 K	3 Whiffs	23% CSW

Bolton throws six pitches, and the cutter/sinker are interesting (sweeper could be OK too), but it’s not worth chasing this.

STL 5 – ATH 4

St. Louis Cardinals
Ryne Stanek – HLD (8)	0.1 IP	2 ER	1 H	1 BB	1 K	1 Whiffs	19% CSW
JoJo Romero – BS (1)	0.2 IP	1 ER	3 H	1 BB	0 K	1 Whiffs	18% CSW
Matt Svanson – W (1)	1.0 IP	0 ER	1 H	0 BB	2 K	3 Whiffs	31% CSW
Riley O’Brien – SV (13)	1.0 IP	0 ER	0 H	0 BB	2 K	4 Whiffs	44% CSW

Just when I start trusting Ryne Stanek (and JoJo Romero) again, we can blame this on Sacramento, but Stanek’s stuff looked broken yesterday.
Riley O’Brien looked better than the previous outing here, as the fastball velocity was still down but closer to where he has been all season.

Athletics
Justin Sterner	1.0 IP	0 ER	1 H	0 BB	0 K	2 Whiffs	18% CSW
Mark Leiter Jr. Jr.	1.0 IP	0 ER	0 H	0 BB	2 K	0 Whiffs	40% CSW
Scott Barlow – HLD (8)	1.0 IP	0 ER	1 H	0 BB	0 K	1 Whiffs	8% CSW
Jack Perkins – L (2)	0.2 IP	2 ER	3 H	0 BB	0 K	3 Whiffs	17% CSW
Joel Kuhnel	0.1 IP	0 ER	0 H	0 BB	0 K	1 Whiffs	25% CSW

This was Jack Perkins first time pitching on back-to-back days this season, and it showed from a stuff perspective. This was how he looked in his first couple of outings after being called up. Fortunately for him, it’s not like the A’s have a clear better answer for the ninth inning, but this certainly isn’t helping Perkins get full-time closer usage anytime soon.

PHI 3 – BOS 1

Philadelphia Phillies
Brad Keller – W (2)	1.0 IP	0 ER	1 H	0 BB	2 K	2 Whiffs	33% CSW
José Alvarado – HLD (7)	1.0 IP	1 ER	2 H	0 BB	1 K	3 Whiffs	29% CSW
Jhoan Duran – SV (7)	1.0 IP	0 ER	0 H	1 BB	3 K	4 Whiffs	53% CSW

The Red Sox lineup makes things easy for pitchers these days, as Jhoan Duran was just able to throw 99 MPH fastballs by everyone in the ninth. The command has been shaky since he returned from the IL, and the stuff has fluctuated game to game, but he’ll probably be fine.

Boston Red Sox
Justin Slaten	0.2 IP	0 ER	1 H	0 BB	1 K	2 Whiffs	38% CSW
Garrett Whitlock	1.0 IP	0 ER	0 H	0 BB	2 K	4 Whiffs	55% CSW
Tyler Samaniego – L (1)	0.1 IP	2 ER	2 H	0 BB	0 K	0 Whiffs	12% CSW
Zack Kelly	0.2 IP	0 ER	2 H	0 BB	1 K	2 Whiffs	23% CSW
Ryan Watson	1.0 IP	0 ER	0 H	0 BB	2 K	5 Whiffs	60% CSW

Tyler Samaniego threw six sinkers and two cutters, with one of the cutters leading to a Schwarbomb. I know Samaniego has put together a strong season so far, but he is not a high-leverage guy at this point.

CHC 2 – ATL 0

Chicago Cubs
Hoby Milner – W (1)	2.0 IP	0 ER	1 H	0 BB	1 K	1 Whiffs	32% CSW
Phil Maton – HLD (3)	1.0 IP	0 ER	1 H	0 BB	2 K	2 Whiffs	29% CSW
Jacob Webb – HLD (2)	1.0 IP	0 ER	1 H	0 BB	1 K	4 Whiffs	31% CSW
Daniel Palencia – SV (3)	1.0 IP	0 ER	1 H	0 BB	2 K	3 Whiffs	38% CSW

Daniel Palencia was sitting at 100.5 MPH here (up 1.3 MPH), which is great to see, but he only threw two offspeed pitches (both sliders), and I wanted to see more sliders. Are we just giving up on the splitter now? Why can’t the splitter and slider co-exist? Just nitpicking as the fastball was dominant enough to shut this game down, but he’ll need these secondaries.

Atlanta Braves
Reynaldo López	1.2 IP	1 ER	1 H	1 BB	1 K	2 Whiffs	22% CSW
Aaron Bummer	1.1 IP	0 ER	0 H	0 BB	1 K	3 Whiffs	43% CSW

Reynaldo López showed some better velocity here, but it didn’t really matter. If López sticks in the bullpen, we’d better start seeing that 98+ MPH fastball again.

KCR 2 – CHW 6

Kansas City Royals
Luinder Avila	2.0 IP	0 ER	0 H	2 BB	2 K	5 Whiffs	27% CSW
Alex Lange	1.0 IP	0 ER	1 H	0 BB	0 K	1 Whiffs	50% CSW
Lucas Erceg	1.0 IP	1 ER	2 H	0 BB	1 K	1 Whiffs	20% CSW

Lucas Erceg had some of his better sinker command here, and the leadoff double could have been caught, but the four-seam velocity was still down (95.9 MPH), and the offspeed stuff generated no whiffs again.

Chicago White Sox
Tyler Davis	1.0 IP	0 ER	0 H	0 BB	0 K	0 Whiffs	11% CSW
Sean Newcomb – SV (1)	2.0 IP	0 ER	1 H	0 BB	1 K	1 Whiffs	35% CSW

Sean Newcomb getting a two-inning save here, his first save of the year, could be an interesting development as the White Sox could start giving their two lefties (Newcomb and Bryan Hudson) some more save chances based on late-game matchups.

SFG 2 – LAD 5

San Francisco Giants
Matt Gage	0.1 IP	1 ER	2 H	1 BB	1 K	2 Whiffs	29% CSW
Ryan Borucki	1.1 IP	0 ER	0 H	0 BB	0 K	2 Whiffs	31% CSW
JT Brubaker	1.0 IP	0 ER	0 H	1 BB	1 K	2 Whiffs	46% CSW

You would think JT Brubaker’s fastball velo would be way up as a full-time reliever, but it’s still around 94 MPH and not grading out very well. The secondaries still look solid, but it’s tough to trust him without an average or better fastball.

Los Angeles Dodgers
Edgardo Henriquez – HLD (1)	1.0 IP	0 ER	0 H	0 BB	1 K	1 Whiffs	12% CSW
Alex Vesia – HLD (4)	1.0 IP	0 ER	0 H	1 BB	1 K	2 Whiffs	24% CSW
Tanner Scott – SV (4)	1.0 IP	0 ER	0 H	0 BB	2 K	3 Whiffs	44% CSW

Good to see Tanner Scott back in the ninth inning here, and he continues to dominate. He’s allowed runs in just two games so far this season, one being a HR to José Ramírez and the other being a 2-run HR to Dansby. Those are the only blemishes for Scott so far this year, as we are midway through May.

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

Rick Graham

Rick resides in the Boston area and has experience as a player and coach at the collegiate level. He has been covering relievers for Pitcher List since 2017.

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