Fantasy Baseball Reliever Roundup

Miami Marlins
Tyler Phillips	2.0 IP	1 ER	2 H	2 BB	0 K	4 Whiffs	26% CSW
John King	1.0 IP	0 ER	0 H	0 BB	0 K	1 Whiffs	33% CSW

Tyler Phillips and John King have been solid for the Marlins this year, but they have had a hard time finding consistent hold opportunities in this crowded bullpen. Perhaps if an injury occurs, that will change, but for now, they aren’t exactly on the fantasy radar in most holds leagues.

Tampa Bay Rays
Kevin Kelly – HLD (10)	1.2 IP	0 ER	0 H	0 BB	1 K	2 Whiffs	24% CSW
Garrett Cleavinger	0.1 IP	1 ER	3 H	1 BB	1 K	1 Whiffs	18% CSW
Ian Seymour – HLD (9)	0.2 IP	0 ER	0 H	0 BB	1 K	2 Whiffs	43% CSW
Bryan Baker – SV (12)	1.0 IP	0 ER	1 H	0 BB	0 K	1 Whiffs	40% CSW

Garrett Cleavinger’s velocity and command were not where they needed to be yesterday.
Bryan Baker was also down velo-wise here, and his first pitch was a changeup at the top of the zone Mack lined for a single, but he was able to work around that and pick up his 12th save. He’s appeared in more games than any other reliever going back to April 5th, so hopefully he can find some time off this week.

Baltimore Orioles
Anthony Nunez – W (2)	1.1 IP	0 ER	0 H	0 BB	3 K	6 Whiffs	53% CSW
Tyler Wells	2.0 IP	1 ER	3 H	0 BB	2 K	5 Whiffs	24% CSW
Yennier Cano – HLD (3)	1.0 IP	0 ER	0 H	1 BB	1 K	2 Whiffs	41% CSW
Rico Garcia	1.0 IP	0 ER	1 H	0 BB	2 K	4 Whiffs	44% CSW

Rico Garcia hung a changeup that Garcia was able to rip down the line for a double here, but other than that, this was another great outing. The hit raised Garcia’s BABIP to .028, as this was just the second hit he has allowed all year. The stuff is great, but not this great, so just know this BABIP will begin to creep towards his career average mark (.266) moving forward.

Washington Nationals
Miles Mikolas	5.2 IP	4 ER	6 H	1 BB	4 K	5 Whiffs	23% CSW
Brad Lord	1.0 IP	0 ER	1 H	0 BB	2 K	4 Whiffs	26% CSW
Paxton Schultz	1.0 IP	1 ER	2 H	0 BB	2 K	3 Whiffs	26% CSW

Brad Lord in one-inning spurts just isn’t as enticing as it should be, as the fastballs still aren’t great, and the sweeper is pretty meh. Given his arm angle, there could eventually be an interesting reliever here, but we’re not quite there yet.

Philadelphia Phillies
Jonathan Bowlan	1.0 IP	0 ER	1 H	0 BB	1 K	4 Whiffs	41% CSW
Tanner Banks	1.0 IP	0 ER	0 H	0 BB	0 K	1 Whiffs	25% CSW

I know the ratios are not great, but I wonder if the Phillies would consider stretching out Jonathan Bowlan since anyone would be better than Aaron Nola (and Andrew Painter) at this point.

Pittsburgh Pirates
Isaac Mattson	1.0 IP	0 ER	1 H	0 K	0 Whiffs	13% CSW
Yohan Ramírez	1.0 IP	0 ER	0 H	3 K	4 Whiffs	44% CSW
Dennis Santana	1.0 IP	1 ER	1 H	2 K	4 Whiffs	50% CSW
Justin Lawrence	1.0 IP	0 ER	0 H	1 K	2 Whiffs	33% CSW

It’s good to see Dennis Santana able to miss some bats here. The HR was just a terrible changeup in the middle of the zone to Stott, but that was really his only mistake. One of these right-handed relievers needs to figure it out and show some sort of consistency, but of these four, Santana probably looks the worst right now.

Boston Red Sox
Ryan Watson	3.0 IP	1 ER	0 H	3 BB	4 K	8 Whiffs	29% CSW

Ryan Watson’s fastball is still terrible, but maybe he could just focus on his cutter and sweeper as his primary offerings?

Atlanta Braves
Reynaldo López	2.0 IP	0 ER	2 H	0 BB	2 K	2 Whiffs	31% CSW
Tyler Kinley	1.0 IP	1 ER	2 H	0 BB	1 K	1 Whiffs	27% CSW

Tyler Kinley got off to a hot start, but over the past month, he holds a 6.17 ERA (4.13 SIERA), 1.88 WHIP with just an 8.5% SwStr rate. He’s still a fine middle reliever, but without a fastball he can trust, asking for anything more might be asking too much. If Didier Fuentes is going to stick in this bullpen, I think he should see more high-leverage chances than Kinley moving forward.

Cincinnati Reds
Brock Burke	1.0 IP	1 ER	1 H	1 BB	1 K	1 Whiffs	18% CSW
Connor Phillips	2.0 IP	2 ER	3 H	2 BB	1 K	1 Whiffs	18% CSW
Tejay Antone	1.0 IP	2 ER	1 H	0 BB	1 K	1 Whiffs	31% CSW

The Reds bullpen has just not been able to find any consistency lately. This unit should have been a strength, but so far, it’s been possibly the worst bullpen in baseball with a league-worst 5.42 xERA and 4.56 SIERA. Their bullpen walk rate is currently 15%, next worst is 13.3%. Again, the stuff is here, the command/control is just a mess right now.

Cleveland Guardians
Tim Herrin	1.0 IP	0 ER	0 H	1 BB	3 K	6 Whiffs	42% CSW
Codi Heuer	2.0 IP	1 ER	3 H	1 BB	2 K	6 Whiffs	44% CSW

Cool to see Codi Heuer at the MLB level again, and he still has solid velo, and the slider/changeup offspeed offerings can be good. Good depth piece for the Guardians.

Toronto Blue Jays
Yariel Rodriguez	1.1 IP	1 ER	1 H	0 BB	1 K	2 Whiffs	43% CSW
Joe Mantiply	0.2 IP	0 ER	1 H	1 BB	0 K	0 Whiffs	24% CSW
Tyler Rogers – SV (1)	1.0 IP	0 ER	0 H	1 BB	1 K	0 Whiffs	30% CSW

Tyler Rogers was able to vulture a save here with Varland getting the day off, as the team skipped over Hoffman and went straight to Rogers. Rogers even mixed in a K here, but don’t expect too many saves from him moving forward.

Detroit Tigers
Burch Smith	1.1 IP	0 ER	1 H	0 BB	1 K	1 Whiffs	36% CSW
Enmanuel De Jesús	1.2 IP	0 ER	1 H	1 BB	0 K	1 Whiffs	10% CSW

Burch Smith has above-average stuff and showed great command here, so there is a recipe for success here, and with how poorly Kyle Finnegan has looked (and Will Vest just came off the IL), there could be an opportunity for holds for Smith.

New York Yankees
Ryan Yarbrough	1.0 IP	2 ER	2 H	1 BB	0 K	2 Whiffs	24% CSW
Jake Bird – HLD (5)	0.2 IP	0 ER	1 H	0 BB	1 K	2 Whiffs	22% CSW
Camilo Doval – HLD (3)	1.0 IP	0 ER	0 H	0 BB	0 K	1 Whiffs	27% CSW
Fernando Cruz – HLD (8)	1.0 IP	0 ER	0 H	1 BB	0 K	0 Whiffs	15% CSW
David Bednar – BS (2)	1.0 IP	3 ER	3 H	1 BB	1 K	4 Whiffs	26% CSW
Tim Hill – L (1)	0.1 IP	0 ER	0 H	0 BB	0 K	1 Whiffs	20% CSW

David Bednar allowed two singles before getting Soto to ground out and then striking out Vientos to get two outs with no damage done. He then tried to sneak an 0-0 curveball over the plate to Taylor, but left it up over the middle, and Taylor crushed it for a 3-run shot to tie the game. That rattled him, and he went on to walk Baty on four pitches before getting Semien to pop up to finally end the inning. Bednar threw five fastballs in his first six pitches (6 in his first 9), but he basically abandoned it after allowing the first two hits (both on fastballs). I get that he didn’t have his best fastball, but that curveball is extremely volatile, too. Without the 97+ MPH fastball, I’m not sure what the solution is for Bednar, but I think it could start with more splitters and fewer curveballs. The curveball is his strike-getter pitch, so he kind of needs it, though? The curveball has a 54% Zone rate compared to his fastball having just a 39% Zone rate…so hitters can just sit on that curveball in the zone and hammer it.

New York Mets
Sean Manaea	4.0 IP	2 ER	4 H	2 BB	3 K	5 Whiffs	25% CSW
Devin Williams – W (3)	1.0 IP	0 ER	0 H	1 BB	1 K	3 Whiffs	36% CSW

Devin Williams didn’t have great command pitching on back-to-back days (and probably wasn’t expecting to be needed here), but it’s about time he got some luck as he got a double play right after walking Volpe here. Williams now has nine consecutive scoreless outings.

Texas Rangers
Gavin Collyer	2.0 IP	0 ER	0 H	0 BB	2 K	5 Whiffs	53% CSW

The velo was down here for Gavin Collyer…but the command was up, and we saw more sweepers (6/17 usage) with him getting four whiffs on those sweepers.

Houston Astros
Cody Bolton	3.0 IP	3 ER	4 H	0 BB	2 K	4 Whiffs	27% CSW

Chicago Cubs
Jacob Webb	1.1 IP	0 ER	1 H	0 BB	3 K	7 Whiffs	33% CSW
Hoby Milner	1.1 IP	0 ER	1 H	0 BB	2 K	5 Whiffs	50% CSW
Phil Maton	0.2 IP	3 ER	2 H	1 BB	0 K	2 Whiffs	28% CSW
Daniel Palencia	1.0 IP	0 ER	1 H	1 BB	0 K	0 Whiffs	14% CSW
Ryan Rolison – L (1)	0.1 IP	1 ER	1 H	0 BB	0 K	0 Whiffs	0% CSW

Phil Maton is not working out, huh. The stuff looks good, I think we are dealing with some serious command issues. He left 6 of his 8 sweepers up in the middle of the zone here and couldn’t throw his cutter where he needed to. Jacob Webb should be the team’s top setup man right now, the way he’s been pitching, at least until Maton figures out his location problems.
Daniel Palencia still looks a little off (0 whiffs?), but I don’t think we are looking at panicking, more just nervously watching and hoping his stuff (and command) gets back to where it was. Why has he abandoned the splitter since returning from the IL? The slider has made a return, but it has not looked great.

Chicago White Sox
Sean Newcomb	2.0 IP	0 ER	2 H	0 BB	1 K	2 Whiffs	43% CSW
Grant Taylor	2.0 IP	0 ER	0 H	0 BB	1 K	5 Whiffs	44% CSW
Bryan Hudson	1.0 IP	0 ER	0 H	1 BB	0 K	2 Whiffs	21% CSW
Seranthony Domínguez – BS (3)	1.0 IP	2 ER	1 H	1 BB	1 K	4 Whiffs	28% CSW
Tyler Davis – W (2)	1.0 IP	0 ER	0 H	3 BB	1 K	2 Whiffs	25% CSW

Just when you think Seranthony Domínguez is becoming trustworthy, right? He’s allowed five runs (4 ER) on five hits (2 HR) and two walks over his past four outings and could be at risk of losing the closer role to someone like Bryan Hudson or Grant Taylor. Those two have some of their own issues, but we could still see some more mixing and matching moving forward.

Milwaukee Brewers
Grant Anderson – L (2)	1.2 IP	1 ER	2 H	0 BB	2 K	3 Whiffs	31% CSW
DL Hall	1.1 IP	0 ER	0 H	1 BB	2 K	3 Whiffs	38% CSW
Jake Woodford	1.0 IP	1 ER	1 H	0 BB	1 K	2 Whiffs	26% CSW

DL Hall threw seven different pitches here, and they all seemed to trend upward in terms of stuff, so that’s a good sign. Now, if we can just lock in with the fastball command.

Minnesota Twins
Anthony Banda – HLD (4)	0.2 IP	0 ER	1 H	1 BB	2 K	4 Whiffs	44% CSW
Andrew Morris – HLD (4)	1.0 IP	0 ER	0 H	0 BB	1 K	0 Whiffs	42% CSW
Taylor Rogers – HLD (5)	0.2 IP	0 ER	1 H	0 BB	0 K	0 Whiffs	38% CSW
Justin Topa – HLD (4)	0.2 IP	0 ER	0 H	1 BB	0 K	0 Whiffs	18% CSW
Luis García Jr. – SV (2)	1.0 IP	1 ER	2 H	1 BB	1 K	2 Whiffs	27% CSW

This bullpen survived with just one run allowed despite the lack of swing-and-miss ability here.

Kansas City Royals
Daniel Lynch IV – HLD (5)	1.2 IP	0 ER	1 H	0 BB	1 K	2 Whiffs	24% CSW
Lucas Erceg – SV (11)	1.0 IP	0 ER	0 H	1 BB	0 K	2 Whiffs	18% CSW

Lucas Erceg worked around a walk to get his 11th save of the season here. Just remember, he still has a 1.45 WHIP with 5% K-BB and 9% SwStr rates on the year.

St. Louis Cardinals
Matt Svanson	1.0 IP	0 H	1 BB	0 K	2 Whiffs	20% CSW
Justin Bruihl	0.1 IP	1 H	1 BB	1 K	1 Whiffs	29% CSW
Matt Pushard	1.0 IP	0 H	0 BB	1 K	1 Whiffs	22% CSW

Matt Pushard, the Cardinals Rule 5 pick, is fresh off the IL and got the team out of a pretty big jam here. That said, the stuff’s not great, so we can move on for now.

Arizona Diamondbacks
Ryan Thompson	0.1 IP	0 ER	0 H	0 BB	0% CSW
Juan Morillo	1.0 IP	0 ER	0 H	0 BB	0% CSW
Brandon Pfaadt	0.1 IP	4 ER	2 H	1 BB	12% CSW
Taylor Clarke – HLD (9)	0.2 IP	0 ER	1 H	0 BB	14% CSW
Paul Sewald – SV (10)	1.0 IP	0 ER	0 H	1 BB	19% CSW

Zero K’s and Whiffs from these relievers is kind of crazy to think about, especially with Juan Morillo and Paul Sewald pitching. Weird things happen in Coors.

Colorado Rockies
Blas Castano	2.1 IP	1 ER	2 H	1 BB	3 K	7 Whiffs	38% CSW
Seth Halvorsen	1.0 IP	0 ER	1 H	0 BB	2 K	2 Whiffs	36% CSW
Victor Vodnik	1.0 IP	0 ER	0 H	0 BB	1 K	3 Whiffs	36% CSW

Seth Halvorsen was up over 100 MPH here, which is great to see, and the slider/splitter were able to miss bats. Positive steps forward.

San Francisco Giants
Sam Hentges – HLD (1)	1.0 IP	0 H	2 K	1 Whiffs	30% CSW
Keaton Winn	1.0 IP	1 H	1 K	0 Whiffs	22% CSW
Joel Peguero	1.0 IP	0 H	0 K	2 Whiffs	17% CSW

Joel Peguero’s velocity was back up to 99 MPH here, so that’s good to see, but one strikeout in six appearances is a problem.

Athletics
Justin Sterner	1.0 IP	0 ER	0 H	0 BB	0 K	1 Whiffs	13% CSW
Luis Medina	0.0 IP	2 ER	3 H	1 BB	0 K	1 Whiffs	25% CSW
José Suarez	1.0 IP	3 ER	3 H	1 BB	1 K	4 Whiffs	29% CSW
Carlos Cortes	1.0 IP	0 ER	1 H	1 BB	0 K	1 Whiffs	28% CSW

Carlos Cortes was the most effective reliever for the A’s yesterday, so that’s all you need to know.

Los Angeles Dodgers
Alex Vesia	1.0 IP	0 ER	0 H	0 BB	2 K	3 Whiffs	38% CSW
Chayce McDermott	1.0 IP	0 ER	1 H	0 BB	1 K	2 Whiffs	19% CSW

Chayce McDermott is just one of many intriguing flyers the Dodgers have added to their system in the past year, and he showed a better fastball here but threw just one slider.

Los Angeles Angels
Jose Fermin	0.1 IP	0 ER	1 H	0 BB	0 K	0 Whiffs	0% CSW
Mitch Farris	2.0 IP	0 ER	0 H	1 BB	3 K	4 Whiffs	37% CSW
Kirby Yates	1.0 IP	0 ER	0 H	0 BB	2 K	1 Whiffs	50% CSW
Ryan Johnson	2.0 IP	3 ER	3 H	1 BB	2 K	3 Whiffs	17% CSW

This is still not interesting from Kirby Yates, although the sweeper he got Tucker looking on was a crazy spot on a pitch that came from out of nowhere (seriously, Yates is going to throw a lefty a sweeper?).

San Diego Padres
Yuki Matsui	2.0 IP	0 ER	0 H	2 BB	2 K	7 Whiffs	39% CSW
Bradgley Rodriguez	2.0 IP	0 ER	0 H	0 BB	3 K	4 Whiffs	36% CSW

Man, if Yuki Matsui is going to break out this year, what are you supposed to do against this bullpen? It’s not like the stuff has taken a huge step forward, but the locations have been better.

Seattle Mariners
Cooper Criswell	0.1 IP	1 ER	1 H	1 BB	1 K	2 Whiffs	16% CSW
Alex Hoppe	1.2 IP	1 ER	2 H	0 BB	1 K	2 Whiffs	27% CSW
Domingo González	1.1 IP	0 ER	1 H	1 BB	2 K	3 Whiffs	20% CSW

Alex Hoppe does have some sinker/slider potential, but the fastball command needs to be better. Not a terrible arsenal, though.

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

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Fantasy Baseball Relief Pitcher Roundup: 5/17

Rick Graham

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Fantasy Baseball Relief Pitcher Roundup: 5/17

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