Fantasy Baseball Reliever Roundup

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

CIN 9 – PHI 4

Cincinnati Reds
Brock Burke – HLD (5)	0.2 IP	2 ER	2 H	0 K	0 Whiffs	22% CSW
Connor Phillips – HLD (5)	1.0 IP	0 ER	0 H	1 K	3 Whiffs	29% CSW
Graham Ashcraft – HLD (9)	1.0 IP	0 ER	0 H	2 K	4 Whiffs	50% CSW
Sam Moll	1.0 IP	0 ER	1 H	1 K	3 Whiffs	50% CSW

Nice to see Connor Phillips and Graham Ashcraft not walk anyone over two innings, but was the command that much improved? Ashcraft only threw 4/10 pitches in the zone (3 of which were sliders middle-up) while Phillips was in the zone with 6/17 pitches, but I don’t mind where he was locating outside of the zone.

Philadelphia Phillies
Tim Mayza	1.1 IP	2 ER	3 H	2 K	4 Whiffs	29% CSW
Orion Kerkering	0.2 IP	1 ER	2 H	2 K	2 Whiffs	39% CSW
Brad Keller	1.0 IP	0 ER	0 H	0 K	1 Whiffs	27% CSW
José Alvarado	1.0 IP	2 ER	2 H	1 K	2 Whiffs	29% CSW

Not a great day for this group, which is typically asked to protect leads and get the ball to Jhoan Duran in the ninth. Just five whiffs from the Kerkering, Keller, and Alvarado trio feels light given their stuff.

BAL 3 – TBR 5

Baltimore Orioles
Tyler Wells – HLD (6)	1.0 IP	0 ER	0 H	0 BB	24% CSW
Anthony Nunez – L (1)	0.2 IP	4 ER	3 H	1 BB	23% CSW
Rico Garcia	0.1 IP	0 ER	1 H	0 BB	17% CSW

Just when it looked like Anthony Nunez was turning a corner, this happens. The inning started with a bunt hit on the first pitch to Feduccia (a catcher, mind you), but Nunez got two easy outs after that and looked fine. The second out would have been a double play had it not been Simpson who hit the ground ball to second. Anyway, Caminero lined a single the opposite way, and Aranda opened the floodgates with a double in the gap on a really well executed changeup by Nunez. Vilade then walked, and Rico Garcia came in and allowed a single (Palacios getting the green light 3-0?!) before the Rays converted a fourth run on a double steal. Rays doing Rays things.

Tampa Bay Rays
Jesse Scholtens – W (5)	4.0 IP	2 ER	6 H	1 BB	4 K	8 Whiffs	30% CSW
Ian Seymour – SV (2)	1.0 IP	0 ER	0 H	0 BB	0 K	0 Whiffs	22% CSW

Ian Seymour was able to sneak a save here after the Rays 8th inning comeback. No whiffs, but the offspeed stuff is great, and the fastballs are ok enough to keep hitters off balance.

HOU 1 – MIN 4

Houston Astros
AJ Blubaugh	1.0 IP	0 ER	0 H	0 BB	1 K	3 Whiffs	31% CSW
Nate Pearson	1.0 IP	0 ER	0 H	0 BB	0 K	0 Whiffs	0% CSW

Welcome back Nate Pearson. We didn’t get any whiffs or called strikes from him (four pitches were in the zone, though), but the stuff looked really good here with the fastball averaging 98.6 MPH, and the slider looked great as well. Definitely a name to keep an eye on as this bullpen is severely lacking right-handed options.

Minnesota Twins
Yoendrys Gómez – HLD (2)	2.0 IP	0 ER	1 H	0 BB	5 K	9 Whiffs	39% CSW
Andrew Morris – SV (1)	1.0 IP	0 ER	0 H	0 BB	1 K	2 Whiffs	30% CSW

Andrew Morris became the ninth reliever to record a save for the Twins, and at this point, I think that is Derek Shelton’s goal. Let’s see how many different relievers we can get to record a save. Given this logic, Anthony Banda has to be next in line for a save, right? As far as Morris goes, he’s not someone who can run away with this role, but Yoendrys Gómez could be, especially how his fastball/sweeper were working yesterday. Just need consistent command from Gómez (which we have yet to see).

TEX 5 – COL 4

Texas Rangers
Jakob Junis	1.0 IP	0 H	0 K	0 Whiffs	18% CSW
Tyler Alexander	1.0 IP	0 H	2 K	3 Whiffs	43% CSW
Jacob Latz – W (1)	2.0 IP	1 H	4 K	10 Whiffs	37% CSW

Jacob Latz hadn’t pitched for a while as the Rangers have been scuffling, but this was obviously great to see, especially in Coors. Coors didn’t help his stuff, but it was good enough against the Rockies lineup to dominate.

Colorado Rockies
Jaden Hill	1.1 IP	1 H	0 K	4 Whiffs	35% CSW
Antonio Senzatela – HLD (2)	2.0 IP	2 H	1 K	2 Whiffs	33% CSW
Brennan Bernardino – L (2)	0.1 IP	2 H	1 K	2 Whiffs	43% CSW
Juan Mejia – BS (1)	0.2 IP	1 H	1 K	2 Whiffs	25% CSW

The Rockies turned to Juan Mejia too late in this one, as he entered with the bases loaded in the ninth and just one out. This group of relievers has been great for the Rockies lately, but it’s tough to predict their usage with no set roles.

SFG 3 – ARI 6

San Francisco Giants
Keaton Winn	1.0 IP	0 H	0 BB	3 K	4 Whiffs	64% CSW
Sam Hentges	1.1 IP	0 H	1 BB	0 K	2 Whiffs	12% CSW
Joel Peguero	0.2 IP	1 H	0 BB	1 K	3 Whiffs	33% CSW

Keaton Winn has his splitter working in this one, but I want to shout out Joel Peguero, who was sitting 101 MPH here AND got two whiffs on his slider! He was sitting 97 MPH in a couple of outings last week, so I wasn’t expecting this, but if the 100+ MPH fastball sticks around and he throws his slider near 40-50% of the time, I’m back in.

Arizona Diamondbacks
Brandyn Garcia – HLD (2)	0.2 IP	1 BB	0 K	0 Whiffs	11% CSW
Taylor Clarke – HLD (10)	0.1 IP	0 BB	0 K	1 Whiffs	17% CSW
Brandon Pfaadt – HLD (1)	1.0 IP	0 BB	0 K	0 Whiffs	22% CSW
Paul Sewald – SV (11)	1.0 IP	0 BB	1 K	2 Whiffs	23% CSW

The big takeaway here is that Juan Morillo did not pitch, as he should have been available, as his last outing was on Sunday, where he only threw 4 pitches. Before that, he threw just 1 pitch on May 13th, so since May 10th, he’s thrown 5 total pitches. Hopefully, there’s no underlying injury going on, and they are just giving him an extended break as the velocity had been down over that five-pitch span (super small sample size, I know).

CHW 4 – SEA 5

Chicago White Sox
Sean Newcomb – L (1)	2.0 IP	2 ER	2 H	0 BB	1 K	2 Whiffs	38% CSW
Jordan Hicks	0.1 IP	1 ER	1 H	0 BB	0 K	0 Whiffs	20% CSW
Brandon Eisert	1.0 IP	0 ER	0 H	1 BB	1 K	4 Whiffs	29% CSW

Jordan Hicks only threw four pitches here, with just one sweeper (which he hung over the middle of the plate to Arozarena). He still can’t lose faith in that sweeper for him to have success moving forward.

Seattle Mariners
Cooper Criswell	1.0 IP	0 ER	2 H	0 BB	1 K	0 Whiffs	24% CSW
Matt Brash – W (3)	1.0 IP	0 ER	1 H	0 BB	2 K	5 Whiffs	41% CSW
Eduard Bazardo – HLD (9)	1.0 IP	0 ER	2 H	1 BB	1 K	4 Whiffs	26% CSW
José A. Ferrer – SV (3)	1.0 IP	1 ER	1 H	0 BB	3 K	3 Whiffs	26% CSW

Matt Brash made his return here and looked great. The slider was better than it has been, and his velocity was in the mid-97 MPH range. We even saw a nasty changeup to Antonacci.
José A. Ferrer somehow continues to look better, pitching on the third day in a row, as his velocity was up and he picked up three strikeouts here (ignore the HR, it was the first pitch of the outing and not even a strike). He’s averaging 98.4 MPH in the two outings he’s had pitching on the third day in a row, while his season average is 97 MPH.

CLE 3 – DET 2

Cleveland Guardians
Erik Sabrowski	0.1 IP	0 H	2 BB	1 K	0 Whiffs	23% CSW
Colin Holderman – W (2)	0.2 IP	0 H	0 BB	2 K	3 Whiffs	36% CSW
Cade Smith – SV (16)	1.0 IP	1 H	0 BB	1 K	2 Whiffs	36% CSW

Colin Holderman has been amazing over the past month or so and probably deserves this sort of setup role. Over the past month (15 IP), Holderman has an ERA and WHIP of 0.60 (1.96 SIERA), with 33.3% K and 32% CSW rates. He was able to bail out Sabrowski here in a tie game in the ninth inning, so that’s about as high leverage as it gets.

Detroit Tigers
Kyle Finnegan	1.0 IP	0 ER	2 H	0 BB	1 K	2 Whiffs	42% CSW
Brant Hurter	1.1 IP	0 ER	0 H	1 BB	0 K	0 Whiffs	11% CSW
Kenley Jansen – HLD (1)	1.0 IP	0 ER	0 H	1 BB	1 K	3 Whiffs	33% CSW
Will Vest – BS (2)	1.0 IP	1 ER	2 H	0 BB	1 K	4 Whiffs	25% CSW
Tyler Holton – L (4)	1.0 IP	1 ER	2 H	0 BB	1 K	2 Whiffs	28% CSW

The Tigers felt comfortable enough with Will Vest to give Kenley Jansen the eighth inning (and top of the order) here, and it didn’t exactly work out as Vest allowed back-to-back singles to open the inning and then the Guardians played some small ball to get the tying run home. We should still expect Jansen in the ninth inning more often than not, but it won’t be 100% of the time, especially with the top of the order leading things off in the eighth.

ATL 9 – MIA 1

Atlanta Braves
Victor Mederos	2.0 IP	0 ER	0 H	1 BB	0 K	0 Whiffs	12% CSW

Victor Mederos throws hard but doesn’t really have a secondary offering, mostly just three different fastballs.

Miami Marlins
Tyler Phillips	3.0 IP	0 ER	2 H	1 BB	2 K	4 Whiffs	26% CSW
Javier Sanoja	1.0 IP	0 ER	1 H	0 BB	1 K	1 Whiffs	23% CSW

If you didn’t know who Javier Sanoja was, you’d think he was a legitimate pitcher based on this line. Funny how baseball works sometimes.

NYM 4 – WSN 8

New York Mets
Austin Warren	1.0 IP	2 ER	4 H	0 BB	0 K	1 Whiffs	27% CSW
Craig Kimbrel	2.2 IP	2 ER	2 H	0 BB	2 K	7 Whiffs	28% CSW

Craig Kimbrel getting eight outs in the year 2026 was not something I expected to see, but here we are. The HR to Young wasn’t even a bad pitch (the double to Lile was).

Washington Nationals
Andrew Alvarez – SV (1)	4.0 IP	2 ER	2 H	1 BB	5 K	9 Whiffs	38% CSW

Andrew Alvarez has looked good for the most part in these long relief outings, and I don’t see why they don’t give him a chance as a more traditional starter over the likes of Litell, Mikolas, or Irvin.

TOR 2 – NYY 1

Toronto Blue Jays
Mason Fluharty – HLD (6)	0.1 IP	0 ER	2 H	0 K	0 Whiffs	12% CSW
Jeff Hoffman – HLD (6)	0.2 IP	0 ER	0 H	0 K	1 Whiffs	12% CSW
Tyler Rogers – HLD (8)	1.0 IP	0 ER	0 H	1 K	1 Whiffs	40% CSW
Louis Varland – SV (6)	1.0 IP	1 ER	2 H	2 K	2 Whiffs	29% CSW

Louis Varland hung on here for his sixth save of the season, giving up a double (Bellinger just threw the bat out and lined it down the LF line) and a “single” (probably an error on Varland) with one out in the ninth before getting a groundball from Goldschmidt and striking out Rosario to end things. These bend but don’t break performances are what separate most top ten closers from the rest of the list.

New York Yankees
Jake Bird	1.0 IP	0 ER	0 H	0 BB	1 K	3 Whiffs	50% CSW
Yovanny Cruz	2.0 IP	0 ER	0 H	0 BB	3 K	2 Whiffs	40% CSW

Yovanny Cruz is certainly a fun arm to dream on, as he sits 100 MPH, and even though the slider isn’t great, it’s good enough when you throw 100 MPH. He’s been in four different organizations since 2023, probably due to the lack of command and a secondary swing and miss pitch, but guys who throw this hard will always get a look somewhere.

BOS 4 – KCR 3

Boston Red Sox
Greg Weissert – HLD (4)	1.1 IP	1 H	1 K	2 Whiffs	43% CSW
Jovani Morán – HLD (1)	0.1 IP	0 H	1 K	2 Whiffs	75% CSW
Aroldis Chapman – SV (12)	1.0 IP	1 H	1 K	2 Whiffs	19% CSW

Aroldis Chapman looked like he had a different slider here, one that he threw four times in a row to Jensen, as teh pitch was down about 4 MPH and had almost 3″ more horizontal break. Is he trying out a sweeper?

Kansas City Royals
Steven Cruz – L (2)	0.2 IP	2 ER	2 H	0 BB	1 K	2 Whiffs	17% CSW
Daniel Lynch IV	1.0 IP	0 ER	2 H	1 BB	0 K	4 Whiffs	25% CSW
Alex Lange	1.1 IP	0 ER	1 H	0 BB	1 K	4 Whiffs	33% CSW

Steven Cruz still has a bit of a home run problem, I guess. It wasn’t even a bad pitch; it was just 3-1, and Duran was sitting on a fastball and put a good swing on it.

MIL 5 – CHC 0

Milwaukee Brewers
DL Hall	2.0 IP	0 ER	0 H	1 BB	2 K	4 Whiffs	30% CSW

The Cubs really struggled against both lefties thrown at them yesterday, and I’m still not overly excited about Hall’s stuff right now.

Chicago Cubs
Trent Thornton	1.2 IP	0 ER	0 H	0 BB	2 K	1 Whiffs	47% CSW
Hoby Milner	1.1 IP	0 ER	0 H	0 BB	1 K	1 Whiffs	31% CSW
Phil Maton	0.2 IP	1 ER	2 H	1 BB	1 K	4 Whiffs	38% CSW
Ryan Rolison	1.2 IP	0 ER	0 H	0 BB	1 K	2 Whiffs	30% CSW
Daniel Palencia	0.2 IP	0 ER	2 H	1 BB	2 K	5 Whiffs	42% CSW

Daniel Palencia really leaned into his slider here, as he was clearly trying to work on the pitch with the Cubs down five runs. The command wasn’t perfect, but we’ll gladly take the 60% CSW rate (3 whiffs), and the two singles came off fastballs. Zero splitters here over 24 pitches, after he threw it often in the WBC and prior to landing on the IL.

PIT 7 – STL 0

Pittsburgh Pirates
Yohan Ramírez – HLD (2)	1.0 IP	1 H	1 BB	1 K	2 Whiffs	33% CSW
Evan Sisk – HLD (2)	1.0 IP	0 H	0 BB	1 K	2 Whiffs	27% CSW
Justin Lawrence	1.0 IP	0 H	0 BB	2 K	4 Whiffs	31% CSW
Dennis Santana	1.0 IP	0 H	0 BB	1 K	2 Whiffs	27% CSW

Dennis Santana looked a lot better here (focusing on his fastball), so perhaps he is starting to turn the corner and get back into that circle of trust in Pittsburgh.

St. Louis Cardinals
Justin Bruihl	2.0 IP	0 ER	0 H	0 BB	2 K	2 Whiffs	35% CSW
Matt Svanson	0.2 IP	4 ER	5 H	0 BB	1 K	4 Whiffs	22% CSW
Matt Pushard	1.1 IP	0 ER	0 H	2 BB	2 K	4 Whiffs	20% CSW

Matt Svanson had been pitching much better lately, but yeah, this is a setback.

LAD 4 – SDP 0

Los Angeles Dodgers
Edgardo Henriquez – HLD (2)	1.0 IP	0 H	1 K	2 Whiffs	45% CSW
Blake Treinen – HLD (6)	1.0 IP	0 H	1 K	3 Whiffs	42% CSW
Kyle Hurt – HLD (2)	1.0 IP	2 H	1 K	2 Whiffs	36% CSW
Will Klein	1.0 IP	0 H	1 K	2 Whiffs	36% CSW

The Dodgers leaned on their right-handed relievers, with the Padres only having one left-handed bat in their lineup, which made things look easy for this crew.

San Diego Padres
Wandy Peralta	1.2 IP	0 ER	1 H	1 BB	0 K	1 Whiffs	9% CSW
Yuki Matsui	1.1 IP	0 ER	1 H	2 BB	2 K	4 Whiffs	30% CSW
Ron Marinaccio	1.2 IP	1 ER	2 H	0 BB	1 K	0 Whiffs	21% CSW

Yuki Matsui finally ran into some trouble here, as he could not command anything. It sounds like the Padres don’t have too much faith in Matsui and/or Peralta as their secondary lefties, as the team is rumored to have interest in trading for Aroldis Chapman or Josh Hader.

ATH 6 – LAA 5

Athletics
Luis Medina	2.0 IP	1 H	0 BB	2 K	6 Whiffs	29% CSW
Mark Leiter Jr. Jr.	1.0 IP	0 H	0 BB	1 K	1 Whiffs	27% CSW
Scott Barlow – W (1)	1.0 IP	0 H	0 BB	1 K	5 Whiffs	39% CSW
Hogan Harris – SV (4)	1.0 IP	0 H	2 BB	1 K	2 Whiffs	29% CSW

Hogan Harris may be gaining momentum as the A’s closer, but the walk rate has to be a concern (2.07 WHIP, 14% BB rate over the past month). Maybe Scott Barlow will start seeing some save chances as well, but I can count on one hand how many successful closers we’ve seen with a sub-90 MPH fastball over the past 10 years.

Los Angeles Angels
Ryan Zeferjahn – HLD (3)	0.1 IP	1 ER	0 H	0 BB	0 K	0 Whiffs	9% CSW
Sam Bachman – HLD (8)	1.2 IP	0 ER	1 H	0 BB	1 K	2 Whiffs	36% CSW
Kirby Yates – BS (1)	0.2 IP	1 ER	1 H	1 BB	1 K	2 Whiffs	25% CSW
Tayler Saucedo	0.1 IP	0 ER	0 H	0 BB	0 K	1 Whiffs	33% CSW
Chase Silseth – L (1)	1.0 IP	0 ER	1 H	1 BB	2 K	2 Whiffs	27% CSW

Speaking of closers with sub-90 MPH fastballs, I’m surprised the Angels thought they could trust Kirby Yates with a one-run lead here. I guess they ran out of options as Sam Bachman had to bail out Ryan Zeferjahn earlier than the team had likely hoped, but Yates still looks rough (HR, out on a ball hit 112.2 MPH with a .690 xBA, K’d Butler who should be in AAA, BB, HBP). Bachman should be the closer moving forward.

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Fantasy Baseball Relief Pitcher Roundup: 5/20

Rick Graham