Fantasy Baseball Reliever Roundup

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

CLE 3 – DET 1

Cleveland Guardians
Matt Festa – HLD (7)	0.1 IP	0 ER	1 H	0 BB	1 K	1 Whiffs	80% CSW
Shawn Armstrong – HLD (4)	0.2 IP	0 ER	0 H	1 BB	2 K	4 Whiffs	38% CSW
Tim Herrin – HLD (4)	0.2 IP	1 ER	1 H	0 BB	1 K	1 Whiffs	40% CSW
Codi Heuer – HLD (1)	0.2 IP	0 ER	0 H	0 BB	1 K	1 Whiffs	22% CSW
Hunter Gaddis – SV (1)	1.0 IP	0 ER	1 H	0 BB	2 K	2 Whiffs	38% CSW

Shawn Armstrong is back, and despite not having his best stuff or command, we’ll take the two strikeouts here. Without the command, though, it will be tough for Armstrong to get back into the mix for holds in this deep bullpen.

Detroit Tigers
Burch Smith	0.2 IP	1 ER	2 H	1 BB	1 K	2 Whiffs	19% CSW
Enmanuel De Jesús	1.2 IP	0 ER	0 H	0 BB	2 K	3 Whiffs	32% CSW

Enmanuel De Jesús doesn’t lack stuff, and when he’s locating like he was here, he can be tough to beat. Just need some consistency.

PIT 6 – STL 2

Pittsburgh Pirates
Wilber Dotel	1.0 IP	1 ER	3 H	0 BB	2 K	4 Whiffs	28% CSW
Mason Montgomery	1.0 IP	0 ER	1 H	0 BB	0 K	1 Whiffs	12% CSW

Wilber Dotel is back and gives the Pirates some velocity from the right side in the bullpen, but he lacks a quality secondary to pair with his big fastball.

St. Louis Cardinals
Gordon Graceffo	0.2 IP	0 ER	0 H	0 K	0 Whiffs	50% CSW
Justin Bruihl	0.2 IP	2 ER	3 H	0 K	2 Whiffs	19% CSW
Matt Svanson	1.1 IP	0 ER	1 H	1 K	2 Whiffs	32% CSW
Matt Pushard	1.0 IP	0 ER	0 H	1 K	0 Whiffs	57% CSW

Matt Pushard is definitely a command over stuff guy, which means we need consistently great command on a night-to-night basis, so I’m not interested for the time being.

NYM 2 – WSN 1

New York Mets
Huascar Brazobán – HLD (2)	1.0 IP	0 H	0 BB	0 K	0 Whiffs	33% CSW
Brooks Raley – HLD (8)	1.0 IP	0 H	0 BB	2 K	3 Whiffs	50% CSW
Luke Weaver – HLD (6)	1.0 IP	0 H	1 BB	1 K	2 Whiffs	18% CSW
Devin Williams – SV (7)	1.0 IP	1 H	0 BB	1 K	3 Whiffs	33% CSW

Devin Williams has been rolling lately, and he was basically perfect in this one (the “hit” should not have been a hit). Williams made a mechanical adjustment about a month ago, and over his past 9.2 innings, he’s allowed just two “hits” (both should/could have been caught) and two walks while holding 39% K, 21.5% SwStr rates. Oh, and the fastball velocity was up 2.3 MPH here, which I’m sure won’t stick, but if he’s able to sit in the 95 MPH range (he hasn’t since 2021)…

Washington Nationals
Clayton Beeter	1.0 IP	0 ER	0 H	1 BB	2 K	3 Whiffs	35% CSW
Orlando Ribalta	1.0 IP	0 ER	2 H	0 BB	1 K	3 Whiffs	25% CSW

Clayton Beeter made his return and looked like his normal self with non-existent fastball command. The velo was down over a MPH here too. I’d still expect a full-blown committee approach here.

ATL 9 – MIA 3

Atlanta Braves
Dylan Lee – HLD (8)	0.2 IP	1 H	1 K	3 Whiffs	57% CSW
Robert Suarez	1.0 IP	0 H	1 K	2 Whiffs	36% CSW
Dylan Dodd	1.0 IP	1 H	2 K	6 Whiffs	46% CSW

Robert Suarez velocity was down over 2 MPH here, but I don’t think it’s cause for concern yet, just something to monitor.
Dylan Dodd is a huge upgrade over Aaron Bummer, but with Dylan Lee in front of him, I’m not sure how much value Dodd has in hold leagues.

Miami Marlins
Cade Gibson	2.0 IP	2 ER	3 H	1 BB	4 K	6 Whiffs	30% CSW
Pete Fairbanks	1.0 IP	1 ER	1 H	0 BB	2 K	4 Whiffs	45% CSW

Pete Fairbanks allowed a HR to Harris on a 2-2 fastball at the top of the zone, not even a bad pitch; Harris is just locked in right now at the plate. Now would be a good time to buy low on Fairbanks, as I’m sure managers are frustrated with what he’s been giving them lately.

TOR 2 – NYY 0

Toronto Blue Jays
Adam Macko – W (1)	1.1 IP	1 H	0 BB	2 K	1 Whiffs	25% CSW
Spencer Miles – HLD (1)	4.1 IP	2 H	1 BB	6 K	9 Whiffs	33% CSW
Tyler Rogers – HLD (9)	1.0 IP	0 H	1 BB	0 K	0 Whiffs	12% CSW
Jeff Hoffman – SV (4)	1.0 IP	0 H	0 BB	2 K	3 Whiffs	58% CSW

Jeff Hoffman got the ninth with Varland off and looked…well, not like himself, which is both a good and bad thing. He didn’t throw a single fastball here, throwing 10 sliders and 2 splitters. The splitters were not competitive, nowhere near the zone, so it was really the 10 sliders that got him through this one. That’s not exactly sustainable, but it worked here, and this hopefully gives him at least some momentum to build on. He’ll need to be able to trust his fastball eventually though.

New York Yankees
Yovanny Cruz	0.1 IP	0 ER	1 H	0 K	1 Whiffs	9% CSW
Brent Headrick	1.0 IP	0 ER	0 H	1 K	2 Whiffs	25% CSW
Camilo Doval	0.2 IP	1 ER	1 H	0 K	0 Whiffs	18% CSW
Paul Blackburn	2.0 IP	0 ER	2 H	2 K	3 Whiffs	36% CSW

Camilo Doval continues to see improved velocity; he just happened to hang a 2-2 slider middle-middle to Springer here. It’s just always going to be a roller coaster with Doval as he can’t consistently command that slider. May need to take a page out of the Raisel Iglesias playbook and severely limit that slider usage for the foreseeable future.

ATH 3 – LAA 2

Athletics
Justin Sterner	1.0 IP	0 H	0 BB	1 K	5 Whiffs	42% CSW
Joel Kuhnel – W (1)	1.0 IP	1 H	1 BB	0 K	2 Whiffs	23% CSW
Mark Leiter Jr. – SV (4)	1.0 IP	1 H	0 BB	1 K	2 Whiffs	27% CSW

Jack Perkins was nowhere to be seen here, so I think it’s safe to say his time as closer (whether full-time or part-time) is over. Mark Leiter Jr. has been pitching better lately, but he’s still a hard guy to trust, as is Joel Kuhnel, as is Scott Barlow, as is Hogan Harris, and yeah, you get it, this entire bullpen. Kuhnel is throwing a slider lately, but the stuff is still grading out poorly overall.

Los Angeles Angels
Chase Silseth	0.1 IP	0 H	0 BB	0 K	1 Whiffs	20% CSW
Jose Fermin	1.0 IP	1 H	2 BB	1 K	2 Whiffs	25% CSW
Kirby Yates	1.0 IP	0 H	1 BB	1 K	2 Whiffs	24% CSW
Ryan Zeferjahn – L (2)	1.0 IP	0 H	2 BB	0 K	0 Whiffs	11% CSW

Kirby Yates got the ninth inning again, and he did look a little bit better as the velo was up to 90.7 MPH (only down 2.1 MPH from last year now) and his command was mostly good here with fastballs up and splitters down. He was able to strand two runners here and at least push the game to extras.
Ryan Zeferjahn continues his HBP run, hitting the first guy he faced before getting two outs and eventually allowing a walk (the first walk was an IBB to Kurtz) before getting the third and final out. He’s falling out of the closer race, and it’s glaringly obvious who should be the guy, but will the Angels ever commit to Sam Bachman?

COL 1 – ARI 2

Colorado Rockies
Blas Castano	2.0 IP	1 ER	2 H	3 BB	1 K	5 Whiffs	27% CSW
Seth Halvorsen	1.0 IP	0 ER	0 H	2 BB	2 K	5 Whiffs	37% CSW
Juan Mejia – L (4)	0.2 IP	1 ER	1 H	2 BB	1 K	5 Whiffs	31% CSW

We should have known it was too good to be true with Juan Mejia, as he’s been super inconsistent over his career to this point, and he was due for a rough week. It’s the walks that frustrate me, as he walked the lead-off man, which almost always leads to having a bad time. He got the next two guys (sac bunt, and a K) before another walk brought up Carroll, who singled on a 2-2 sweeper Mejia left up and over the middle of the plate. No one is denying the stuff; the command is just super inconsistent, which makes him hard to trust.

Arizona Diamondbacks
Juan Morillo – BS (2)	0.1 IP	1 ER	2 H	1 BB	1 K	2 Whiffs	13% CSW
Kevin Ginkel	0.2 IP	0 ER	0 H	0 BB	0 K	0 Whiffs	22% CSW
Paul Sewald – W (1)	1.0 IP	0 ER	0 H	0 BB	1 K	0 Whiffs	33% CSW

Juan Morillo returned here from a short hiatus as he was dealing with a little bit of fatigue, and he did not look as sharp as usual. He struck out the first batter he faced before things unraveled. The stuff was slightly down, but the command was way off, and he allowed the run on a bases-loaded HBP before Kevin Ginkel came in and bailed him out. Definitely something to keep an eye on, as Morillo had been one of the top setup men in baseball before this past week.

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Fantasy Baseball Relief Pitcher Roundup: 5/21

Rick Graham