Fantasy Baseball Reliever Roundup

Houston Astros
AJ Blubaugh	1.0 IP	0 ER	1 H	0 BB	1 K	3 Whiffs	29% CSW
Logan VanWey	1.0 IP	0 ER	1 H	0 BB	2 K	4 Whiffs	45% CSW

Logan VanWey (despite the AAA numbers) actually looks kind of interesting. He throws from a low arm angle and has 3 above average pitches, it looks like. This bullpen is always looking for right-handed help, so perhaps VanWey could find a way to stick around.

Cincinnati Reds
Pierce Johnson	1.2 IP	0 ER	0 H	1 BB	2 K	3 Whiffs	33% CSW
Tejay Antone	1.0 IP	1 ER	1 H	0 BB	0 K	0 Whiffs	19% CSW
Tony Santillan	0.0 IP	4 ER	4 H	0 BB	0 K	0 Whiffs	8% CSW
Jose Trevino	1.0 IP	1 ER	3 H	0 BB	0 K	0 Whiffs	15% CSW

So obviously, this is not the line those speculating on Tony Santillan as the Reds interim closer were hoping to see. Santillan gave up back-to-back singles to Smith and Matthews before throwing a slider down and in to Cole, who turned on it for a HR. That was followed up by a fastball up and in to Vásquez on the very next pitch, which he hit out for a HR. Over his past five innings pitched, Santillan has allowed 5 earned runs on 8 hits, 3 of which were home runs (16% K, 5% SwStr, 90 Stuff+). The command is better than Graham Ashcraft’s, but the stuff is not even close. Maybe we (and the Reds) need to move on from these two and consider someone like Luis Mey as the best option to close out games right now?

Colorado Rockies
Jaden Hill	1.0 IP	0 ER	1 H	0 BB	0 K	0 Whiffs	19% CSW
Brennan Bernardino	0.1 IP	3 ER	2 H	1 BB	1 K	1 Whiffs	29% CSW
Jimmy Herget – BS (1)	1.0 IP	2 ER	2 H	0 BB	2 K	4 Whiffs	25% CSW
Victor Vodnik – W (1)	2.0 IP	0 ER	0 H	1 BB	2 K	5 Whiffs	35% CSW
Juan Mejia – SV (2)	1.0 IP	0 ER	1 H	0 BB	1 K	5 Whiffs	39% CSW

Kudos to both Victor Vodnik and Juan Mejia in this one for keeping the Phillies scoreless in extra innings. Over the past month, Mejia has been quite good (2.11 xFIP, 40% K, 18% SwStr, 36% CSW) but has just 3 SV+HLDs to show for it. I’d still bet on him over Anthony Senzatela moving forward (if I had to, I’d prefer to just ignore the Rockies bullpen if I can).

Philadelphia Phillies
Jonathan Bowlan	2.0 IP	0 ER	1 H	1 K	5 Whiffs	30% CSW
Tim Mayza	2.0 IP	1 ER	1 H	2 K	4 Whiffs	40% CSW
Jhoan Duran	1.0 IP	0 ER	1 H	2 K	3 Whiffs	44% CSW
José Alvarado	1.0 IP	0 ER	0 H	2 K	4 Whiffs	40% CSW
Orion Kerkering	1.0 IP	0 ER	1 H	1 K	3 Whiffs	19% CSW
Brad Keller – L (1)	1.0 IP	1 ER	3 H	2 K	3 Whiffs	20% CSW

Jhoan Duran came in to pitch the 8th inning here with the Phillies down 7-2. We saw decreased velocity and the command, while better than earlier in the week, was still not ideal exactly. Nothing to panic about yet, but maybe something to monitor closely here.

Athletics
Justin Sterner – HLD (7)	0.2 IP	0 ER	0 H	0 BB	0 K	1 Whiffs	29% CSW
Scott Barlow – HLD (7)	1.0 IP	0 ER	0 H	0 BB	1 K	1 Whiffs	21% CSW
Joel Kuhnel – HLD (2)	1.0 IP	0 ER	0 H	0 BB	0 K	0 Whiffs	30% CSW
Jack Perkins – HLD (1)	0.2 IP	1 ER	1 H	1 BB	2 K	4 Whiffs	32% CSW
Hogan Harris – SV (2)	0.1 IP	0 ER	0 H	1 BB	1 K	1 Whiffs	27% CSW

A leadoff walk, followed by two K’s, then a groundball single…and Kotsay pulled Jack Perkins in the ninth inning. Most closers would get a chance to get that final out (especially considering he was under 30 pitches), but it appears Perkins isn’t that guy in the A’s eyes. He should still be considered the favorite for saves, and the stuff still looks great, but he’ll be dropping down the closer list on Tuesday, with the team not looking to commit to him as the closer.

Baltimore Orioles
Trey Gibson	2.0 IP	1 ER	3 H	1 BB	2 K	2 Whiffs	33% CSW

Interesting to see Trey Gibson in a relief role, and the breakers look great, but the fastballs…not so much. I doubt he sticks around in the bullpen for long (he should continue to start at AAA or in this Orioles rotation).

Los Angeles Angels
Jose Fermin	1.1 IP	0 H	2 K	6 Whiffs	50% CSW
Brent Suter	1.0 IP	0 H	2 K	4 Whiffs	25% CSW
Kirby Yates	1.0 IP	1 H	1 K	2 Whiffs	25% CSW
Alek Manoah	1.0 IP	0 H	1 K	0 Whiffs	27% CSW

José Fermín looked awesome in this one, so again, you probably want to keep an eye on him. If he isn’t walking people, he can be really great.
But the main story here was the debut of Kirby Yates, who entered in the 7th inning with the Angels down two. The stuff actually looked better than I expected, as reports from the minors said his velo was around 89 MPH. He sat 90.8 MPH (down 2 MPH from last year and 2.5 MPH from 2024), and the command wasn’t that bad, so overall, it wasn’t terrible. I still have no interest in this right now.
Also, you can probably ignore reliever Alek Manoah. Might be better than starter Manoah, but still not worth chasing.

Toronto Blue Jays
Jeff Hoffman – HLD (5)	1.0 IP	0 ER	1 H	0 BB	1 K	2 Whiffs	38% CSW
Louis Varland – SV (5)	1.0 IP	0 ER	0 H	0 BB	0 K	0 Whiffs	18% CSW

Jeff Hoffman’s fastball was electric again in this one (up 1+ MPH), and while he’s pitching well enough to get his closer role back, it probably doesn’t make sense for the Blue Jays to do that. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, and Hoffman has been excellent outside of the closer role while Louis Varland continues to make things easy in the ninth.

Tampa Bay Rays
Mason Englert	3.1 IP	0 ER	2 H	0 BB	3 K	8 Whiffs	30% CSW

Boston Red Sox
Garrett Whitlock – HLD (7)	1.0 IP	0 ER	0 H	0 BB	2 K	4 Whiffs	50% CSW
Aroldis Chapman – SV (8)	1.0 IP	0 ER	0 H	0 BB	2 K	3 Whiffs	39% CSW

Ayy, this is what this duo should look like more often than not from the 8th inning on. Garrett Whitlock’s fastball was up almost 1.5 MPH here, and the slider and changeup looked the best they have all year as well.
Aroldis Chapman’s velocity remains down (sitting 96.9 here), but he’s making things work. Plus, the slider and splitter have been looking better lately.

Washington Nationals
Brad Lord – HLD (3)	1.2 IP	0 ER	1 H	0 BB	2 K	3 Whiffs	29% CSW
PJ Poulin – SV (1)	0.1 IP	0 ER	0 H	1 BB	0 K	1 Whiffs	15% CSW

Brad Lord and PJ Poulin made things interesting in the ninth because the Nationals refused to go to Gus Varland on back-to-back nights for whatever reason. Just make Varland the closer, please?

Miami Marlins
Anthony Bender	1.0 IP	0 H	0 BB	1 K	2 Whiffs	42% CSW
John King	0.2 IP	0 H	1 BB	1 K	2 Whiffs	38% CSW
Tyler Phillips	2.1 IP	1 H	1 BB	2 K	6 Whiffs	34% CSW

Tyler Phillips continues to act as the team’s long reliever when they are down or the game is out of hand, so I think those who speculated on him as a potential interim closer can move on. The stuff looked great here, though (only 5 fastballs thrown over 29 pitches).

Minnesota Twins
Kody Funderburk	1.1 IP	1 ER	1 H	0 BB	2 Whiffs	27% CSW
Eric Orze	0.2 IP	0 ER	1 H	0 BB	1 Whiffs	31% CSW
Anthony Banda	0.2 IP	1 ER	2 H	1 BB	1 Whiffs	18% CSW
Yoendrys Gómez	0.1 IP	0 ER	0 H	0 BB	0 Whiffs	50% CSW

Zero K’s from the most frustrating bullpen in baseball. At least Yoendrys Gómez is kind of interesting.

Cleveland Guardians
Matt Festa – HLD (5)	0.2 IP	2 ER	3 H	0 BB	2 K	3 Whiffs	41% CSW
Colin Holderman – HLD (1)	0.2 IP	0 ER	0 H	1 BB	1 K	0 Whiffs	21% CSW
Tim Herrin – HLD (1)	1.0 IP	0 ER	1 H	0 BB	0 K	1 Whiffs	27% CSW
Cade Smith – SV (11)	1.0 IP	1 ER	2 H	0 BB	1 K	3 Whiffs	40% CSW

Cade Smith grinded out this save, his third save in as many days, and will hopefully get today (and potentially tomorrow) off. The stuff was actually up here; he just gave up two singles (one on a fastball up and out of the zone to Buxton, one that was the definition of a bloop to Martin) before shutting the door.

Detroit Tigers
Tyler Holton – HLD (3)	1.0 IP	0 ER	0 H	0 BB	1 K	1 Whiffs	36% CSW
Kyle Finnegan – BS (1)	0.0 IP	2 ER	3 H	1 BB	0 K	0 Whiffs	17% CSW
Brant Hurter – L (1)	1.2 IP	1 ER	2 H	1 BB	1 K	2 Whiffs	27% CSW

What a rough and unlucky outing here for Kyle Finnegan. He left a splitter up to Massey that he hit for a hustle double (should have been a single if played right), followed by a single that went under the right fielder’s glove and rolled to the wall (this happened more than once last night?) that resulted in a run scoring and Isbel being on third base. The next pitch, Finnegan hung another splitter, and Garcia lined into CF for another base hit. Finnegan then followed that with a seven-pitch walk to Witt before being pulled. So it was ultimately a combination of not locating his splitter well and poor outfield play, but this line is not great to see when Kenley Jansen has also been struggling lately.

Kansas City Royals
Nick Mears	0.1 IP	1 H	0 BB	0 K	0 Whiffs	14% CSW
Luinder Avila	1.0 IP	1 H	0 BB	1 K	1 Whiffs	39% CSW
John Schreiber	1.0 IP	1 H	0 BB	0 K	0 Whiffs	33% CSW
Lucas Erceg – W (3)	1.0 IP	1 H	1 BB	0 K	1 Whiffs	7% CSW

Lucas Erceg battled through this outing and ultimately hung on to preserve the tie and was rewarded with a win in the bottom half of the inning. He only threw his fastball twice here (velo was down to 95 MPH), leaning on his slider and changeup. I think Daniel Lynch IV taking over the closer role at some point is in the cards here.

Seattle Mariners
Eduard Bazardo	1.0 IP	0 ER	1 H	0 K	1 Whiffs	38% CSW
Alex Hoppe	1.0 IP	2 ER	3 H	1 K	3 Whiffs	23% CSW
Josh Simpson	1.0 IP	1 ER	1 H	2 K	4 Whiffs	57% CSW

Josh Simpson was getting a ton of called strikes on his sinker and sweeper here, and outside of hanging the one curveball he threw to Grichuk, looked pretty solid here. Not worth chasing in holds formats, though.

Chicago White Sox
Sean Newcomb	1.2 IP	0 ER	1 H	0 BB	0 K	3 Whiffs	35% CSW
Tyler Davis	1.0 IP	3 ER	2 H	1 BB	0 K	0 Whiffs	17% CSW
Trevor Richards	1.0 IP	3 ER	3 H	0 BB	1 K	4 Whiffs	32% CSW
Seranthony Domínguez	1.0 IP	0 ER	0 H	0 BB	2 K	2 Whiffs	21% CSW

Seranthony Domínguez has looked pretty good over the last seven outings now, allowing just one earned run on two hits and one walk while striking out nine. The stuff’s been trending in the right direction as well, so he may be close to entering that circle of trust.

New York Yankees
Kervin Castro	2.0 IP	1 ER	2 H	0 BB	2 K	1 Whiffs	17% CSW

Kervin Castro made his debut here, and there’s not much to look forward to here, unfortunately. Three fastballs (four-seam, sinker, cutter), all of which are closer to below average than average.

Milwaukee Brewers
Shane Drohan – SV (1)	3.0 IP	0 ER	1 H	0 BB	3 K	7 Whiffs	38% CSW

Reliever Shane Drohan might be something, nothing special, but the stuff plays up for him out of the pen. Meanwhile, Caleb Durbin holds a wRC+ of 42.

Chicago Cubs
Ryan Rolison	0.1 IP	1 ER	1 H	2 BB	0 K	1 Whiffs	21% CSW
Javier Assad – W (3)	3.2 IP	0 ER	1 H	1 BB	1 K	4 Whiffs	29% CSW
Ethan Roberts	1.0 IP	0 ER	0 H	1 BB	0 K	0 Whiffs	20% CSW

Ethan Roberts is back in the Cubs bullpen, and that sweeper is legit. There’s not much else there, but the sweeper will play.

Texas Rangers
Cal Quantrill	3.1 IP	1 ER	3 H	2 BB	2 K	5 Whiffs	27% CSW
Tyler Alexander	1.0 IP	0 ER	1 H	0 BB	0 K	0 Whiffs	20% CSW
Jakob Junis	1.0 IP	0 ER	1 H	1 BB	1 K	4 Whiffs	32% CSW

I feel like anytime Jakob Junis generates whiffs in an outing, it always comes with walks or hits allowed. Such an interesting (and low upside) profile.

New York Mets
Luke Weaver	1.0 IP	1 H	2 BB	1 K	3 Whiffs	25% CSW
Brooks Raley	1.0 IP	1 H	0 BB	0 K	1 Whiffs	36% CSW
Devin Williams – W (2)	1.0 IP	0 H	0 BB	1 K	2 Whiffs	38% CSW
Tobias Myers – SV (1)	1.0 IP	0 H	0 BB	2 K	2 Whiffs	50% CSW

Devin Williams survived Colorado, and his stuff looked much better here, but it’s still not quite his normal changeup. Still a great pitch and one that should be good enough for him to succeed.

Arizona Diamondbacks
Juan Morillo	1.1 IP	0 ER	0 H	2 K	6 Whiffs	50% CSW
Brandyn Garcia	1.0 IP	0 ER	0 H	0 K	0 Whiffs	33% CSW
Kevin Ginkel – L (2)	0.1 IP	1 ER	3 H	1 K	1 Whiffs	8% CSW
Jonathan Loáisiga	0.2 IP	0 ER	0 H	0 K	0 Whiffs	25% CSW

Just when you thought Kevin Ginkel was figuring things out…no, the stuff is still way down.

St. Louis Cardinals
Gordon Graceffo	2.0 IP	0 ER	0 H	0 BB	0 K	2 Whiffs	29% CSW
Ryne Stanek	1.0 IP	0 ER	0 H	0 BB	1 K	4 Whiffs	27% CSW

Don’t look now, but that’s now four scoreless outings in a row for Ryne Stanek. I’m scared to buy back into this rollercoaster ride, but there’s no denying the upside when he has even an ounce of command.

San Diego Padres
Yuki Matsui	2.2 IP	3 H	1 BB	2 K	11 Whiffs	45% CSW
Wandy Peralta	1.0 IP	1 H	0 BB	0 K	0 Whiffs	29% CSW
Ron Marinaccio	1.0 IP	0 H	0 BB	2 K	4 Whiffs	43% CSW

Welcome back Yuki Matsui, and those 11 Whiffs, even over 2.2 innings, are quite impressive. He could still wind up being a fine reliever (the four-seam, splitter, and slider are all above average at least), but he’s not someone we need to monitor in fantasy leagues yet.

Atlanta Braves
Aaron Bummer	1.0 IP	0 ER	0 H	0 BB	0 K	0 Whiffs	0% CSW

That’s a lot of zeros for Aaron Bummer, which is both fine but also a reminder he’s not an interesting holds league target.

Los Angeles Dodgers
Alex Vesia – W (1)	0.1 IP	0 H	0 BB	0 K	1 Whiffs	20% CSW
Kyle Hurt – HLD (1)	1.0 IP	2 H	0 BB	1 K	3 Whiffs	21% CSW
Will Klein – HLD (4)	1.0 IP	1 H	1 BB	1 K	1 Whiffs	26% CSW
Brock Stewart – HLD (1)	1.0 IP	0 H	1 BB	1 K	3 Whiffs	28% CSW
Tanner Scott – SV (3)	1.0 IP	0 H	0 BB	1 K	2 Whiffs	36% CSW

Tanner Scott continues to see all the save chances with Edwin Díaz out, so I think we can just call him the closer moving forward? I’m sure we will see like Blake Treinen or Jack Dreyer get the next save now.

Pittsburgh Pirates
Justin Lawrence	0.0 IP	3 ER	3 H	0 K	0 Whiffs	15% CSW
Evan Sisk	1.0 IP	0 ER	1 H	1 K	2 Whiffs	18% CSW
Cam Sanders	1.0 IP	0 ER	1 H	3 K	8 Whiffs	47% CSW

Woah, OK Colonel Cam Sanders. He did a great job locating his fastball at the top of the zone and mixing in his slider and changeup downstairs. I don’t think we see this kind of outing/result too often from The Colonel moving forward, but I will see that fastball is a nice foundation to work off of.

San Francisco Giants
Keaton Winn – HLD (8)	1.0 IP	0 ER	0 H	0 BB	1 K	2 Whiffs	46% CSW
Matt Gage	1.0 IP	0 ER	0 H	1 BB	0 K	0 Whiffs	9% CSW
Caleb Kilian	1.0 IP	1 ER	1 H	2 BB	0 K	1 Whiffs	23% CSW

Well, it’s cool to see Caleb Kilian get the ninth inning at least. The stuff looked fine, the command was (clearly) the issue with the two walks. It wasn’t his fastball command, though really it was the curveball he threw 13 times that was all over the place.

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

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Fantasy Baseball Relief Pitcher Roundup: 5/8

Rick Graham

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Fantasy Baseball Relief Pitcher Roundup: 5/8

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