Fantasy Baseball Relief Pitcher Roundup: 8/14

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

STL 0 – CHC 3

St. Louis Cardinals
George Soriano	0.2 IP	1 ER	2 H	1 BB	0 K	0 Whiffs	24% CSW
Peter Strzelecki	2.0 IP	0 ER	2 H	1 BB	0 K	0 Whiffs	22% CSW

George Soriano holds a 6.00 ERA and 2.22 WHIP over his past 9 innings, as the wheels are falling off a bit. However, he’s still sporting better xFIP, SIERA, and K-BB% numbers than Riley O’Brien over this span.

Chicago Cubs
Ryan Rolison – HLD (5)	0.1 IP	0 H	0 BB	0 K	0 Whiffs	0% CSW
Ryan Zeferjahn – HLD (12)	1.0 IP	1 H	1 BB	2 K	3 Whiffs	37% CSW
Jacob Webb – SV (9)	1.0 IP	1 H	0 BB	1 K	2 Whiffs	31% CSW

Ryan Zeferjahn — Four-Seamer up 0.8 MPH (98.2 vs. 97.4 season avg); Four-Seamer usage 59% (+28 pts vs. 31% usual). Zeferjahn just focused on the fastball/sweeper here, which is the way to go. Just need the command to shore up (been saying this forever so…).
Jacob Webb continues to thrive in the closer role here. It’s going to be really hard to just give the ninth right back to Palencia when he returns.

MIA 0 – CIN 1

Miami Marlins
Josh Ekness	1.0 IP	0 ER	3 H	0 BB	1 K	2 Whiffs	43% CSW

At least we are seeing the plus stuff from Josh Ekness that made him intriguing before the injury. Two bloop singles here and really just one hard-hit ball.

Cincinnati Reds
Brock Burke – HLD (14)	1.0 IP	0 ER	0 H	0 BB	3 K	3 Whiffs	47% CSW
Emilio Pagán – SV (15)	1.0 IP	0 ER	0 H	0 BB	0 K	0 Whiffs	27% CSW

Emilio Pagán — Four-Seamer up 1.1 MPH (95.9 vs. 94.8 season avg); Four-Seamer usage 27% (-34 pts vs. 62% usual); Splitter usage 46% (+27 pts vs. 18% usual). Pagán seems to be over the hand injury that kept him out of Thursday’s game.

BOS 4 – PIT 8

Boston Red Sox
Jovani Morán	1.0 IP	3 ER	2 H	0 BB	2 K	4 Whiffs	22% CSW
Alec Gamboa	3.0 IP	0 ER	2 H	0 BB	0 K	4 Whiffs	19% CSW

Jovani Morán — Four-Seamer up 0.9 MPH (93.5 vs. 92.6 season avg). Morán left a 2-1 changeup middle-middle to Lowe here, the only big mistake outside of hitting Gonzales.

Pittsburgh Pirates
Gregory Soto	1.0 IP	0 ER	0 H	1 BB	1 K	1 Whiffs	36% CSW
Camilo Doval	1.0 IP	1 ER	2 H	1 BB	1 K	3 Whiffs	28% CSW
Luke Weaver	1.0 IP	0 ER	0 H	0 BB	1 K	4 Whiffs	36% CSW
Kirby Yates	0.2 IP	1 ER	3 H	0 BB	1 K	3 Whiffs	17% CSW
Mason Montgomery – SV (4)	0.1 IP	0 ER	0 H	0 BB	1 K	1 Whiffs	50% CSW

Gregory Soto — Sinker down 0.9 MPH (95.5 vs. 96.4 season avg); Sinker usage 64% (+28 pts vs. 36% usual). Soto has consistently been working in the 6th inning lately. And the stuff took a hit too.
Camilo Doval — Sinker down 1.2 MPH (97.3 vs. 98.5 season avg). Don’t love it.
Luke Weaver — Four-Seamer up 1.0 MPH (96.3 vs. 95.3 season avg). Definitely a good thing to see that velocity return (see below). But not sure it’s enough to replace Montgomery in the closer role.
Luke Weaver from May 1st through July 6th (26 IP): 0.00 ERA, 0.69 WHIP, 35% K, 96 FBv

March/April and July 12th through yesterday (19 IP): 4.26 ERA, 1.05 WHIP, 14.3% K, 94.7 FBv

CHW 9 – DET 5

Chicago White Sox
Sean Newcomb	1.1 IP	0 ER	0 H	1 BB	2 K	3 Whiffs	36% CSW
Huascar Brazobán	1.1 IP	2 ER	3 H	0 BB	0 K	1 Whiffs	15% CSW
Grant Taylor – HLD (9)	1.2 IP	0 ER	1 H	0 BB	0 K	0 Whiffs	22% CSW
Bryan Hudson	1.0 IP	0 ER	1 H	0 BB	2 K	3 Whiffs	60% CSW

Huascar Brazobán — Sinker down 0.9 MPH (95.2 vs. 96.1 season avg); Sinker usage 85% (+34 pts vs. 51% usual); Changeup usage 8% (-33 pts vs. 41% usual). Just check the home/road splits for him when he was with the Mets. That Citi Field windstream helped him out immensely.

Detroit Tigers
Jacob Waguespack	1.1 IP	0 ER	0 H	0 BB	0 K	0 Whiffs	25% CSW
Enmanuel De Jesús	2.1 IP	2 ER	3 H	2 BB	1 K	3 Whiffs	18% CSW
Ty Madden	1.2 IP	1 ER	2 H	0 BB	1 K	3 Whiffs	21% CSW

Blegh.

WSN 1 – NYM 4

Washington Nationals
Jake Bird	1.0 IP	2 ER	3 H	2 BB	1 K	1 Whiffs	23% CSW
Max Kranick	1.1 IP	0 ER	2 H	0 BB	3 K	7 Whiffs	50% CSW

Jake Bird — Sinker down 1.6 MPH (93.1 vs. 94.7 season avg). Nope, this isn’t working.

New York Mets
Nate Lavender	0.2 IP	0 H	0 BB	0 K	0 Whiffs	33% CSW
Jonathan Pintaro – W (1)	2.0 IP	1 H	1 BB	2 K	2 Whiffs	25% CSW
Daniel Duarte – HLD (2)	1.0 IP	0 H	0 BB	1 K	3 Whiffs	24% CSW
Kodai Senga – SV (2)	1.0 IP	1 H	0 BB	1 K	1 Whiffs	21% CSW

Daniel Duarte/Jonathan Pintaro’s cutter/fastball looked good in this one. Is that combination good enough to compete for a high-leverage role?
Kodai Senga — Four-Seamer up 0.9 MPH (97.2 vs. 96.3 season avg); Four-Seamer usage 71% (+34 pts vs. 38% usual). The command is still a mess, but the stuff plays nicely in the closer role.

SDP 7 – CLE 5

San Diego Padres
Yuki Matsui – HLD (7)	1.0 IP	0 ER	0 H	1 BB	0 K	4 Whiffs	33% CSW
Jeremiah Estrada – HLD (11)	1.0 IP	1 ER	1 H	0 BB	2 K	3 Whiffs	28% CSW
Bradgley Rodriguez – SV (1)	1.0 IP	0 ER	1 H	0 BB	2 K	3 Whiffs	39% CSW

Yuki Matsui — Four-Seamer up 1.3 MPH (93.2 vs. 91.9 season avg). We’ll take it, just don’t lose command with the velo increase.
Bradgley Rodriguez — Four-Seamer up 1.8 MPH (100.1 vs. 98.3 season avg). Look at that fastball at 100 MPH (#SaveChanceEnergy), and this is perhaps a glimpse at what could be next season if the Padres move Mason Miller and don’t re-sign Adrian Morejon.

Cleveland Guardians
Craig Yoho	0.2 IP	0 ER	0 H	1 BB	1 K	3 Whiffs	43% CSW
Franco Aleman	1.0 IP	0 ER	1 H	0 BB	0 K	2 Whiffs	29% CSW
Colin Holderman	0.2 IP	2 ER	2 H	0 BB	0 K	1 Whiffs	21% CSW
Tim Herrin	1.0 IP	0 ER	0 H	0 BB	1 K	2 Whiffs	44% CSW
Matt Festa	1.1 IP	0 ER	2 H	0 BB	1 K	2 Whiffs	27% CSW

Craig Yoho — Sinker up 0.9 MPH (95.3 vs. 94.4 season avg); Four-Seamer usage 0% (-26 pts vs. 26% usual). It looks like the cutter will be the secondary to his changeup, and I don’t love the pitch, but it may just be good enough to let his changeup flourish.
Colin Holderman — Sinker down 1.1 MPH (95.8 vs. 96.9 season avg). It was a good run, but perhaps it’s over…
Tim Herrin — Four-Seamer down 1.0 MPH (93.7 vs. 94.7 season avg). Meh.

BAL 6 – TBR 5

Baltimore Orioles
Josh Walker – W (1)	0.2 IP	0 ER	0 H	0 BB	1 K	1 Whiffs	43% CSW
Andrew Kittredge – HLD (8)	1.0 IP	0 ER	1 H	0 BB	1 K	1 Whiffs	25% CSW
Rico Garcia	1.0 IP	0 ER	0 H	1 BB	0 K	0 Whiffs	25% CSW
Yennier Cano	0.2 IP	3 ER	3 H	1 BB	1 K	2 Whiffs	25% CSW
Cam Sanders – SV (2)	0.1 IP	0 ER	0 H	1 BB	0 K	0 Whiffs	0% CSW

Andrew Kittredge — Four-Seamer down 0.9 MPH (93.5 vs. 94.4 season avg). He’s more of a slider/sinker guy anyway.
The stuff was down, and the command non-existent for Yennier Cano here. Is it so much to ask for some sort of stability here in this bullpen?

Tampa Bay Rays
Steven Matz	1.0 IP	0 ER	0 H	0 BB	1 K	3 Whiffs	24% CSW
Jesse Scholtens	3.0 IP	2 ER	4 H	2 BB	2 K	7 Whiffs	27% CSW
Cam Booser	1.0 IP	0 ER	0 H	0 BB	2 K	3 Whiffs	40% CSW
Tyler Wells	1.0 IP	0 ER	1 H	0 BB	0 K	1 Whiffs	19% CSW
Garrett Cleavinger – L (4)	0.1 IP	2 ER	2 H	1 BB	0 K	1 Whiffs	20% CSW
Kevin Kelly	0.2 IP	0 ER	1 H	0 BB	0 K	0 Whiffs	0% CSW
Chris Roycroft	2.0 IP	2 ER	4 H	0 BB	1 K	5 Whiffs	31% CSW

Cam Booser — Four-Seamer up 0.8 MPH (96.5 vs. 95.7 season avg). It’s wild how good he’s been for them. He’s been their best lefty.
Garrett Cleavinger — Four-Seamer down 1.4 MPH (95.2 vs. 96.6 season avg); Slider usage 70% (+27 pts vs. 43% usual). He only threw one four-seamer, as he went with 7 sliders in this outing (which he could not locate).

ARI 2 – ATL 0

Arizona Diamondbacks
Juan Morillo – HLD (16)	1.0 IP	0 ER	1 H	0 BB	2 K	5 Whiffs	37% CSW
Brandyn Garcia – SV (4)	1.0 IP	0 ER	0 H	0 BB	2 K	2 Whiffs	45% CSW

This is what the 8th and 9th innings should look like here (at least until Justin Martinez returns).

Atlanta Braves
Didier Fuentes	1.0 IP	0 ER	1 H	0 BB	1 K	3 Whiffs	24% CSW
Dylan Dodd	1.0 IP	0 ER	2 H	0 BB	0 K	3 Whiffs	21% CSW
Tyler Kinley	1.0 IP	1 ER	2 H	1 BB	1 K	0 Whiffs	36% CSW

Didier Fuentes — Four-Seamer down 1.2 MPH (96.0 vs. 97.2 season avg). His fastball fluctuates game to game, so I wouldn’t be too worried about this. But the fluctuation could be a factor that has the Braves hesitant to move him into the closer role.

NYY 1 – TOR 3

New York Yankees
Paul Blackburn	1.0 IP	0 ER	2 H	0 BB	1 K	2 Whiffs	23% CSW
Bradley Hanner	1.0 IP	1 ER	1 H	0 BB	2 K	2 Whiffs	42% CSW

Bradley Hanner made his debut here and struck out McAdoo and Springer before Kirk took him deep (and then Giménez bunted for the final out of the inning). He’s definitely interesting, with a lower arm slot the fastball plays up thanks to 1.7° HAVAA, and the sweeper is legit. In this shallow bullpen, he has a chance to work his way into leverage situations sooner than later.

Toronto Blue Jays
Tyler Rogers – HLD (25)	1.1 IP	1 H	1 Whiffs	30% CSW
Mason Fluharty – HLD (13)	0.2 IP	0 H	0 Whiffs	17% CSW
Louis Varland – SV (27)	1.0 IP	0 H	0 Whiffs	25% CSW

Louis Varland — Four-Seamer up 2.0 MPH (100.7 vs. 98.7 season avg). Varland has just 3 strikeouts over his past 8.1 innings, but there’s not much to complain about. He only needed four pitches to get the save here.

SEA 7 – HOU 10

Seattle Mariners
Michael Rucker	1.1 IP	0 ER	0 H	1 K	2 Whiffs	19% CSW
Gabe Speier	1.0 IP	0 ER	0 H	1 K	1 Whiffs	42% CSW
Eduard Bazardo	2.0 IP	0 ER	0 H	2 K	3 Whiffs	35% CSW
Andrés Muñoz – L (5)	0.2 IP	4 ER	4 H	1 K	5 Whiffs	35% CSW

Gabe Speier — Sinker up 0.9 MPH (95.8 vs. 94.9 season avg); Four-Seamer usage 8% (-31 pts vs. 39% usual). We’ll take it.
Eduard Bazardo — Sinker up 1.1 MPH (96.6 vs. 95.5 season avg). This is better, but I still have trust issues with Bazardo.
Andrés Muñoz — Four-Seamer up 1.3 MPH (100.9 vs. 99.6 season avg). So as I was saying yesterday, Muñoz is in a really good place…He started this inning by getting Yordan to ground out before allowing a single and then striking out Trammell for the second out. Then he allowed two bloop singles to Altuve and Varsho on two-strike sliders down and out of the zone (pure bad luck). He then tried throwing a get-me-over 1-0 slider to Walker, who was all over it for the walk-off bomb. I mentioned yesterday how much better he has been since trusting his fastball, but in this one, he threw 14 sliders to just 8 fastballs.

Houston Astros
Bennett Sousa – HLD (5)	1.0 IP	1 ER	2 H	0 BB	2 K	1 Whiffs	38% CSW
Steven Okert – HLD (17)	1.0 IP	0 ER	1 H	0 BB	1 K	1 Whiffs	43% CSW
Bryan Abreu – BS (1)	1.0 IP	2 ER	2 H	2 BB	0 K	3 Whiffs	17% CSW
Josh Hader	1.0 IP	0 ER	2 H	0 BB	2 K	4 Whiffs	35% CSW
Enyel De Los Santos – W (2)	1.0 IP	1 ER	1 H	0 BB	0 K	2 Whiffs	16% CSW

Steven Okert — Four-Seamer down 1.6 MPH (89.7 vs. 91.3 season avg). Hang in there Okert (I am worried, though).
Bryan Abreu — Four-Seamer up 0.9 MPH (96.4 vs. 95.5 season avg). The velocity is still there, but the command is still very hit-or-miss.

KCR 7 – LAA 6

Kansas City Royals
Jose Cuas	0.1 IP	0 ER	0 H	1 BB	0 K	2 Whiffs	22% CSW
Alex Lange – W (2)	1.0 IP	1 ER	2 H	0 BB	2 K	4 Whiffs	57% CSW
John Schreiber – HLD (11)	1.0 IP	0 ER	0 H	0 BB	0 K	2 Whiffs	35% CSW
Nate Pearson – HLD (1)	1.0 IP	0 ER	0 H	0 BB	2 K	3 Whiffs	42% CSW
Steven Cruz – SV (4)	1.0 IP	0 ER	1 H	0 BB	1 K	1 Whiffs	42% CSW

Nate Pearson — Four-Seamer up 1.7 MPH (99.4 vs. 97.7 season avg). This kind of does look like a closer. The way he’s throwing the ball right now, I get why they are giving Pearson save chances.
Oh wait, they went back to Steven Cruz in the ninth here. I’ll take either Cruz or Pearson if they can just settle on one. If they continue to share the ninth, I’m out.

Los Angeles Angels
Sammy Peralta	2.0 IP	2 ER	4 H	1 BB	3 K	3 Whiffs	28% CSW
Tayler Saucedo – L (1)	0.1 IP	2 ER	2 H	0 BB	0 K	1 Whiffs	33% CSW
Luke Murphy	1.2 IP	0 ER	1 H	0 BB	0 K	1 Whiffs	21% CSW
Ryan Watson	1.0 IP	0 ER	0 H	0 BB	2 K	3 Whiffs	38% CSW

Tayler Saucedo — Sinker down 0.9 MPH (91.3 vs. 92.2 season avg). We need some of these lefties to step up to allow Natera to lock into the closer role.

TEX 3 – ATH 8

Texas Rangers
Chase Silseth – L (3)	1.0 IP	1 ER	1 H	0 BB	2 K	3 Whiffs	47% CSW
Robby Ahlstrom	1.0 IP	1 ER	1 H	0 BB	2 K	5 Whiffs	38% CSW
Tyler Alexander	0.1 IP	2 ER	3 H	2 BB	1 K	2 Whiffs	13% CSW
Marco Gonzales	0.2 IP	0 ER	0 H	0 BB	0 K	0 Whiffs	0% CSW

Chase Silseth — Four-Seamer down 0.8 MPH (95.1 vs. 95.9 season avg); Sweeper usage 40% (+25 pts vs. 15% usual)
Robby Ahlstrom — Four-Seamer down 1.0 MPH (93.4 vs. 94.4 season avg); Slider usage 50% (+27 pts vs. 23% usual)
Tyler Alexander — Four-Seamer down 0.9 MPH (91.0 vs. 91.9 season avg). We can chalk all these outings up to Sacramento…and middling stuff.

Athletics
Luis Medina – W (3)	1.1 IP	0 H	1 BB	2 K	5 Whiffs	28% CSW
Drew Rom – HLD (1)	0.2 IP	1 H	0 BB	1 K	2 Whiffs	38% CSW
Elvis Alvarado – HLD (6)	0.2 IP	0 H	1 BB	1 K	3 Whiffs	43% CSW
Hogan Harris	1.0 IP	0 H	0 BB	0 K	0 Whiffs	19% CSW

Luis Medina — Four-Seamer up 0.9 MPH (98.5 vs. 97.6 season avg). We know Medina has a good fastball…but the slider was great here too. That would be a nice development.
Elvis Alvarado — Four-Seamer usage 93% (+40 pts vs. 53% usual); Slider usage 0% (-27 pts vs. 27% usual). He’s lost confidence/feel for his slider, and that just is not going to work long term. We need that pitch back.

MIL 1 – LAD 3

Milwaukee Brewers
Grant Anderson	0.2 IP	0 ER	0 H	1 BB	0 K	0 Whiffs	11% CSW
Bryse Wilson	1.0 IP	0 ER	0 H	0 BB	3 K	5 Whiffs	40% CSW

Not really sure how Bryse Wilson pulled off this line with his stuff.

Los Angeles Dodgers
Evan Phillips – HLD (3)	1.0 IP	0 H	0 BB	0 K	3 Whiffs	28% CSW
Tanner Scott – HLD (12)	1.0 IP	1 H	0 BB	2 K	5 Whiffs	47% CSW
Edwin Díaz – SV (7)	1.0 IP	0 H	2 BB	1 K	2 Whiffs	27% CSW

Evan Phillips — Four-Seamer usage 17% (-34 pts vs. 50% usual); Sweeper usage 61% (+25 pts vs. 36% usual). I’m not really sure the fastball is the issue for Phillips, I still think the sweeper isn’t back to what it once was, and that’s the problem. Maybe he was throwing it more to try and work through the issue?
Edwin Díaz continues to get all the save chances, as Dave Roberts was sure to make clear, and at least he didn’t allow any hits here (thanks to Edman at 2B for this web gem). The stuff still looks fine, but the command was not good here (9/26 pitches in the zone), perhaps because Díaz is having trouble trusting his stuff right now.

COL 5 – SFG 2

Colorado Rockies
Brennan Bernardino	1.0 IP	1 ER	3 H	0 BB	0 K	0 Whiffs	0% CSW

Brennan Bernardino — Sinker down 1.0 MPH (89.2 vs. 90.2 season avg); Sinker usage 73% (+31 pts vs. 42% usual). Not great.

San Francisco Giants
Reiver Sanmartin	0.1 IP	0 ER	0 H	0 BB	1 K	1 Whiffs	60% CSW
JT Brubaker	1.0 IP	0 ER	0 H	0 BB	1 K	1 Whiffs	19% CSW
Trent Harris	1.1 IP	1 ER	1 H	3 BB	3 K	6 Whiffs	29% CSW
Jason Foley	0.2 IP	0 ER	0 H	1 BB	0 K	1 Whiffs	17% CSW

Just a reminder not to get fooled by JT Brubaker. The sliders fine, but everything else is well below average.

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Fantasy Baseball Relief Pitcher Roundup: 8/14

Rick Graham

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Fantasy Baseball Relief Pitcher Roundup: 8/14

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