Fantasy Baseball Relief Pitcher Roundup: 8/3

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

WSN 3 – PHI 6

Washington Nationals
Tom Cosgrove – L (1)	0.2 IP	2 ER	1 H	1 BB	1 K	1 Whiffs	29% CSW
Clayton Beeter	0.1 IP	2 ER	1 H	1 BB	0 K	0 Whiffs	0% CSW
Eddy Yean	0.2 IP	0 ER	0 H	0 BB	0 K	1 Whiffs	15% CSW

Clayton Beeter threw two fastballs over the plate here, one of which was down in the zone to Harper, who hit it straight out to center to extend the Phillies’ lead. Beeter entered in the eighth to face the 2-3-4 hitters in this Phillies lineup, so he can still be seen as the highest-leverage arm in this bullpen, just not a true closer.

Philadelphia Phillies
Kyle Backhus – W (2)	1.0 IP	1 BB	1 K	3 Whiffs	25% CSW
Orion Kerkering – HLD (12)	1.0 IP	0 BB	2 K	4 Whiffs	33% CSW
Jhoan Duran – SV (25)	1.0 IP	0 BB	2 K	3 Whiffs	47% CSW

Orion Kerkering — Four-Seamer down 1.1 MPH (96.3 vs. 97.4 season avg). With Raley and Kilian in the mix now and Bowlan’s ascension, I’m not sure there’s room for Kerkering to be a consistent holds option?

STL 13 – NYY 7

St. Louis Cardinals
Justin Bruihl	1.2 IP	1 ER	2 H	0 K	1 Whiffs	25% CSW
Ryne Stanek – HLD (19)	0.1 IP	3 ER	3 H	1 K	1 Whiffs	27% CSW
George Soriano – BS (6)	0.2 IP	1 ER	1 H	1 K	3 Whiffs	33% CSW
Gordon Graceffo – W (7)	2.0 IP	0 ER	0 H	2 K	3 Whiffs	25% CSW

Ryne Stanek — Four-Seamer down 1.2 MPH (96.8 vs. 98.0 season avg). Stanek’s fastball has been on the decline for over a month now.

New York Yankees
Tim Hill	1.1 IP	2 ER	2 H	0 BB	1 K	1 Whiffs	19% CSW
Kervin Castro	1.2 IP	0 ER	1 H	1 BB	2 K	2 Whiffs	25% CSW
Ryan Yarbrough	1.0 IP	1 ER	1 H	0 BB	0 K	1 Whiffs	25% CSW
Angel Chivilli – L (1)	1.0 IP	6 ER	5 H	1 BB	0 K	5 Whiffs	24% CSW
Fernando Cruz	1.0 IP	0 ER	0 H	0 BB	2 K	2 Whiffs	70% CSW

Fernando Cruz — Four-Seamer down 1.2 MPH (91.9 vs. 93.1 season avg); Slider usage 40% (+27 pts vs. 13% usual). Interesting to see more of this slider from Cruz, but the fastball velocity has been down lately. That shouldn’t be a huge deal for him, as velocity isn’t his game, but something to monitor.

PIT 4 – MIL 3

Pittsburgh Pirates
Gregory Soto – HLD (8)	1.1 IP	1 H	1 BB	3 K	3 Whiffs	34% CSW
Camilo Doval – HLD (5)	1.0 IP	0 H	0 BB	1 K	3 Whiffs	44% CSW
Mason Montgomery – SV (3)	1.0 IP	1 H	0 BB	3 K	7 Whiffs	56% CSW

Mason Montgomery — Sinker up 0.9 MPH (99.5 vs. 98.6 season avg); Four-Seamer usage 11% (-48 pts vs. 59% usual). That sinker is pretty filthy, with Montgomery looking like prime Aroldis Chapman now. There’s a world (a world that makes sense to me) where Weaver and Soto are setup men for Montgomery (Yates, Doval, Yohan, Sisk and Bachar round out the bullpen). One things for sure: this bullpen certainly does not lack stuff at this point.

Milwaukee Brewers
Garrett Stallings	3.0 IP	2 H	1 BB	4 K	6 Whiffs	28% CSW
Aaron Ashby	2.0 IP	1 H	1 BB	3 K	9 Whiffs	39% CSW
Chad Patrick	1.0 IP	0 H	0 BB	2 K	3 Whiffs	46% CSW

Chad Patrick — Four-Seamer up 1.3 MPH (96.6 vs. 95.3 season avg). While we wait for JoJo Romero to return, a new bullpen battle here may be brewing between Patrick and Antonio Senzatela. As things stand now, I prefer Patrick, but maybe the Brewers pitching lab can get more out of Senzatela.

LAD 5 – CHC 10

Los Angeles Dodgers
Edgardo Henriquez	1.0 IP	3 ER	1 H	3 BB	2 K	7 Whiffs	40% CSW
Tanner Scott	0.2 IP	0 ER	1 H	1 BB	2 K	5 Whiffs	50% CSW
Jonathan Hernández	2.0 IP	0 ER	1 H	0 BB	2 K	2 Whiffs	29% CSW

With this bullpen getting healthy and the Dodgers even trading for future bullpen assets (Bubic), this is not a good time for Edgardo Henriquez to hit a rough patch. The command was just way off here, so at least we aren’t seeing some sort of stuff decline.

Chicago Cubs
Trent Thornton	1.1 IP	0 ER	0 H	0 BB	1 K	1 Whiffs	18% CSW
Jake Woodford	1.0 IP	0 ER	1 H	0 BB	0 K	0 Whiffs	21% CSW

Trent Thornton will likely stick around in this bullpen, even when they get to full strength, although with all the SP additions the Cubs made, we are probably looking at the likes of Assad, Rea, Brown, and Steele as bullpen options at some point, so bullpen spots could get tight eventually.

SFG 5 – TEX 1

San Francisco Giants
Keaton Winn – HLD (12)	0.2 IP	0 ER	1 H	0 BB	1 K	1 Whiffs	40% CSW
Sam Hentges – HLD (7)	1.1 IP	0 ER	0 H	1 BB	1 K	2 Whiffs	30% CSW
Tristan Beck	0.1 IP	1 ER	1 H	1 BB	0 K	0 Whiffs	24% CSW
Reiver Sanmartin	0.2 IP	0 ER	0 H	0 BB	0 K	0 Whiffs	50% CSW

Sam Hentges — Sinker up 1.2 MPH (94.9 vs. 93.7 season avg); Sinker usage 55% (+30 pts vs. 25% usual). Trying to figure out who closes out games here moving forward, and the favorite to me is Dylan Smith, but don’t be surprised to see Hentges mix in against tough left-handed pockets as well. Don’t get too excited though, because the stuff and command are a trainwreck.

Texas Rangers
Ben Peoples	1.0 IP	0 ER	0 H	1 BB	1 K	3 Whiffs	22% CSW
Peyton Gray	1.0 IP	1 ER	1 H	1 BB	0 K	0 Whiffs	17% CSW
Nolan Kingham	1.0 IP	1 ER	1 H	2 BB	1 K	2 Whiffs	23% CSW

The Rangers decided to do nothing at the deadline and expect more mediocrity for the remainder of the season.

TOR 3 – HOU 1

Toronto Blue Jays
Braydon Fisher – HLD (10)	1.0 IP	1 H	2 BB	0 K	2 Whiffs	21% CSW
Brendon Little – HLD (1)	1.1 IP	0 H	1 BB	4 K	8 Whiffs	52% CSW
Tyler Rogers – SV (3)	1.0 IP	0 H	0 BB	0 K	0 Whiffs	8% CSW

Brendon Little — Sinker up 1.5 MPH (96.1 vs. 94.6 season avg); Sinker usage 14% (-25 pts vs. 39% usual). This is nice to see, and with Jeff Hoffman out of the picture, that 7th inning role opens up, maybe for Little.

Houston Astros
Tatsuya Imai	3.0 IP	0 ER	0 H	0 BB	5 K	11 Whiffs	53% CSW

Tatsuya Imai has a nasty “slider”; that fastball is a real problem, though. He commanded it well enough here, but unless he gets a huge velocity boost in the bullpen, I’m not sure he’s destined for more success as a reliever.

TBR 13 – COL 9

Tampa Bay Rays
Michael Grove	2.0 IP	2 ER	4 H	2 Whiffs	25% CSW
Casey Legumina	0.2 IP	4 ER	4 H	3 Whiffs	13% CSW
Kevin Kelly	0.1 IP	0 ER	0 H	0 Whiffs	0% CSW

Blegh.

SDP 1 – ARI 5

San Diego Padres
Yuki Matsui	1.1 IP	0 ER	1 H	1 BB	2 K	6 Whiffs	36% CSW
Jeremiah Estrada	0.2 IP	0 ER	0 H	0 BB	0 K	1 Whiffs	57% CSW
Wandy Peralta	1.0 IP	2 ER	3 H	0 BB	0 K	1 Whiffs	20% CSW

I just don’t love seeing this from Jeremiah Estrada. I see the vision, with the elevated fastballs and splitters/sliders down in the zone, but the velocity is still way down.

Arizona Diamondbacks
Juan Morillo – HLD (14)	1.1 IP	0 ER	1 H	0 BB	2 K	5 Whiffs	50% CSW
Brandyn Garcia	1.0 IP	0 ER	0 H	0 BB	0 K	2 Whiffs	25% CSW

Brandyn Garcia was in line for another save chance before the Diamondbacks scored twice in the bottom of the eighth. He appears to be the closer at least until Justin Martinez returns, potentially later this month.

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

Also, if you’re looking for the detailed list or ranking of Relievers, check out my weekly RP Ranks

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Fantasy Baseball Relief Pitcher Roundup: 8/3

Rick Graham

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Fantasy Baseball Relief Pitcher Roundup: 8/3

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