Fantasy Baseball Relief Pitcher Roundup: 8/4

Los Angeles Angels
Mitch Farris	1.0 IP	1 ER	1 H	1 BB	1 K	3 Whiffs	23% CSW

Blegh.

Baltimore Orioles
Rico Garcia – HLD (13)	1.0 IP	0 ER	1 H	1 BB	1 K	3 Whiffs	27% CSW
Andrew Kittredge – HLD (7)	1.0 IP	1 ER	2 H	0 BB	1 K	4 Whiffs	47% CSW
Yennier Cano – SV (2)	1.0 IP	0 ER	1 H	0 BB	2 K	3 Whiffs	42% CSW

Yennier Cano — Sinker up 1.2 MPH (96.1 vs. 94.9 season avg); Splitter usage 53% (+26 pts vs. 26% usual). New contract extension and #SaveChanceEnergy here for Cano, and I suppose that contract extension should have hinted us to believe Cano would get save chances with Helsley and Bautista out.

New York Mets
Daniel Duarte – HLD (1)	0.2 IP	1 BB	0 K	3 Whiffs	25% CSW
Nate Lavender – HLD (1)	1.1 IP	1 BB	1 K	2 Whiffs	26% CSW
Kodai Senga	1.0 IP	1 BB	0 K	0 Whiffs	33% CSW

Nate Lavender made his MLB debut here, and while the fastball is meh, the breakers are pretty good. The fastball does get a boost from his 7.3′ of extension and 1.5° HAVAA. Could be a nice left-handed specialist for the Mets.

Cleveland Guardians
Slade Cecconi	2.2 IP	1 ER	2 H	0 BB	4 K	9 Whiffs	37% CSW
Tim Herrin	1.1 IP	0 ER	0 H	1 BB	0 K	1 Whiffs	33% CSW

Slade Cecconi — Four-Seamer up 1.7 MPH (95.1 vs. 93.4 season avg)
Tim Herrin — Four-Seamer up 2.1 MPH (96.8 vs. 94.7 season avg); Slider usage 0% (-27 pts vs. 27% usual). Unfortunately, the velocity increase doesn’t improve either pitcher’s stuff too much.

Athletics
Brady Basso – HLD (2)	1.0 IP	0 ER	0 BB	0 K	1 Whiffs	27% CSW
Hogan Harris – L (1)	0.2 IP	2 ER	3 BB	1 K	3 Whiffs	38% CSW
Elvis Alvarado	0.1 IP	0 ER	0 BB	1 K	1 Whiffs	33% CSW

Ugh. So are we back to Elvis Alvarado as the favorite for saves with the Athletics? I imagine Hogan Harris would have gotten the final six outs here if things didn’t deteriorate in the 8th, but man it’s really hard to trust his command.

Cincinnati Reds
Sam Moll	1.0 IP	1 H	0 K	3 Whiffs	30% CSW
Julian Garcia – W (2)	1.0 IP	0 H	2 K	3 Whiffs	43% CSW
Emilio Pagán – SV (12)	1.0 IP	2 H	1 K	3 Whiffs	36% CSW

Julian Garcia — Four-Seamer usage 64% (+35 pts vs. 30% usual); Sweeper usage 21% (-34 pts vs. 56% usual). Alright, I’m in on Julian Garcia, I think. This fastball is funky enough to work, and the breakers are legit.

Washington Nationals
Carson Palmquist – L (2)	0.1 IP	1 ER	2 H	1 BB	0 K	0 Whiffs	6% CSW
Trevor Williams	1.0 IP	0 ER	2 H	0 BB	2 K	3 Whiffs	29% CSW

Trevor Williams — Four-Seamer up 0.9 MPH (91.1 vs. 90.2 season avg). #NeverTrevor

Philadelphia Phillies
Caleb Kilian	1.0 IP	0 ER	1 H	0 BB	2 K	2 Whiffs	39% CSW

Caleb Kilian — Four-Seamer up 1.0 MPH (97.8 vs. 96.8 season avg). I’ll take this velo bump with the new team, but will it stick or is this just first game with new team adrenaline? Either way, there’s not much of a drop-off (if any) from Brad Keller to Kilian moving forward.

St. Louis Cardinals
Caleb Ferguson	1.2 IP	0 ER	1 H	0 BB	1 K	1 Whiffs	12% CSW

New York Yankees
Fernando Cruz – HLD (18)	0.2 IP	1 H	0 BB	0 K	0 Whiffs	20% CSW
Brent Headrick – HLD (16)	1.0 IP	1 H	1 BB	1 K	2 Whiffs	33% CSW
David Bednar – SV (25)	1.1 IP	0 H	1 BB	3 K	5 Whiffs	35% CSW

The Yankees didn’t add any bullpen help at the deadline, and I hope the plan isn’t for David Bednar to get 4+ outs frequently. It worked here, but I don’t believe that’s sustainable.

Chicago White Sox
Erick Fedde	3.0 IP	4 ER	5 H	1 BB	1 K	5 Whiffs	32% CSW

Boston Red Sox
Greg Weissert	0.2 IP	1 BB	0 K	2 Whiffs	21% CSW
Erik Miller	0.1 IP	0 BB	1 K	1 Whiffs	75% CSW
Brayan Bello – SV (1)	3.0 IP	0 BB	2 K	8 Whiffs	39% CSW

Erik Miller is going to just dominate lefties, and expect usage very similar to this moving forward.
Brayan Bello — Sinker up 0.9 MPH (95.9 vs. 95.0 season avg). Bello has been awesome out of the pen for the Sox, but is he fantasy viable again yet? Maybe we can get a few of these three-inning saves from him, I guess?

Miami Marlins
John King	1.0 IP	1 ER	1 H	0 BB	0 K	1 Whiffs	19% CSW
Victor Vodnik	1.0 IP	1 ER	1 H	1 BB	1 K	4 Whiffs	23% CSW

Victor Vodnik has been freed from Colorado, but still showed some of the command issues we saw with the Rockies here. The stuff looks great though, theres potential for three legit plus offerings here, but the command is still a big problem.

Atlanta Braves
Dylan Dodd – HLD (8)	1.0 IP	0 ER	0 H	0 BB	0 K	1 Whiffs	33% CSW
Dylan Lee – HLD (24)	1.0 IP	0 ER	0 H	1 BB	2 K	2 Whiffs	26% CSW
Raisel Iglesias	1.0 IP	2 ER	3 H	1 BB	0 K	2 Whiffs	33% CSW

Raisel Iglesias — Four-Seamer down 1.1 MPH (93.4 vs. 94.5 season avg). Non-save situation, but Iglesias stuff has been on the decline since June (3.86 ERA, 1.33 WHIP, 23.5% K, 96 Stuff+ since June 1st). There’s no more Robert Suarez to worry about, but maybe Didier Fuentes could be a serious contender to take over the role if Iglesias keeps sliding (maybe he should be throwing his slider more?).

Minnesota Twins
Kody Funderburk	1.2 IP	0 ER	0 H	0 BB	2 K	2 Whiffs	50% CSW
Travis Adams	0.2 IP	2 ER	1 H	1 BB	0 K	2 Whiffs	25% CSW
Taylor Rogers	0.1 IP	1 ER	2 H	1 BB	0 K	0 Whiffs	21% CSW

Blegh, I just want to see how things play out when they have a lead.

Kansas City Royals
Daniel Lynch IV	1.0 IP	0 ER	1 H	0 BB	1 K	4 Whiffs	36% CSW
John Schreiber	1.0 IP	0 ER	0 H	1 BB	2 K	0 Whiffs	31% CSW
Steven Cruz	1.0 IP	1 ER	2 H	0 BB	0 K	1 Whiffs	6% CSW
Nate Pearson	1.0 IP	0 ER	1 H	0 BB	0 K	0 Whiffs	18% CSW

Daniel Lynch IV — Four-Seamer up 2.1 MPH (97.1 vs. 95.0 season avg). Well, this would certainly be fun if it sticks. Anything to get more strikeouts here as Lynch has just an 8.7% K rate over his past 26 innings (not a typo).
John Schreiber — Sinker up 1.9 MPH (95.1 vs. 93.2 season avg). Not sure why he is still here, but it’s cool he’s still throwing harder.
Steven Cruz — Four-Seamer up 1.3 MPH (99.6 vs. 98.3 season avg). If you could stop giving up home runs, that would be great.

Pittsburgh Pirates
Wilber Dotel	2.0 IP	1 ER	3 H	1 BB	3 K	3 Whiffs	36% CSW
Yohan Ramírez	1.0 IP	0 ER	0 H	0 BB	1 K	3 Whiffs	42% CSW
Kirby Yates	1.0 IP	0 ER	0 H	0 BB	0 K	0 Whiffs	18% CSW

Wilber Dotel — Four-Seamer down 1.6 MPH (96.5 vs. 98.1 season avg); Four-Seamer usage 21% (-28 pts vs. 49% usual). He won’t be on this roster when everyone’s healthy.
Yohan Ramírez — Sweeper usage 67% (+32 pts vs. 35% usual). Even after all the additions to this bullpen, let’s not forget about how nasty Ramírez can be.

Milwaukee Brewers
Antonio Senzatela – HLD (5)	1.0 IP	0 H	1 BB	0 K	0 Whiffs	6% CSW
Abner Uribe – HLD (17)	1.0 IP	1 H	0 BB	3 K	3 Whiffs	47% CSW
Trevor Megill – SV (19)	1.0 IP	0 H	0 BB	0 K	1 Whiffs	20% CSW

Antonio Senzatela — Sinker usage 56% (+45 pts vs. 12% usual). Makes sense to spam sinkers as that’s Senzatela’s best pitch. Don’t expect many strikeouts from him, but we could see consistent hold chances and plenty of groundballs moving forward (although a healthy JoJo Romero probably becomes the 7th inning guy).

Los Angeles Dodgers
Alex Vesia	0.2 IP	2 ER	2 H	0 BB	0 K	1 Whiffs	17% CSW
Evan Phillips	0.1 IP	0 ER	1 H	0 BB	0 K	0 Whiffs	12% CSW
Edwin Díaz	0.2 IP	1 ER	2 H	1 BB	1 K	1 Whiffs	22% CSW
Jack Dreyer	0.1 IP	0 ER	0 H	0 BB	1 K	3 Whiffs	100% CSW

So yeah, we may want to be more concerned about Edwin Díaz. The velocity is still down, yes, but just the shape on the fastball is off (iVB is down over 2″), which could be due to his arm angle dropping to a career low 16° (he’s typically around 20°). With the lower arm slot, you’d expect some more horizontal movement at least, but we aren’t even getting that. May want to hang on to Tanner Scott a bit longer.

Chicago Cubs
Ryan Rolison – W (6)	1.0 IP	1 K	2 Whiffs	36% CSW
Tyler Ferguson – HLD (4)	0.1 IP	0 K	0 Whiffs	0% CSW
Ryan Zeferjahn – HLD (10)	1.0 IP	0 K	1 Whiffs	44% CSW
Jacob Webb	1.0 IP	0 K	1 Whiffs	25% CSW

Ryan Zeferjahn — Four-Seamer down 1.1 MPH (96.3 vs. 97.4 season avg). Hmm, don’t want to look too deeply into this as it was likely a busy travel day and he was more concerned filling up the zone here, but this is an interesting line for Zeferjahn. So much so, this is only the second time all season he has thrown an inning with a walk or strikeout.

San Francisco Giants
Jason Foley	1.0 IP	0 ER	0 H	0 BB	0 K	0 Whiffs	20% CSW
JT Brubaker	1.0 IP	1 ER	0 H	1 BB	0 K	3 Whiffs	33% CSW
Reiver Sanmartin	0.2 IP	1 ER	3 H	1 BB	1 K	3 Whiffs	43% CSW
Adrian Houser	0.1 IP	0 ER	0 H	0 BB	0 K	0 Whiffs	0% CSW
Dylan Smith – L (4)	0.2 IP	1 ER	2 H	1 BB	1 K	3 Whiffs	21% CSW

Dylan Smith — Four-Seamer usage 79% (+30 pts vs. 48% usual). At least he’s getting closer usage? The rest of this bullpen is really bad though, as Jake and I mentioned on this week’s In the Pen; this Giants bullpen has overtaken the Nationals as the worst in baseball. Also, the walk-off “double” was fairly comical (I do feel for Lee though because I’ve been there before), so Smith shouldn’t be judged too harshly for this outing.

Texas Rangers
Chase Silseth – BS (4)	0.2 IP	2 ER	1 H	1 BB	0 K	0 Whiffs	36% CSW
Robby Ahlstrom	1.0 IP	0 ER	0 H	0 BB	2 K	2 Whiffs	31% CSW
Peyton Gray	0.1 IP	0 ER	0 H	0 BB	1 K	2 Whiffs	75% CSW
Jacob Latz – W (3)	1.0 IP	1 ER	2 H	1 BB	1 K	7 Whiffs	33% CSW

Jacob Latz — Slider usage 50% (+30 pts vs. 20% usual). Off day for Latz here, who gave up a single (0-2 fastball caught too much plate), walk (after having McCray down 0-2, this one hurts), passed ball (100% on Diaz), and another single (maybe went too slider heavy here?) to cough up the lead. Nothing to be concerned about moving forward.

Toronto Blue Jays
Chad Dallas – L (1)	3.0 IP	6 ER	7 H	4 BB	3 K	6 Whiffs	18% CSW
Braydon Fisher	1.0 IP	0 ER	0 H	0 BB	1 K	3 Whiffs	36% CSW
Brendon Little	1.0 IP	1 ER	2 H	1 BB	0 K	1 Whiffs	17% CSW
Mason Fluharty	1.0 IP	0 ER	0 H	1 BB	0 K	0 Whiffs	8% CSW

Braydon Fisher — Four-Seamer up 0.9 MPH (95.7 vs. 94.8 season avg); Four-Seamer usage 50% (+33 pts vs. 17% usual). The breakers are not the same as they were last season, and the fastball is still average-ish. Still might be their best 7th inning option.
Brendon Little — Sinker up 1.1 MPH (95.8 vs. 94.7 season avg)
Mason Fluharty — Sweeper usage 8% (-33 pts vs. 41% usual)

Houston Astros
Bennett Sousa	1.0 IP	0 ER	0 H	0 BB	1 K	1 Whiffs	57% CSW
Enyel De Los Santos	2.0 IP	0 ER	1 H	0 BB	1 K	4 Whiffs	30% CSW

Only three fastballs here, but they averaged 94.4 MPH for Bennett Sousa, so that’s promising as long as he can stay in that 94-95 MPH range.

Tampa Bay Rays
Cam Booser	1.1 IP	0 H	0 BB	1 K	2 Whiffs	50% CSW
Casey Legumina	2.0 IP	0 H	0 BB	1 K	1 Whiffs	28% CSW
Steven Matz	1.1 IP	1 H	0 BB	1 K	2 Whiffs	25% CSW
Kevin Kelly	1.0 IP	1 H	1 BB	0 K	1 Whiffs	12% CSW
Garrett Cleavinger – W (4)	0.2 IP	0 H	0 BB	0 K	0 Whiffs	0% CSW
Bryan Baker – SV (32)	1.0 IP	0 H	0 BB	2 K	4 Whiffs	31% CSW

Steven Matz — Sinker up 1.1 MPH (94.5 vs. 93.4 season avg)
Garrett Cleavinger — Four-Seamer down 1.0 MPH (95.6 vs. 96.6 season avg)
Bryan Baker — Four-Seamer down 1.7 MPH (95.1 vs. 96.8 season avg). I think we are just at the point where we are riding the Bryan Baker train until the wheels fall off, right? Coors is brutal for these pitcher card metrics, but even the locations are scary here (those changeups!).

Colorado Rockies
Brennan Bernardino – HLD (7)	0.2 IP	0 ER	1 H	0 BB	0 K	2 Whiffs	24% CSW
Parker Mushinski – HLD (1)	1.0 IP	0 ER	1 H	1 BB	0 K	1 Whiffs	19% CSW
Juan Mejia – HLD (7)	1.0 IP	0 ER	2 H	0 BB	0 K	0 Whiffs	20% CSW
Jordan Romano – BS (3)	1.0 IP	2 ER	2 H	2 BB	2 K	4 Whiffs	36% CSW
Jimmy Herget	1.0 IP	0 ER	0 H	0 BB	2 K	2 Whiffs	33% CSW
Nick Frasso – L (1)	1.0 IP	1 ER	2 H	0 BB	0 K	2 Whiffs	22% CSW

Juan Mejia — Four-Seamer down 0.9 MPH (96.4 vs. 97.3 season avg)
Jordan Romano — Four-Seamer down 1.4 MPH (92.7 vs. 94.1 season avg). Womp-womp. This was never going to last.

San Diego Padres
Germán Márquez	1.0 IP	4 ER	4 H	1 BB	1 K	2 Whiffs	29% CSW
Bradgley Rodriguez	1.0 IP	0 ER	0 H	0 BB	1 K	0 Whiffs	33% CSW
Griffin Canning	1.0 IP	0 ER	0 H	0 BB	0 K	1 Whiffs	29% CSW

Griffin Canning — Four-Seamer up 1.4 MPH (95.8 vs. 94.4 season avg). I’ve always had some interest in Canning as a reliever, so I hope we continue to see short outings with increased velocity from him.

Arizona Diamondbacks
Ryan Thompson	0.1 IP	1 ER	3 H	1 BB	0 K	1 Whiffs	12% CSW
Paul Sewald	1.0 IP	0 ER	0 H	0 BB	1 K	1 Whiffs	16% CSW
Gerardo Carrillo	1.0 IP	0 ER	0 H	0 BB	1 K	1 Whiffs	25% CSW
Jonathan Loáisiga	1.0 IP	1 ER	2 H	1 BB	0 K	1 Whiffs	17% CSW

Nice to see Paul Sewald have this type of outing here, and we even saw a glimpse of a cutter from him (don’t get too excited). He may be able to work his way back into holds league viability by the end of the season, but I can’t see him taking back the closer role.

Detroit Tigers
Jacob Waguespack	1.0 IP	0 ER	0 H	1 BB	1 K	3 Whiffs	36% CSW
Yilber Díaz	1.0 IP	0 ER	1 H	1 BB	3 K	1 Whiffs	33% CSW

This was an impressive outing from Yilber Díaz, showcasing a plus slider and, dare I say plus-plus fastball at 97 MPH with 19″ iVB. In this thin bullpen, he’s definitely on the radar now.

Seattle Mariners
Michael Rucker	1.0 IP	0 ER	0 H	1 BB	1 K	1 Whiffs	25% CSW
Josh Simpson	1.0 IP	0 ER	1 H	0 BB	2 K	2 Whiffs	46% CSW
Seranthony Domínguez	0.1 IP	4 ER	4 H	2 BB	0 K	2 Whiffs	19% CSW
Cole Wilcox	0.2 IP	0 ER	0 H	0 BB	2 K	3 Whiffs	44% CSW

Seranthony Domínguez — Four-Seamer usage 65% (+27 pts vs. 38% usual). Welcome to T-Mobile Park…I guess? Yikes.

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Fantasy Baseball Relief Pitcher Roundup: 8/4

Rick Graham

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Fantasy Baseball Relief Pitcher Roundup: 8/4

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