Welcome back to the newest edition of our Reliever Ranks series! This will bring you up-to-date bullpen depth charts every morning for the day’s games and makes for an excellent tool for those looking to stream saves or wins. This series runs seven days a week, so check in every morning to get your daily bullpen fix!
Notes
Transaction and Schedule Notes
- Monday saw just 16 teams take the field and with that it allowed the other 14 to rest up and rest their bullpens heading into the week. That day of rest is especially important for the Tigers who don’t see their next scheduled day off until May 19th.
- Mike Clevinger is set to make his 2022 debut for the Padres on Tuesday and though no one would be surprised to see the starter push himself through five full innings, it may be worth taking a flyer on Dinelson Lamet to follow in this one and vulture a rare win as San Diego travels to Cleveland.
- Jameson Taillon is slated to start for the Yankees on Tuesday and has hit the five inning mark exactly in two of his four previous starts. His other two were cut short with one out left to get in the fifth. Michael King only threw 16 pitches in his last outing Sunday and would seem to be primed to eat up any remaining innings Taillon can’t get through on Tuesday.
Yesterday’s Performances
- Look who’s back at it for St. Louis. Giovanny Gallegos returns to closing duties on Monday, striking out two and pitching around one hit to earn his fifth save of the year. There’s no doubt there’s been a ton of excitement over Ryan Helsley’s production this year, especially after his dominant outing on Sunday night, but Gallegos should still be considered the favorite to finish with more saves this season as things stand right now.
- Liam Hendriks has picked up his first save since returning from his short hiatus, his fifth of the season, by striking out all three batters he faced in the final inning of the White Sox victory over the Angels on Monday afternoon. Kendall Graveman picked up his fifth hold of the year, striking out one of his own, as he set things up nicely with a scoreless eighth inning for Hendriks to finish things off. After each throwing at least 20 pitches on Saturday in addition to their work put in on Monday, don’t get too worked up if you see Trevor Stephan get his first save of the year on Tuesday.
- Ian Kennedy continued his fill in duties as Arizona closer while Mark Melancon is unavailable after being placed on the Covid IL. Kennedy picked up his second save in the past three days, pitching around a walk and a hit in his scoreless appearance Monday. Though the opportunities may not always be plentiful, Kennedy is the clear favorite to rack up saves for the Diamondbacks this week while Melancon remains out.
- For Miami, both Tanner Scott and Cole Sulser pitched scoreless innings at the end of the Marlins’ one-run loss to the Diamondbacks, with Scott being used in the eighth inning facing the 5-6-7 hitters and Sulser being saved for the 8-9-1 hitters. Based on recent usage, Sulser sure looks like the clear back up to Anthony Bender in the Miami bullpen.
- Jhoan Duran finally picked up his first save of his career, pitching a perfect ninth inning to solidify Minnesota’s one-run victory over the Orioles on Monday. After all the hype centered around his initial performance upon his call up, fantasy managers have been clamoring for a late inning opportunity for Duran and on Monday he delivered, with Emilio Pagán setting him up with a scoreless eighth inning of work to record his first hold on the year. Griffin Jax also recorded his first hold of the season for the Twins, while Joe Smith recorded his third. It’s not quite enough to swap Pagán and Duran in the chart below, but with Pagán needing 27 pitches to get through his inning of work Monday and Duran needing just 10, don’t be too surprised if we see Duran back out there Tuesday if a second straight save opportunity were to present itself.
- The Yankees took one from the Blue Jays on Monday after getting to set up man Yimi Garcia in the ninth inning, but that may have had to do with the speed of pinch-runner Tim Locastro as much as it did with Gleyber Torres‘ timely single. Regardless, Garcia would take the loss here, allowing Chad Green to step in and grab the save for New York, his first of the season. With Aroldis Chapman pitching in back-to-back days over the weekend it’s no surprise to see him getting a rest in Monday’s situation, but it was interesting to see Green get the save opportunity, ultimately being set up by Clay Holmes in the eighth (who walked away with his first win of the year). Jonathan Loáisiga was the first arm used out of the pen, pitching a scoreless sixth inning in a tie ballgame. No hierarchy changes here yet, as Chapman remains the clear closer for the Yankees, but Green could be forcing his way back into more regular late inning roles with this sort of performance.
- All five Atlanta pitches walked away with a decision on Monday, with Kenley Jansen recording his seventh save of the season, being set up by A.J. Minter, Colin McHugh, and Tyler Matzek, each recording a hold on the day. Of course Max Fried also walked away with the win on the day. The top end of the Atlanta bullpen received plenty of rest through this past weekend, but Jansen may still yield to Will Smith on Tuesday as he did need 22 pitches to work through his four batters faced on Monday.
- The Ryan Pressly fill-in committee continues to rotate in Houston, with Rafael Montero grabbing his second save of the year on Monday, being preceded by Hector Neris who pitched a perfect eighth inning and Ryne Stanek, who recorded the final out of the seventh inning. Both Neris and Stanek picked up a hold for their effort, but it was Montero who gave some stability, not being given each of the past two save opportunities by manager Dusty Baker. That’s enough to bump him up to the top in this situation, but expect Pressly back on top once he returns.
Photos by Icon Sportswire | Adapted by Doug Carlin (@Bdougals on Twitter)