There have been a lot of comeback stories this season, a few of which I talk about below, but Abner Uribe’s story is certainly an interesting one after everything he dealt with last year. A couple changes are resulting in Uribe’s breakout this season, first of which is that he is throwing more strikes. His fastball’s zone rate is up almost 8%, but he’s also landing his slider in the strike zone now, too, as the zone rate is up to 45.6%, up from 33.7% in 2024 and just 22.9% in 2023. This has lowered his walk rate to 10.9%, which still isn’t exactly ideal, but I will gladly take this number from someone like Uribe. The ability to throw that slider for strikes now has allowed Uribe a more 50/50 usage split between his sinker and slider, and as long as he is able to keep this going, I don’t see any reason to expect much negative regression here.
Since Uribe was activated on April 1st, here’s how he stacks up against the likes of closer Trevor Megill and fellow setup man Nick Mears, both of whom are having solid seasons as well.
| Name | K% | xFIP | CSW% | Stuff+ |
| Abner Uribe | 34.8% | 2.48 | 33.7% | 119 |
| Trevor Megill | 26.6% | 3.86 | 30.2% | 119 |
| Nick Mears | 21.7% | 3.41 | 27.3% | 97 |
Notes
- Brendon Little continues to prove his hot start to 2025 is no fluke, as the lefty still holds the best swinging-strike rate in baseball at 23.5%, which has led to a 37% strikeout rate and great ratios (1.61 ERA, 1.07 WHIP). The curveball is the big reason behind this, but with a 21% zone rate and 60% strike rate, something has to give eventually. Hitters will eventually adjust and start laying off his breaker more often, but it may not be anytime soon, as he is currently on an 11 strikeout/1 walk stretch over his past 7 innings. The sinker is still a solid offering here as well, and should give him a steady floor as something similar to the left-handed version of Clay Holmes.
- I’ve seen a lot of debate recently about Ryan Walker vs. Camilo Doval, but I feel like Randy Rodríguez is being unfairly left out. I know he doesn’t have the closing experience like the other two, but he has been the Giants’ best reliever this season. Just look at his player page. Rodríguez has a closer-esque pair of pitches, too, in his 97+ MPH fastball and a slider that holds a 22.3% swinging-strike rate. Now, both Doval and Walker have looked better as of late, but Rodríguez has been the most consistent of the group all season (see below), and hopefully that leads to more holds moving forward.
| Name | K-BB% | SIERA | SwStr% | PLV |
| Randy Rodríguez | 34.6% | 1.53 | 16.1% | 5.33 |
| Camilo Doval | 14.5% | 3.27 | 13.5% | 5.01 |
| Ryan Walker | 11.5% | 3.73 | 7.6% | 4.88 |
- Brock Stewart has been lights out for the Twins despite the decreased velocity, but the stuff is still playing up, and he now has a 39% strikeout rate since returning from the IL a month ago. Even with the great numbers, I’d still like to see Stewart throw more sweepers, but we’ll also take the new and improved changeup from Stewart. Griffin Jax is still the top set-up option behind Jhoan Duran, but I can see Stewart being that secondary option with Louis Varland. Just look at these numbers since Stewart returned on April 19th.
| Name | K% | SIERA | SwStr% | Stuff+ |
| Brock Stewart | 39% | 2.22 | 15.8% | 114 |
| Louis Varland | 23.1% | 2.72 | 11.6% | 112 |
| Cole Sands | 20% | 3.25 | 9.4% | 94 |
- Bryan Baker has been the Orioles’ best reliever this season, and it’s still wild to think he almost didn’t make the team out of spring training. Despite Yennier Cano’s recent struggles, I doubt he is completely removed from high-leverage work, but it should open the door to Baker finally seeing more holds (he has just 2!). I don’t think it would be crazy to think Baker may even wind up with some saves this year, as Félix Bautista also has hit a rough patch lately, allowing runs in his past four outings. For the entire season though, it’s clear Baker has been the most consistent right-handed setup man here.
| Name | K-BB% | SIERA | SwStr% | PLV |
| Bryan Baker | 28.2% | 2.15 | 14.2% | 5.14 |
| Yennier Cano | 14.7% | 3.22 | 11.8% | 5.23 |
| Seranthony Domínguez | 10.4% | 4.33 | 11.6% | 4.66 |
- I know everyone is excited about Luis Mey in Cincinnati, and rightfully so, he has electric stuff, but let’s also not forget about Graham Ashcraft, who is starting to show the reliever upside we had been excited for entering the season. Mey still intrigues me much more than Tony Santillan or any other Reds reliever besides Ashcraft or closer Emilio Pagán, but I do worry about his minor league numbers as Mey has NEVER at ANY LEVEL held a K-BB rate over 13%. Anyways, these numbers are since the end of April when Ashcraft started seeing some increased velocity.
| Name | K-BB% | xFIP | CSW% | Stuff+ |
| Graham Ashcraft | 28% | 1.88 | 35.8% | 127 |
| Luis Mey | 20% | 2.86 | 31.5% | 108 |
| Tony Santillan | 16.2% | 4.55 | 23.8% | 100 |
- Fernando Cruz has been getting a lot of hype in New York and rightfully so, but now he is dealing with a shoulder issue and even though it sounds minor, and I’m not too concerned, lets still shout out Mark Leiter Jr. He’s only allowed runs in three of his 22 appearances this season has been helpful across the board in holds leagues this year. But while Cruz and Luke Weaver get a ton of praise in New York, Leiter has comparable numbers, if not better, in multiple categories this season (PLV doesn’t like splitters…). EDIT: I should have been more concerned with Cruz as he did land on the IL this afternoon.
| Name | K-BB% | xFIP | CSW% | PLV |
| Mark Leiter Jr. | 29.1% | 2.25 | 33.1% | 4.94 |
| Fernando Cruz | 29% | 2.74 | 36.6% | 4.87 |
| Luke Weaver | 21.1% | 3.69 | 27.6% | 5.27 |
- We’ll take a break from tables to talk about Ben Casparius and what the Dodgers should, or I guess more importantly, WILL, do with him now that their pitching staff has been decimated by injuries. It looked like Casparius was going to possibly join the rotation, but now they’ve stated he will remain in the bullpen in a true relief role, so I would think that means he’s by default their top right-handed high-leverage option? Casparius has been fantastic as a reliever this year, and I’d love to see how his stuff plays up in a consistent short-inning role.
- Snider got off to a rocky start to the season, allowing five runs (three earned) over his first four outings, but since then he’s settled in and is showing that last year’s breakout was indeed real. Snider now holds a 23.6% K-BB rate and 2.55 SIERA over his past 17.2 IP, and while the strikeout upside (or lack thereof) limits his overall upside, I feel comfortable with Snider similarly to how we are comfortable with the high floor of a Chris Martin. Matt Brash is also back now and looks a lot better than I had expected, given the diminished velocity, but there should be plenty of room for these two and Gabe Speier to rack up holds the rest of the way.
- Ok, this will be the last table I swear, but I think it’s important that we highlight how Ronny Henriquez is the Marlins’ best reliever right now. Henriquez throws four pitches rather equally, but the foundation, his four-seam is an elite offering as it sits at 96 MPH and gets 18.1″ of IVB (97th percentile 1.8 HAVAA). The offspeed stuff is solid, the sweeper is the big whiff-getter (31.3% swinging-strike rate), and I think the Marlins may have a breakout reliever here if Henriquez can just keep his command in check. Look at how dominant he has been since the last time he allowed an earned run (April 28th).
| Name | K-BB% | SIERA | SwStr% |
| Ronny Henriquez | 28.2% | 2.21 | 23% |
| Anthony Bender | 17.1% | 3.05 | 6.6% |
| Calvin Faucher | 13.8% | 3.26 | 11.6% |
| Lake Bachar | 6.5% | 4.65 | 13.8% |
| Jesús Tinoco | 6.1% | 4.26 | 10.9% |
- Drew Pomeranz comeback season is fully on at this point, and while the velocity isn’t where it was when he last pitched back in 2021, the pitch still has great shape with 18.2″ of IVB and 93 MPH isn’t too far off from when we last saw him (93.9 MPH in 2021). So this isn’t exactly like Liam Hendriks losing 2.5 MPH since he was last relevant. So I’m optimistic this Pomeranz thing can last, but I do have to wonder what’s going on with his curveball, which has yet to receive a single whiff somehow. I guess he’s only thrown 27 total, but it really isn’t a great offering so we shall see how long the fastball can carry him.
SP Eligible Relievers
