Waiver Relief: 4/7/2025

Welcome to my first-ever article for PitcherList and the first in a season-long weekly series highlighting relief pitcher pickups in both saves and holds leagues.

It being merely week one (and a half), it’s easy to see waiver suggestions as overreactions to a small sample of positive performance. Therein lies the beauty of relief pitchers in particular—RP is arguably the most sensical position for which you can draw conclusions from early-season results. Trust me: the guy telling you he’s not overreacting.

The logic behind finding quality RPs on the wire is similar to that for fantasy football, often a matter of usage above all else. You’re looking for the strongest indications that said pitcher is locked into a high-leverage role, on the hunt for precious counting stats: Wins, Saves, and Holds (or WSH—I pronounce those as “washes” out loud to no one in particular). In fact, some RPs can be seen as a better pickup with a poor early outing where their manager still sees them as most viable for a tight spot—I’m looking at you, Luke Jackson.

From there, depending on league format, we prioritize whether the guy is actually, well, any good, and a few other matters of context. But we’ll cover all that.

So, every week, I’ll highlight the readily available pitchers that fit these criteria. These will range from somewhat obvious (hey again, Luke) to hidden gems you won’t get anywhere else.

Let’s do it.

(stats updated through Saturday 4/5)

 

Saves

 

Luke Jackson (TEX) (43%-rostered Yahoo)

 

…OK, you get it, and yeah this one’s an easy call. Let me get warmed up a bit.

After a disastrous outing courtesy of Wilyer Abreu on Opening Day, Jackson has settled in with five consecutive clean(ish) saves, putting him in the early league lead. He’s one of only two Rangers—along with Chris Martin – to record a save thus far. Again, even that initial rough outing provides us with something of a positive; it’s easy to stick with a guy after he strikes out the side, but it meant quite a bit more seeing Bruce Bochy turn to Jackson the day after a mega dud.

Particularly in roto leagues where saves are king, Jackson is this week’s top RP pickup, and his ratios shouldn’t hurt you in any format. There can certainly be some volatility here, and it wouldn’t be a shock to see Martin claim the role if Jackson struggles for a stretch, but Jackson should climb the ranks to join the >90%-rostered RPs in a matter of days.

 

Dennis Santana (PIT) (18%)

 

Alas, poor David Bednar, I knew him well.

With Bednar’s collapse from elite closer to minor leaguer complete as of a few days ago, Dennis Santana has arguably the “cleanest” path to saves on waivers this week after Jackson. When your top competition is Colin Holderman that’ll often be the case, and it was indeed Santana collecting the Pirates’ only save against the Rays this past Wednesday.

Since being claimed off waivers last June, Santana has been about as smooth as they come, no Rob Thomas necessary. In 2024 as a Pirate, he posted a 2.44 ERA backed by a 3.29 xFIP, along with a 29.1% strikeout rate across 44.1 IP. Admittedly, it’s not the largest sample, but Santana’s got a decent slider that misses bats (41.1% whiff rate in 2024) with a usage rate on the upswing (up to 32.8% last year and thus far 51.4% in 2025).

Long story short, there’s enough here to see Santana as a decent ratio/strikeouts guy along with a quality source of saves the rest of the way… providing the Pirates win a game or two.

 

Tommy Kahnle (DET) (10%)

 

In terms of saves, things get a bit messier at this point.

Tommy Kahnle is a member of what has become a crowded Tigers bullpen (more on that in a bit), and to call the situation here “fluid” is a bit like calling water fluid. But it was Kahnle picking up the Tigers’ first save (non-3 IP version) in a win over the Mariners on Tuesday. Equally encouraging, it was also Kahnle who entered in the ninth in a 3-3 game against the Dodgers on 3/28, warming for what would have been a save chance had the Tigers picked up another run in the top half.

In terms of quality, though, we are far removed from the relative dicey-ness of guys like Jackson and Santana. Kahnle’s been a quality pitcher for the better part of a decade, and particularly excellent when healthy over the past couple of seasons with the Yankees. It’s also a significant improvement in team context over Santana at least, as I have relatively high hopes for the Tigers this year in the middling AL Central.

 

The Watchlist: Anthony Bender (MIA), Seth Halvorsen (COL), José Alvarado (PHI) / Orion Kerkering (PHI), Porter Hodge (CHC)
Rentals/Injury-Related: Emilio Pagán (CIN)

 

Holds

 

Tyler Holton (DET) (26%)

 

I’m cheating here, as this is an extremely high ownership percentage for a non-closer—for the record, I’m typically looking at sub-5% for this section.

However, my guy Tyler Holton gives me the perfect introduction to the SP-eligible reliever (SPRP) I’ll be harping on all season. This eligibility provides a significant bump to roster flexibility, particularly valuable in points leagues where volume plays up. Plugging Holton as a set-and-forget into an SP slot season-long will rack up strikeouts, holds, and the occasional save, all with ratio stabilization that plays in any league. In fact, while I’ll list a few other top candidates below, Holton is far and away the best SP-eligible reliever in fantasy baseball (save the very widely-owned A.J. Puk, who only carries SP eligibility on Yahoo).

Where to begin? In 2024, Holton put up a pedestrian strikeout rate of 21.8%, but complemented it with elite control (4.8% walk rate) and high-quality batted-ball metrics (32.8% HardHit rate, 5.5% Barrel rate, 86.6 EV). And he did this while putting up 94.1 innings, including a handful as an opener (hence the SP eligibility), near tops among RPs.

Holton’s picked up where he left off thus far in ’25, posting 3.2 hitless innings with four strikeouts. While he’s yet to record a save or hold, he did pick up a win and will undoubtedly continue to be utilized in high-leverage situations. The counting stats will come.

 

Mason Montgomery (TB) (3%)

 

Since it is week one and all, you can file this one more under “under-drafted” rather than “early-season breakout.”

The #16 prospect in the entire Rays system, Mason Montgomery is simply that dude. Don’t just take my word for it—our very own Rick Graham ranked him 19th overall among all RPs for SV+HLD leagues. A minor-leaguer until he got his cup of coffee in ’24, Montgomery burst onto the major league scene with an absurd 17 strikeouts in 9.2 innings over nine appearances. The four-seamer is up to just under 100mph this year, and with seven strikeouts in three innings pitched (one Wyatt Langford homer notwithstanding), he just might have a shot at maintaining Félix Bautista-like numbers over a larger sample.

He won’t put up the raw counting stats of some of the other RPs on this list, but Montgomery gets a massive boost in dynasty leagues, points leagues, SV+HLD leagues, and especially K/9 leagues where he’s one of a few guys who have a legitimate shot at ending the year tops in the category. If the oft-injured Pete Fairbanks sees an extended IL stint at any point, you gotta imagine the Rays at least give Montgomery a crack at the closer role as well.

There’s a ton to like here, and Montgomery carries more upside than you’re likely to find for the rest of the season at his ownership percentage.

 

Mark Leiter Jr. (NYY) (2%)

 

Well, now you know I’m not overreacting to early performance.

Yeah, like Montgomery, he’s got an ERA with a six on the wrong side of the decimal. No, he’s not even the sexiest pitching pick-up this week with his own last name.

Whatever.

Mark Leiter Jr. has revealed himself to be the #2 setup man on the Yankees behind only Luke Weaver. And when he’s healthy, Leiter is really quite excellent. Last season, which was somewhat marred by injury and possibly the bright lights of Yankee Stadium, Leiter’s below-surface numbers were great, a 4.50 ERA belied by a 3.44 xERA and 2.75 xFIP.  Leiter’s strikeout numbers have done nothing but rise since 2022, hitting an elite 33.6% strikeout rate last season, with seven strikeouts in 4.1 innings to start this season.

When all is said and done, what you might have here is something like an ERA in the mid-3s, an 11-ish K/9, and a whole bunch of holds as one of the top guys on the relief hierarchy for one of the best teams in baseball. That’ll play.

 

The Watchlist: Tony Santillan (CIN), Edwin Uceta (TB), Robert Garcia (TEX), Brendon Little (TOR), Yuki Matsui (SD)
SPRPs: Garrett Whitlock (BOS), José Buttó (NYM), Erik Miller (SF)