Dynasty Relief Pitcher Rankings Takeaways
A mix of young studs for saves plus holds leagues and some surging veterans
Scattered thoughts from recently completing an overhaul of my dynasty RP rankings.
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1. Emmanuel Clase, Guardians
With Edwin Diaz expected to miss all of 2022, Clase is in a tier of his own at the top of reliever rankings — both for redraft and dynasty formats.
Not only is he arguably the top reliever in the majors, but he has as strong of a hold on ninth inning duties as anyone. To top it off, the Guardians excel with pitching and defense, which leads to plenty of tight, low-scoring contests, and thus a plethora of save opportunities.
2. Andres Muñoz, Mariners
I went more in depth on Muñoz back in January.
Even in redraft he’s my No. 2 RP for saves plus holds leagues. As of April 2023 Seattle still prefers to mix and match late in games, but Muñoz is the highest leverage reliever they have. Paul Sewald is turning 33 soon, and I suspect at some point Muñoz will be dominant enough to eventually settle in as a full-time closer. We saw Josh Hader make that transition during the 2019 season.
5. Jhoan Duran, Twins
This is a similar situation to Muñoz. Duran, in his age-25 season, has the skill set of a top-5 reliever in baseball — but he doesn’t have the closer job to himself. In 2022 he recorded 8 saves and 18 holds.
That’s easier to stomach in dynasty since we can dream on the talent eventually winning out. It’s especially easy to roster Duran in leagues with saves plus holds as a category. I don’t believe Duran is going to accrue 80% of Minnesota’s saves this year, but I do think he’ll keep chipping away at a majority share.
In saves-only leagues, I’m okay jumping a number of the RPs ranked 6-13 ahead of Duran — guys likes DW, Iglesias, Pressly, Holmes — especially if you’re competing.
https://twitter.com/toomuchtuma/status/1631005676339363840?s=20
Edit: Twitter is currently restricting access to embedding tweets in Substack for some reason, which actually kills me because one of my favorite parts of writing these is including fun highlights to drive a point home. Sigh. Apologies for the lack of visual content in today’s piece!
16. Pete Fairbanks, Rays
In 2022, Fairbanks didn’t debut until July. It was his age-28 campaign. Then he threw 24 of the most dominant relief innings in quite some time, finishing with a 1.13 ERA, a 0.86 FIP, and a 53.3 GB%.
He had a strong 17% swinging strike rate (ranked 15th among RPs with at least 20 IP) and a spectacular 40.2 K-BB% (2nd). The Rays rewarded him with a three-year, $12 million extension this January.
This being Tampa Bay, fantasy managers shouldn’t view Fairbanks as a locked-in closer. He earned 8 saves and 6 holds last season. I rank him at a point where “closers” begin to have question marks and where I’d prefer to buy Fairbanks’ skills and half-share of the ninth.
Fairbanks has ridiculous extension with a 6’6” frame, in addition to a nasty slider. He was also working on a splitter this spring. Giddy up.
17. Kenley Jansen, Red Sox
The below graphic is from his Thursday appearance against the Tigers. Early on Jansen is throwing his cutter as hard as he ever has. That’s quite encouraging. He’s a perfect veteran “buy” for contending teams in saves-only leagues.
19. Edwin Diaz, Mets
Kind of an impossible rank right now as I typically hate rostering players who are going to be out for an entire season or more.
I rostered Diaz in two dynasty leagues where I’m contending (12 teams, saves plus holds, 30 total “keepers”) and I didn’t protect him in either one entering my March supplemental drafts.
As for his rank, I put him last among the current “true closers”, directly after his brother.
20. Bryan Abreu, Astros
It’s not a coincidence that so many of my favorite relievers highlighted here are from teams who excel at pitching development. Cleveland, Seattle, Tampa Bay, and Houston all make appearances.
Enter Abreu, who I’m betting is the Astros’ next big success story. He might not end up as a long-term starter like Cristian Javier (though reportedly some within the org think he could), but perhaps Abreu becomes the closer post-Pressly.
Abreu popped with a 133 Stuff+ last season, but a 94 Location+ prevented the full breakout. It’s clear his arsenal is filthy enough to be among the game’s best relievers - he just needs to better locate his pitches now.
Entering Friday, Abreu has a 141 Stuff+/100 Location+ through a few appearances. It’s far too early to view this year’s numbers as sticky (especially Location+), but the early returns add weight to the notion he could be improving.
21. Matt Brash, Mariners
The 24-year-old was working on adding a cutter this offseason, but through a few appearances I haven’t seen Statcast give any of his offerings that distinction. Perhaps it’s still a work in progress. Regardless, Seattle is still developing him as a reliever, though there’s always a chance he could return to the rotation at some point (probably depends how that cutter does).
I’m really bullish on the Mariners’ pitching development at the moment. If he doesn’t wind up as a starter Brash could also usurp Sewald’s role at some point. There are multiple paths to him providing fantasy upside.
28. Nate Pearson, Blue Jays
Through two appearances at Triple-A Buffalo, Pearson has generated 8 whiffs on 14 swings (57%). He’s thrown two scoreless frames with four strikeouts. This comes after an eye-popping performance in the Dominican Winter League (16 Ks in 12 IP) and a strong spring (13 Ks in 8 1/3).
Pearson has seemingly fully bought into the mindset of a reliever. I’m not predicting that Jordan Romano is about to become ineffective or anything, but if that were to happen then Pearson has a path to winding up as a top-10 fantasy closer. I’m personally stashing him in a saves-plus-holds dynasty leagues.
29. Aroldis Chapman, Royals
I couldn’t have been more out on Chapman entering this season, but he’s a perfect example of why having Stuff+ as an available metric is so great.
Again - very small sample alert - but Chapman’s 150 Stuff+ through two appearances is the second best among relievers behind only Ryan Helsley.
Above are his velocities from his most recent outing against the Blue Jays. I’m not sure how he’s doing it and I don’t know if it’ll last, but right now Chapman has life.
If he keeps this up he’ll likely become the Royals’ closer before long, and there’s a chance he could be dealt to a contender at the deadline too. He’s a sneaky “buy” candidate for contending dynasty squads.
42. Nick Anderson, Braves
Anderson looks great through his first two appearances of the year, and he’s coming off a strong spring. While on the Rays he was essentially Pete Fairbanks before Pete Fairbanks. Coming out of the shortened 2020 season Anderson had a claim as one of the top relievers in baseball. Injuries derailed him for a while, but I recommend giving this story a read on The Athletic. He’s an easy player to root for!
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