In a traditional 5×5 fantasy baseball league, the hardest category to predict may be Wins, but the hardest category to draft accurately is Saves. Typically, closers come in three or four tiers, with Tier 1 being the group that has the closer’s gig and is good at it all the way to Tier 4, which is filled with players who are at the top of the depth chart on Opening Day but probably won’t be by May. Punting the saves category on draft day is typically acceptable because there will always be (Tier 4) closers on waivers in 10- or 12-team leagues.
Many leagues have thusly switched to SV+HD (saves + holds) as a category, which more accurately reflects how MLB bullpens are used and open up a wide range of possibilities for fantasy managers to build their pitching staffs. It migrates the focus on draft day from “Who will pitch those magic last three outs?” to “Who are the best relievers available?” While each has its benefits and drawbacks, today, we will look at how to approach SV+HD leagues.
Fantasy Baseball SV+HD Leagues Strategy & Advice
Elite is Still Elite
The best-of-the-best closers will accumulate more Saves than the best-of-the-best middle relievers will accrue in Holds. The Top 5 closers from 2022 all outgained A.J. Minter, the leader in Holds. Those clear-cut, elite ninth-inning guys have a designated role and the skillset to retain that position for the duration of the season. Their value also increases in SV+HD leagues since your league mates will be gobbling up the elite seventh- and eighth-inning guys as well, meaning if you have a wishy-washy closer, his replacement may not just be sitting on waivers when things go south. To look at those Tier 1 relievers that are still worth targeting, check out our consensus rankings.
In a traditional 5×5 fantasy baseball league, the hardest category to predict may be Wins, but the hardest category to draft accurately is Saves. Typically, closers come in three or four tiers, with Tier 1 being the group that has the closer’s gig and is good at it all the way to Tier 4, which is filled with players who are at the top of the depth chart on Opening Day but probably won’t be by May. Punting the saves category on draft day is typically acceptable because there will always be (Tier 4) closers on waivers in 10- or 12-team leagues.
Many leagues have thusly switched to SV+HD (saves + holds) as a category, which more accurately reflects how MLB bullpens are used and open up a wide range of possibilities for fantasy managers to build their pitching staffs. It migrates the focus on draft day from “Who will pitch those magic last three outs?” to “Who are the best relievers available?” While each has its benefits and drawbacks, today, we will look at how to approach SV+HD leagues.
Fantasy Baseball SV+HD Leagues Strategy & Advice
Elite is Still Elite
The best-of-the-best closers will accumulate more Saves than the best-of-the-best middle relievers will accrue in Holds. The Top 5 closers from 2022 all outgained A.J. Minter, the leader in Holds. Those clear-cut, elite ninth-inning guys have a designated role and the skillset to retain that position for the duration of the season. Their value also increases in SV+HD leagues since your league mates will be gobbling up the elite seventh- and eighth-inning guys as well, meaning if you have a wishy-washy closer, his replacement may not just be sitting on waivers when things go south. To look at those Tier 1 relievers that are still worth targeting, check out our consensus rankings.
It’s not just the ninth inning anymore.
Managers who believe in sabermetrics or those who just believe in winning are using their best relievers when needed, not just saving them for the ninth inning. If the Mets are playing the Padres and San Diego has Fernando Tatis Jr., Juan Soto, and Xander Bogaerts coming up in the eighth, it would make sense to send Edwin Diaz out to the mound to face them. In traditional fantasy leagues, Diaz won’t get the Save unless he polishes off the last six outs of the game. In SV+HD leagues, though, he still produces value with a Hold while someone else faces much less intimidating batters in the ninth.
The PB&J Category
The importance of identifying those relievers whose value increases once you combine two stats cannot be overstated, mostly because you can find so many options late in your drafts. So even though, on one hand, the player with the most saves (peanut butter) will outscore the one with the most holds (jelly), the beauty of SV+HD leagues is that you can “put your hands together, my friend” and build up the category in any number of ways.
Some players just excel at being the PB&J guys. Devin Williams, the Patron Saint of SV+HD Leagues, is second overall in the 2022 rankings. Minter moves into third place once you add the two together, and Rafael Montero lands in seventh. Even though Williams will enter 2023 as Milwaukee’s closer, he is still very much worth targeting.
Buoy Your Ratios and Nab Some Ks
With the expanded pool of reliever options in SV+HD leagues, you can get a bit pickier about who to use and, in doing so, buoy your ratios one hold at a time. There is no reason to rely on bottom-barrel closers, especially those who can single-handedly blow up (and lose) your ERA and WHIP categories in a weekly H2H matchup.
Sure, this can happen to any player, but in a regular 10- or 12-team league, you can set your draft criteria to protect these two areas without running out of options. Let others pick up the Craig Kimbrels (24 SV+HD, 3.75 ERA, 1.317 WHIP) and Tanner Scotts (24/4.31/1.612) of the draft while you focus on those 3.00/1.10 guys.
While we’re creating our own cheat sheets, it’s imperative to throw in a high K/9 rate while looking at SV+HD. Again, in leagues with this category, you can get this picky and target the players that others may have never even heard of or at least glossed over in their research.
There is plenty of late-round value.
That said, here are some top targets in SV+HD leagues who are currently being drafted in the 15th round or later and can provide value in each category we’ve discussed.
*Projections per Average Total Cost (ATC)
May you all build beautiful, untouchable bullpens and, as always, good luck.
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Kelly Kirby is a featured writer and the lead copyeditor at FantasyPros. You can check out her archive here and follow her on Twitter at @thewonkypenguin.
