Each week during the fantasy baseball season, I take a look at the relief pitcher landscape to aid with waiver wire and trade decisions. Let’s see what has changed in the last week.
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- MLB Prop Bet Cheat Sheet
Fantasy Baseball Saves + Holds League Advice
Saves + Holds Leaders
There are 12 relievers with double-digit saves plus holds through May 13:
| Player | Team | SV+H |
| Erik Sabrowski | CLE | 16 |
| JoJo Romero | STL | 13 |
| Riley O’Brien | STL | 13 |
| Cade Smith | CLE | 13 |
| Mason Miller | SDP | 13 |
| Bryan Baker | TBR | 12 |
| Lucas Erceg | KCR | 11 |
| Gregory Soto | PIT | 10 |
| Tony Santillan | CIN | 10 |
| Rico Garcia | BAL | 10 |
| Kevin Kelly | TBR | 10 |
| David Bednar | NYY | 10 |
| Seranthony Dominguez | CWS | 10 |
Takeaways
- Erik Sabrowski has four saves plus holds in the past week. Of the pitchers on the leaderboard, he’s one of four with an ERA under 2.00 (1.96), and one of six with a WHIP under 0.90 (0.87).
- JoJo Romero and Riley O’Brien are working in stride. They’ve combined for 26 saves plus holds and 41 strikeouts over 40.1 innings. O’Brien has a slightly better ERA (2.70) and WHIP (0.95) than Romero (3.10 ERA, 1.08 WHIP).
- Rico Garcia has the best ERA (0.47) and WHIP (0.42) on the leaderboard. He is currently sporting a career-best 34.4% strikeout rate and 1.85 xERA.
Saves + Holds Reliever Rankings
Here are my updated top 40 relievers rankings for saves plus holds leagues:
| Rank | Player | Team | Change |
| 1 | Mason Miller | SDP | – |
| 2 | Aroldis Chapman | BOS | +1 |
| 3 | Andres Munoz | SEA | +1 |
| 4 | Riley O’Brien | STL | +2 |
| 5 | Cade Smith | CLE | +2 |
| 6 | Abner Uribe | MIL | -4 |
| 7 | Raisel Iglesias | ATL | +1 |
| 8 | Tanner Scott | LAD | +1 |
| 9 | Bryan Baker | TBR | +2 |
| 10 | Jhoan Duran | PHI | -5 |
| 11 | Jason Adam | SDP | -1 |
| 12 | Erik Sabrowski | CLE | – |
| 13 | Paul Sewald | ARI | +1 |
| 14 | Robert Suarez | ATL | +1 |
| 15 | Kenley Jansen | DET | -2 |
| 16 | Tony Santillan | CIN | +1 |
| 17 | Rico Garcia | BAL | +5 |
| 18 | David Bednar | NYY | – |
| 19 | Lucas Erceg | KCR | – |
| 20 | JoJo Romero | STL | +3 |
| 21 | Trevor Megill | MIL | -1 |
| 22 | Juan Morillo | ARI | -1 |
| 23 | Louis Varland | TOR | +5 |
| 24 | Gregory Soto | PIT | +3 |
| 25 | Pete Fairbanks | MIA | IL |
| 26 | Matt Strahm | KCR | -1 |
| 27 | Brad Keller | PHI | +3 |
| 28 | Seranthony Dominguez | CWS | +10 |
| 29 | Graham Ashcraft | CIN | +2 |
| 30 | Jeremiah Estrada | SDP | +3 |
| 31 | Daniel Palencia | CHC | -15 |
| 32 | Luke Weaver | NYM | -3 |
| 33 | Devin Williams | NYM | -1 |
| 34 | Bryan King | HOU | +1 |
| 35 | Dennis Santana | PIT | -1 |
| 36 | Jakob Junis | TEX | -12 |
| 37 | Kyle Finnegan | DET | -1 |
| 38 | Tyler Rogers | TOR | +1 |
| 39 | Jacob Latz | TEX | UN |
| 40 | Tim Hill | NYY | UN |
Biggest Risers
Pete Fairbanks (RP – MIA) | Injured List
Pete Fairbanks was activated from the injured list (IL) on Wednesday and returned to the Marlins’ bullpen. He struggled through his first nine innings, giving up 10 earned runs, but he’s paired it with a 32% strikeout rate.
The Marlins have used a mix of pitchers while he’s been out, but they will be pleased to have him back closing games. Excluding Fairbanks, six different pitchers recorded at least one save for the Marlins this season.
Tim Hill (RP – NYY) | Unranked
Tim Hill has been quietly productive for the Yankees this season. He’s rocking a 1.00 ERA, 0.78 WHIP and 3.24 xERA with seven holds. Despite an eye-bogglingly low strikeout rate (10.8%), his walk rate is in the 99th-percentile (3%).
Hill is pitching over his head with a 95% left on base rate (LOB%) and a .200 batting average on balls in play (BABIP), but his ability to limit walks and get ground balls (73%) makes it work.
Biggest Fallers
Daniel Palencia (RP – CHC) | -15
Daniel Palencia‘s fall in the rankings has been a long time coming. His value has been buoyed by his role and team context, but only two saves are not going to cut it for fantasy managers. He missed 22 days due to injury, which has limited him to just seven innings so far.
However, the Cubs have only nine saves and rank among the worst in save opportunities this season. Palencia will need to get more usage to have the same value in a saves plus holds league as he does in a saves-only league.
Jakob Junis (RP – TEX) | -12
Jakob Junis hasn’t done anything wrong, but his usage has taken a hit with the emergence of Jacob Latz. In the last two weeks, Junis has picked up just one save plus hold with three strikeouts in 4.2 innings.
In that same timeframe, Latz has four saves plus holds, a 0.00 ERA, 0.29 WHIP and four strikeouts in seven innings.
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