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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Fantasy Baseball Saves + Holds League Advice
Saves + Holds Leaders
There are 14 relievers with 11+ saves plus holds through May 20th:
| Player | Team | SV+H |
| Erik Sabrowski | CLE | 17 |
| Cade Smith | CLE | 16 |
| Mason Miller | SDP | 15 |
| Riley O’Brien | STL | 14 |
| JoJo Romero | STL | 14 |
| Bryan Baker | TBR | 14 |
| Lucas Erceg | KCR | 12 |
| Kevin Kelly | TBR | 12 |
| Tony Santillan | CIN | 12 |
| Aroldis Chapman | BOS | 12 |
| Ian Seymour | TBR | 12 |
| David Bednar | NYY | 11 |
| Trevor Megill | MIL | 11 |
| Paul Sewald | ARI | 11 |
Takeaways
- Bryan Baker was looking a little shaky, but he picked up two saves in his last two appearances. His 13 saves are tied for third in the league behind Cade Smith and Mason Miller.
- Cade Smith picked up four saves in the past week. He allowed zero runs, three hits and one walk while striking out nine of the 16 batters he faced. His strikeout and walk rates are currently career bests.
- Mason Miller and Erik Sabrowski rank one and two among pitchers with at least 10 innings in strikeout-minus-walk rate. They both walk plenty of batters, but are the two best pitchers in terms of strikeout rate.
Saves + Holds Reliever Rankings
Here are my updated top 40 relievers for saves plus holds leagues:
| Rank | Player | Team | Change |
| 1 | Mason Miller | SDP | – |
| 2 | Aroldis Chapman | BOS | – |
| 3 | Cade Smith | CLE | +2 |
| 4 | Andres Munoz | SEA | -1 |
| 5 | Riley O’Brien | STL | -1 |
| 6 | Bryan Baker | TBR | +3 |
| 7 | Raisel Iglesias | ATL | – |
| 8 | Abner Uribe | MIL | -2 |
| 9 | Jhoan Duran | PHI | +1 |
| 10 | Erik Sabrowski | CLE | +2 |
| 11 | Jason Adam | SDP | – |
| 12 | Tanner Scott | LAD | -4 |
| 13 | Paul Sewald | ARI | – |
| 14 | Robert Suarez | ATL | – |
| 15 | JoJo Romero | STL | +5 |
| 16 | Lucas Erceg | KCR | +3 |
| 17 | Tony Santillan | CIN | -1 |
| 18 | Rico Garcia | BAL | -1 |
| 19 | Kenley Jansen | DET | -4 |
| 20 | Trevor Megill | MIL | +1 |
| 21 | Gregory Soto | PIT | +3 |
| 22 | Louis Varland | TOR | +1 |
| 23 | Pete Fairbanks | MIA | +2 |
| 24 | Kevin Kelly | TBR | UN |
| 25 | Juan Morillo | ARI | -3 |
| 26 | Devin Williams | NYM | +7 |
| 27 | Seranthony Dominguez | CWS | +1 |
| 28 | Graham Ashcraft | CIN | +1 |
| 29 | Brad Keller | PHI | -2 |
| 30 | Jeremiah Estrada | SDP | – |
| 31 | Keaton Winn | SFG | UN |
| 32 | Jacob Latz | TEX | +7 |
| 33 | Luke Weaver | NYM | -1 |
| 34 | Bryan King | HOU | – |
| 35 | Fernando Cruz | NYY | UN |
| 36 | Dennis Santana | PIT | -1 |
| 37 | Ian Seymour | TBR | UN |
| 38 | David Bednar | NYY | -20 |
| 39 | Tyler Rogers | TOR | -1 |
| 40 | Daniel Palencia | CHC | -9 |
Biggest Risers
Devin Williams (RP – NYM) | +7
Devin Williams has been great since April 26th. In his nine appearances since then, spanning 8.2 innings, he’s allowed zero runs, one hit and two walks while striking out 11 batters. Williams has allowed a .250 batting average on the season, but his expected batting average is 56 points better at .194.
Williams’ batting average on balls in play (BABIP) is tied for sixth-worst in the league at .400, among pitchers with at least 10 innings, so some regression can be expected. His FIP is more than two full runs lower than his actual ERA, but all the ERA estimators were in a similar range when he was really bad last season.
Kevin Kelly (RP – TBR) | Unranked
Kevin Kelly has been outstanding this season. Through 23.1 innings, he sports a 2.31 ERA, 0.73 WHIP and 6.5 K/9, with two saves and 10 holds. He’s only allowed an earned run in two appearances, including a loss he took at the beginning of April, where he allowed five earned runs, recording a single out.
Outside of that outing, Kelly has been absolutely lights out. He doesn’t have a huge strikeout ceiling (7.6 career K/9), but he doesn’t give up free passes either (1.5 BB/9). The Rays lead the Majors in saves and rank third in holds.
Biggest Fallers
David Bednar (RP – NYY) | -20
David Bednar has been horrible and has contributed to the Yankees’ nine blown saves. Since May 1st, he has a 7.56 ERA, 1.56 WHIP, 2.75 K/BB, two saves and one blown save over 8.1 innings.
Camilo Doval got their last save opportunity, but Fernando Cruz and Tim Hill have pitched the best out of the bullpen. Cruz offers the higher ceiling with a great strikeout rate, but he walks too many batters. Hill walks almost no one, but strikes out batters at nearly the same rate.
Daniel Palencia (RP – CHC) | -9
Daniel Palencia has made five appearances since returning from the injured list (IL), with two saves to show for it. In his four innings, he’s allowed two runs on five hits and one walk with four strikeouts.
The Cubs have the fewest number of holds (11) and the seventh-fewest saves (10) in the league.
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