I’m saving the best for last with my positional rankings with RELIEF PITCHERS! That was sarcasm in case you didn’t catch on. Ranking closers and relief pitchers is a difficult task and extremely frustrating. Spring training is ongoing but several teams are still without a set closer and may not ever actually name a single closer. For fantasy owners, the dreaded closer-by-committee is the worst phrase that could come out of a manager’s mouth. Personally, I’d like to see more leagues transition over the saves plus holds in place of just saves. I’m in one league where we made the change and here’s hoping for more, but I digress.







With closers, I look for three things.

Have they been named the closer and how safe is their job? Do they have a high-end velocity fastball? Typically, that means 95+ mph Do they have one dominant secondary offering that can generate a ton of whiffs?

If I made tiers, Josh Hader would be in a class by himself. He can strike out more batter than some starters and he’s cut his walk rate each of the last three seasons. His home run rate spiked but I believe that’ll come back down to earth. He should be good for a sub-2.50 ERA, a 0.9 WHIP and 130+ strikeouts. The rest of the top 12 or so in my rankings pretty much answer YES to all of the questions above. As you fall further in the rankings, you’ll find that these pitchers satisfy only two of the three questions above and so on and so forth. As always, I’m ranking based on 5×5 roto scoring. Keep track on news from team camps if a closer hasn’t been named yet and check out Jeff Zimmerman’s velocity updates over at FanGraphs.

Relief Pitcher Rankings for 2020 - Top 60

RP Rank Player Team POS 1 Josh Hader MIL RP 2 Aroldis Chapman NYY RP 3 Kirby Yates SDP RP 4 Liam Hendricks OAK RP 5 Taylor Rodgers MIN RP 6 Roberto Osuna HOU RP 7 Kenly Jansen LAD RP 8 Edwin Diaz NYM RP 9 Ken Giles TOR RP 10 Brad Hand CLE RP 11 Hector Neris PHI RP 12 Raisel Iglesias CIN RP 13 Craig Kimbrel CHC RP 14 Hansel Robles LAA RP 15 Alex Colome CWS RP 16 Jose Leclerc TEX RP 17 Brandon Workman BOS RP 18 Nick Anderson TBR RP 19 Sean Doolittle WSH RP 20 Carlos Martinez STL SP,RP 21 Archie Braldey ARI RP 22 Mark Melancon ATL RP 23 Ian Kennedy KC RP 24 Will Smith ATL RP 25 Josh James HOU SP,RP 26 Joe Jimenez DET RP 27 Keone Kela PIT RP 28 Gioavanni Gallegos STL RP 29 Ross Stripling LAD SP,RP 30 Emilio Pagan SDP RP 31 Ryan Yarbrough TB SP,RP 32 Matt Barnes BOS RP 33 Mychal Givens BAL RP 34 Ryan Pressly HOU RP 35 Dellin Betances NYM RP 36 Diego Castillo TBR RP 37 Brandon Kintzler MIA RP 38 Matt Magill SEA RP 39 Tony Watson SFG RP 40 Corbin Burnes MIL RP 41 Daniel Hudson WAS RP 42 Scott Oberg COL RP 43 Seth Lugo NYM RP 44 Emmanuel Clase CLE RP 45 Andrew Miller STL RP 46 Wade Davis COL RP 47 Drew Pomeranz SDP SP,RP 48 Ryne Stanek MIA RP 49 Blake Treinen LAD RP 50 Tyler Duffey MIN RP 51 Michael Lorenzen CIN RP 52 Chad Green NYY RP 53 Jose Alvarado TBR RP 54 Kyle Crick PIT RP 55 Aaron Bummer CHW RP 56 Matt Strahm SDP RP 57 James Karinchak CLE RP 58 Brad Peacock HOU SP,RP 59 Andres Munoz SDP RP 60 Jimmy Nelson LAD SP,RP

I’m starting to warm up to Kenly Jansen rising once again. I was skeptical after a sub-standard 2019 from Jansen but throwing more sliders could help. He also worked with Driveline this offseason, so let’s hope he can maximize his velocity and spin efficiency. Hector Neris and Hansel Robles are my mid-round targets, especially in 12-team formats. I’s love to land either of these guys are my #2 closer in shallower formats. Back in May, I Tweeeted about his elite slider and new he had a shot a closing. A few late-round darts include Matt Barnes (K% is elite and I don’t trust Workman), Diego Castillo (good skills and one fewer arm in the bullpen; should see a dozen or so save opportunities), and Emmanuel Clase. The Indians acquired him for a reason and his fastball regularly touches triple digits. Brand Hand is the closer in Cleveland but if he struggles or is traded (only signed through 2020 with a club option for 2021), Clase is the add once that occurs.

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