The role of middle relievers has been increasing in recent years, both in “real” baseball played between the foul lines on the diamond and also in the realm of fantasy. Those pitchers that step in when the team’s chosen starter for a game has run into a bad patch, allowing too many baserunners and/or runs, fulfill a needed function, jumping in and working to shut down the opponent’s hitters and hopefully keeping his team in a position to come back and scratch out a victory.
One major impetus for teams rostering shut-down middle inning pitchers has to do with the reduction in starting pitcher inning loads. Over each of the past two seasons, there have only been 15 starters that have accumulated 200 or more innings during the course of the campaign. In 2015, there were 28 such starters, and even more in the prior year, with 33 such workhorses in 2014. As inning limits are enforced more strictly, it becomes more and more important for MLB teams to maintain a bevy of middle relievers on their pitching staffs.
Of course, teams have always stock piled future closers on their rosters, in the event either injury or ineffectiveness strikes the closer coming out of spring training. A set up man (or two) is also an essential element in the bullpen, serving the important job of turning the game over to the designated closer, given the lack of starting pitchers that are still on the mound in the last three innings of nearly every major league contest.
A corollary to that last point is that a savvy fantasy owner will want to either own or, at the very least, have the potential future closer on his watch list to pounce upon when the initial closer loses his position in the bullpen. This is especially true in deeper leagues containing 12 or more teams, where saves become a valuable commodity as the season plays out over the six months it takes to claim the championship.
So, what benefits can a fantasy owner reap from owing effective middle relief pitchers? Obviously, in leagues that employ holds as an additional statistical counting category, it is the set up men that will provide help in this area. In addition, more and more commissioners are beginning to utilize the hybrid stat that combines holds and saves as a roto category. That decision alone has helped bring the middle relief corps into play in many fantasy leagues over the past several seasons.
Middle relief pitchers also contribute with vulture wins, which while not something to be counted on to any great extent, are always a nice bonus when that gift drops into your lap.
The most effective middle relievers provide excellent strikeout numbers, unfailingly missing the bats of opposing hitters. Put this together with superb control and you are rostering a tremendous pitching asset. Their ratios with regard to K/BB percentages frequently are off the charts, with the best putting up better than a 3.0 K/BB ratio on a consistent basis.
Additionally, it can be argued coherently that rostering a middle reliever or two can yield potentially better results for your fantasy team than trotting out a fourth or fifth mediocre starting pitcher on a weekly basis, with the potential risk that those back of the rotation starters will blow up your ratio stats by rolling up inflated ERA and WHIP numbers on a regular basis. There is always the potential for any pitcher to have a bad outing and put up an infinite ERA or WHIP in a particular outing, but at least with middle relievers, the actual damage in terms of runs or baserunners allowed is minimized due to the limited innings pitched by a reliever as opposed to a four or five inning stint by a struggling starting pitcher.
So, you are probably asking, how do you find these saviors of your fantasy pitching staff? As noted above, you are searching for pitchers that will pitch limited innings, generally less than 70 innings in a given season. To get proper value from the position, however, you need to look for a middle innings man that will give you more than just a hint of production, so seek out a dependable option that will appear in 30 or more games. You also will want to target a middle relief specialist that faces several hitters, so avoid the left-handed (or in rare cases, a right-hander) specialist that is used to face one batter only in the majority of his appearances.
Set up men are especially valuable, as these pitchers that are used in the seventh and eighth innings are frequently the best arms in a team’s bullpen. Their dominance, control and command are habitually superlative, which is why their managers trust them to send the game into the final inning with the closer coming in to nail down the victory.
When searching out a middle reliever to draft or pick up off of waivers, you will obviously need to look to their strikeout per inning statistics, as well as seeking out pitchers that do not hand out many free passes to the opposition. For those that enjoy delving into more advanced sabermetrics, a high swinging strike percentage (SwStr %) will assist in identifying potentially useful middle relief candidates for your roster. On the converse side, avoid those relievers that post inflated WHIPs or ERA, but that should go without saying. Also, realize that even the best of pitchers will have the occasional outing where they get shelled. Just hope it does not happen when they are in your lineup or that the blowup is only for a batter or two and that it does not become a trend.
To give you a leg up on your competition, below are a group of suggested pitchers you can target in your drafts that will provide middle relief goodness. These are based on early projections, and of course, are subject to revision as the spring rolls on, but questions are always welcome via e-mail addressed to ia@fantasyalarm.com.