Although the breakout started last season, Ryan Pressly continues to surge as a setup reliever in Houston. Since saves dominate the fantasy landscape when valuing relievers, Pressly gets overlooked. He’s currently in the midst of 40 scoreless appearances spanning 39 innings which ties him for second in the expansion era (since 1961). Through 19 games this year, Pressly’s racked up 22 strikeouts in 21 innings with zero walks, a 0.00 ERA, 1.62 xFIP and 0.43 WHIP. He’s generating more ground balls (62 percent) while reducing hard hit rates during a time in which they seem to be up across baseball.

Pressly’s actually producing fewer swinging strikes with more contact allowed but, his swings and misses outside the strike zone has increased. It’s quite an anomaly. Yet, he’s making it work. Perhaps pitching more to contact to start the season, it’s still working as evidenced above. In fact, since being acquired by the Astros, Pressly’s logged 44.1 innings with two wins, four saves, a ridiculous 54 strikeouts against three walks, a 0.41 ERA, 1.25 FIP and 0.52 WHIP. Of the 156 batters he’s faced with Houston, Pressly’s yielded 20 walks with the three hits. Talk about reducing traffic.

Transitioning to his Statcast data, Pressly stands out like a relief unicorn. He’s yet to give up a barrel this year in 50 batted ball events. Pressly’s average exit velocity sits at 85.7 MPH, down 2.2 MPH versus last season despite the “juiced” baseball. His 0.4 degree launch angle almost seems too good to be true.

One must give credit to the Astros for getting Pressly to drop his sinker and instead, elevate his fastball to change hitter’s eye levels. Hence the statistics listed above during his time with the franchise. Here’s a visual of his pitch plot this year to assess his arsenal:

In a surprise twist, Pressly’s ramped up his curveball usage and offset his loss of effectiveness with the slider this season. No matter the expected results, which do not forecast too much warning signals, here’s his data from this year for your perusal:

It’s remarkable to see Pressly’s still one of the top relievers considering his slider produced a 47.6 strikeout percent in 2018 and a 55.5 whiff percentage. If Pressly regains the bite on this pitch, he could improve?

With fantasy baseball under the microscope of late in regards to popularity, perhaps a tweak in the scoring should occur to stay with the times. Teams continue to deploy their best reliever, not necessarily in the ninth inning for a save, but at the highest leverage point as an extinguisher. Ryan Pressly fits this mold. In fact, he’s the poster boy for SOLDS (Saves plus holds) to replace the archaic saves category in standard leagues. Should Pressly be less valued because of his role?

Fantasy players continue to burn precious free agency money or waiver moves to get the flavor of the week in the inevitable chasing of saves. But, add in Pressly’s 10 holds to his two saves with the elite ratios and he suddenly shifts into the top five at his position where he belongs. This gets reinforced with the reliever metric under construction by myself and Matt Selz.

Using SOLDS not only would give credence to relievers like Ryan Pressly , one of seven relievers to record at least 100 strikeouts last year, it makes sense. Yes, there’s something to be said for tradition, but, adjusting for the climate change should be accounted for. Why add Mychal Givens when a pitcher like Pressly would help across four categories while protecting ratios? As a final salvo, check out Pressly’s rolling weighted on-base average courtesy of Statcast:

Pressly’s scoreless streak proves to more than just a hot streak. It’s a culmination of talent adjusting his arsenal for maximal performance. His breakout underscores the evolution in bullpens and his statistics over his first 44.1 innings with the Astros should make Pressly a fantasy revelation, not a reliever to be deployed in deeper formats to help protect ratios. Perhaps he can be a poster boy for a change in fantasy philosophy. Or, he will not only fly below the radar, Pressly will be underappreciated.

 

Statistical Credits:

BaseballSavant.com

Fangraphs.com

Baseball-Reference.com