MLB Closer Rankings 2025: Fantasy Baseball Bullpen Report, 4/9
Another week of fantasy baseball saw another one of the now-former MLB closers in 2025 lose his job. Several other big-league bullpens remain in flux and fantasy baseball MLB closers in 2025 continue to keep us on our toes.
It’s still early in the season but who would have guessed that Texas Rangers closer Luke Jackson would be tied for the league lead in saves (with Robert Suarez) and that Minnesota Twins closer Jhoan Duran wouldn’t even have one save opportunity as we head into the third weekend of the season?
MLB Closers 2025: Fantasy Baseball Bullpen Rankings
With so much activity regarding MLB closers in 2025, do yourself a favor and check out our 2025 Fantasy Baseball Closer Grid regularly.
We update the grid as news happens, changing the dynamics of MLB closer rankings in 2025. The following are a few bullpens that deserve your attention as we head into this weekend…
(Stats quoted in this article are current as of the morning of April 9th, 2025)
Philadelphia Phillies
In last week’s column we talked up Jose Alvarado and just a week later he’s the Phillies’ closer. Jordan Romano has given up seven earned runs in 4 IP this season and his struggles come on the heels of an injury plagued 2024 season.
Romano’s focus is to figure out what’s causing his loss of velocity, but for now it looks like Alvarado will get the majority of save chances for the Phillies. Alvarado already has a win, a hold and two saves on the young season and has 10 Ks and two BBs in five IP.
Pittsburgh Pirates
Dennis Santana seems like he’ll be the Pirates reliever who’ll pitch in late inning high leverage situations while David Bednar tries to find himself in the minor leagues. Santana picked up a save last Wednesday and then faced the top of the New York Yankees order in the eighth inning this past Sunday.
Ryan Borucki, who we talked about in last week’s article, blew a three-run lead and his first save chance in the ninth inning of that same game. Tom Harrington has the only other save for the Bucs in the post Bednar era. It was an ugly four inning appearance, and it will probably be his only save of the season.
It’s too soon to tell and Pirates relievers haven’t had enough save opportunities to figure out who their dedicated MLB closer will be. Santana is the best bet, but Bednar hasn’t given up a run in two innings pitched for the Pirates’ Triple-A affiliate. He may be back in the bigs before you know it.
Cincinnati Reds
Reds manager Terry Francona hasn’t been shy about professing his love for Tony Santillan this season and he now seems to be sharing the team’s closer role with Emilio Pagan. Santillan has been used in the seventh, eighth and ninth innings this season and has already recorded three holds and a save.
He hasn’t given up a run in 5.2 IP spanning six appearances and has seven strikeouts and two walks on the season. Francona has typically relied on one closer throughout his managerial career and will probably let things play out before deciding on who he’ll rely on to close out games for him for the majority of the rest of season.
Based on Francona’s previous comments Santillan will probably be the favorite to land the role of the Reds’ primary closer. However, for his career, Pagan has been equally effective against right-handed and left-handed hitters and has 35 saves. As long as Pagan’s healthy he’ll probably continue to be in the mix for saves and also be a good resource for holds.
MLB Relievers On The Rise
Steven Okert, Houston Astros
With MLB closer extraordinaire Josh Hader and setup man Bryan Abreu ahead of him on the Astros’ bullpen depth chart Okerts’ save opportunities may be few and far between. However, in a Tuesday night extra inning game Okert was called on to slam the door on the Seattle Mariners and he picked up his first save of the season.
Okert had a great spring (0.00 ERA, 17 Ks, 2 BB in 11 IP) and he has been equally effective to start the regular season (0.00 ERA, 9 Ks, 0 BB in 4.2 IP. His nasty slider helped him earn a spot in the Astros’ bullpen as a non-roster invitee. He’s being used in late inning high leverage situations and could be a potential good resource for holds.
Abner Uribe, Milwaukee Brewers
Uribe was one of the relievers expected to compete for the Brewers’ closer role with Devin Williams opening the 2024 season on the IL, but he struggled, got sent down to the minors, and eventually had season ending knee surgery.
He’s back and while the Brewers are primarily using him in the sixth and seventh innings, he’s already picked up a win and two holds. Uribe hasn’t given up a run and he has 7 Ks and just one walk in 5.2 IP.
Jason Adam, San Diego Padres
There was a lot of preseason talk suggesting that the Padres might possibly trade their MLB closer, Robert Suarez, at some point this season. If that were to happen Adam would likely be first in line to inherit Suarez’s role as the team’s closer.
For now, he’s enjoying a great start to the season. Adam is tied for the league lead with four holds, and he has nine Ks and three BBs in 6.1 IP. He has 24 career saves.
Player News
JJ Bleday blasted a two-run homer on Thursday, helping to power the Athletics to victory over the White Sox in Chicago.
The 27-year-old outfielder victimized White Sox’ right-hander Davis Martin with his 372-foot (104.2 mph EV) two-run shot in the sixth inning that pushed the A’s advantage to 4-0. That would be his only hit in four at-bats on the afternoon. For the season, Bleday is slashing just .227/.325/.364 with a pair of homers, 10 RBI, one stolen base and a 14/10 K/BB ratio through his first 77 plate appearances.
Lawrence Butler went 2-for-4 with a double and swatted his second home run of the season on Thursday as the Athletics shut out the White Sox in Chicago.
Butler led off the game with a double off of Davis Martin and raced around to score the game’s first run on an RBI double off the bat of Jacob Wilson. The dynamic 24-year-old outfielder then clobbered a first-pitch cutter from Martin for a 414-foot (107.0 mph EV) solo shot in the fifth inning that extended the A’s lead to 2-0. With his 2-for-5 afternoon, Butler is now slashing .296/.390/.451 to go along with a pair of homers, five RBI and four stolen bases.
JP Sears was brilliant in Thursday afternoon’s victory over the White Sox, scattering three hits over six innings of shutout baseball.
The 29-year-old southpaw struck out two and issued a pair of walks in the ballgame. All three of the hits that he allowed in the contest were singles. Only once did the White Sox have a player reach third base against him — on a two-out single by Lenyn Sosa in the sixth inning — but Sears got Michael A. Taylor to pop out to the catcher to end the threat. He generated just one swing and miss on 100 pitches in the ballgame, posting an underwhelming CSW of only 20 percent. He’ll see if he can keep the good times rolling as he carries a 3.13 ERA, 1.09 WHIP and an 18/5 K/BB ratio (23 innings) into Wednesday’s showdown against the Rangers.
Edgar Quero went 0-for-3 with a strikeout in his big league debut against the Athletics on Thursday.
The 22-year-old rookie backstop started behind the dish and batted seventh for the White Sox on Thursday afternoon against the Athletics. As a whole, the White Sox couldn’t muster a single run and scratched out just four total hits in the game, so Quero wasn’t the only one at fault. Ultimately, his fantasy utility in deeper leagues will depend on how much playing time he sees for the White Sox.
Davis Martin struggled in a losing effort against the Athletics on Thursday afternoon, surrendering four runs on eight hits over his 5 1/3 innings of work.
The 28-year-old right-hander walked one and struck out three batters in the ballgame. Nearly all of the damage done against him came via the long ball as Lawrence Butler swatted a solo shot in the fifth inning and JJ Bleday added a two-run blast in the sixth inning. Martin got seven swings and misses on 90 pitches on the day while posting a CSW of 27 percent. Now 1-2 on the season, he’ll carry a 4.84 ERA, 1.48 WHIP and a 13/6 K/BB ratio (22 1/3 innings) into Tuesday’s matchup against the Twins in Minneapolis.
Masyn Winn (back) is set to begin a minor league rehab assignment at Triple-A Memphis on Friday.
He’ll play there through the weekend and assuming everything goes well he would then be cleared to rejoin the Cardinals on Tuesday when he’s first eligible. Prior to landing on the injured list, the 23-year-old shortstop had been hitting .222/.314/.289 with one homer and three RBI through his first 13 ballgames.