Fantasy Baseball Bullpen Report: September 20

Each week I will breakdown closers and middle relievers in many different ways to provide you with all the information you need to have a successful fantasy bullpen.

Blown Saves

*Top 10

*Note: I track blown saves that happened by guys who were brought into finish the game. Such as guys in the closer role, or other pitchers who were brought in late in the game. A guy who picks up a “blown save,” for example, in the 6^th inning is very irrelevant in my opinion, when tracking fantasy assets.

Who’s Hot?

Ken Giles (74% owned) – Giles notched three saves this week on three tries. He struck out four across 3.1 shutout innings and only allowed one hitter to reach base against him. Giles has now made eight straight shutout appearances and has racked up five saves over that span. He has been a very streaky reliever in his career thus far and it seems like he is on one of his hot streaks right now, making him a solid own right now on the stretch run. He now has 23 saves on the year, albeit with an unsightly 4.94 ERA. YTD stats: 47.1 innings, 23 saves, 49 Ks, 4.94 ERA.

Ty Buttrey (35% owned) – Since being called up, Buttrey has been lights out for the Angels and is racking up counting stats. He converted on both of his save chances this week and struck out eight across 3.2 shutout innings. He already has four saves and six holds in his first 15.1 innings pitched as a major leaguer and with great ratios of a 0.59 ERA, 0.91 WHIP, and 11.15 K/9. He is still available in the majority of leagues and is a guy you can pick up to get you over the hump as we are coming down to the wire. The young righty will be someone to have on your radar late in drafts next season as well. YTD stats: 15.1 innings, 4 saves, 19 Ks, 0.59 ERA.

Who’s Cold?

Felipe Vázquez (94% owned) – Vazquez picked up three saves this week, which is good, but he also blew a save and gave up three runs across four innings pitched. His four strikeouts were a low number for him and his 2.00 WHIP for the week may have really hurt his fantasy owners. He has now given up at least one run in four of his last seven outings, for a total of five runs against in eight innings pitched over that span. This is not a guy you normally have to worry about, but he could not have picked a worse time for a poor string of performances. YTD stats: 66.0 innings, 35 saves, 83 Ks, 2.86 ERA.

Middle Relievers of Note

This section will focus on closers in waiting or closer capable guys and how they are performing.

Richard Rodriguez (2% owned) – He won’t challenge Felipe Vasquez for saves, but in holds leagues and for anyone looking for good ratios, he is a nice add. He pulled off a four hold week this week and has five over the last 14 days. In that 14 day span he also has 12 strikeouts across six shutout innings and even has a win. His WHIP in that same timeframe is a very strong 0.50. For the season, he has an 11.69 K/9 and a rock solid 2.49 ERA across 65.0 innings with 12 holds and four wins. He will likely be locked into a setup role heading into the 2019 season and is someone to keep an eye at the start of next year.

Holds

*Top 10

Stat Leaders

This simply provides the current top-5 closers in saves, strikeouts, ERA, and WHIP.  *I did not include Brandon Morrow this week because of his extended DL stint.

Team Bullpen ERA

This section will look into the best and worst bullpens in the league, which can be helpful for DFS. If a team has a weak starting pitcher throwing that day and also a poor bullpen it can make for big days for hitters. A bad bullpen ERA also has an effect on how likely a starting pitcher is to pick up a win.

Recently Overworked

This highlights the bullpens that have been seeing both heavy usage and struggling over the last 7 days.

*Ownership percentages are based off Yahoo

Be sure to check out the Closer Grid which has regularly updated rankings. Also feel free to shoot me any questions on Twitter @JustinVreeland