Projecting Rest of Season Top 10 Closers in 2026 Fantasy Baseball (June Update)

June 2, 2026

Dan Palyo projects which 10 closers will finish the season in the top 10 for the 2026 fantasy baseball season as we head into Week 10 of MLB action.

If you've got a top-ten closer on your roster, you have to feel pretty good about it. The lack of reliable closers continues to be a theme in Major League Baseball, so having a stud closer who can contribute in saves while also helping your ratios is key!

With many teams lacking an established closer entirely, we are seeing plenty of "bullpen-by-committee" approaches, making the closers who do have some job security and are producing saves and solid ratios that much more valuable!

So, which closers do we expect to finish in the top 10 by the end of the season? Let's start by looking at the current top 10 closers as of today, June 2, 2026.

Current Top 10 Closers for Fantasy Baseball

Here are the top 10 most valuable starting pitchers in 5x5 roto leagues right now, according to Yahoo's player rankings. All stats were current through Sunday, May 31.

Mason Miller continues to be an elite asset for bullpens. He's the only closer ranked inside the top-50 overall (31) and is showing no signs of slowing down from his insane start to the year.

Cade Smith made the jump all the way up to the #2 spot after a 13-save month. He now leads MLB with 20 saves and should continue to get save opportunities with a solid young pitching staff in front of him and a feisty Guardians offense providing just enough runs.

Cade Smith's 3Ks in the 9th pic.twitter.com/XSD4YGeDyp

— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) May 30, 2026

Gregory Soto appears to have a pretty strong hold on the closing gig in Pittsburgh and picked up three saves last week after a pretty long drought in opportunities. Meanwhile, Louis Varland's ERA has reached a microscopic 0.29. I wouldn't read too much into the lack of recent saves; he's still the top option in Toronto.

Rico Garcia refuses to go away, but he also hasn't picked up a save in three weeks. He can't maintain these elite ratios forever, and Ryan Helsley is likely to take his job back when healthy, since Helsley was pitching well before his trip to the IL.

Ryan Helsley's 3Ks in the 9th. pic.twitter.com/ovNvgka2TV

— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) March 26, 2026

O'Brien and Baker are holding strong thanks to all the saves, even if their ratios have gone up a bit lately. The lack of competition in their bullpens, respectively, should give them a lot of job security going forward.

What about poor Aroldis Chapman? His last save was on May 20 against Kansas City, and he's made just one appearance since then as the Red Sox have been either losing or winning by too many runs for him to get a save opportunity. You can't argue with those strikeout numbers per inning or the elite ratios; the ageless wonder continues to get it done. If Boston falls out of contention, he could be the best reliever on the trade market this July.

Jacob Latz of the Rangers and Paul Sewald of the Diamondbacks crack the top ten this month. I'll get to Latz here in the next section, but Sewald has done it as a result of a very strong recent stretch of saves.

Sewald has saved five games over the last two weeks, with all but one of those outings being clean (no runs). The veteran now has 15 saves and a sparkling 0.75 WHIP. His ERA is still up there at 3.8, and he's never going to be an elite strikeout guy at this stage of his career, but right now he's getting the job done.

Projected Top 10 Closers for Fantasy Baseball

When we factor in the remaining schedule and adjust for some expected regression, we end up with this list - my prediction for which relief pitchers finish as the top 10 closers by the end of the season.

There's not much to say about the top five here that hasn't been said already. I definitely got some heat about projecting Soto so highly last time, but I'm sticking to my guns here. He's been great and is the only really reliable option in the Pirates' pen right now. If they went out and got a closer before the deadline (someone like Chapman, perhaps, who was with them recently), then that could change things.

I have Atlanta closer Raisel Iglesias sixth, as his ranking is really only held down by a lack of saves. Despite missing half a month with a shoulder injury, he still has 10 saves for the first-place Braves, and his underlying numbers (31.8% K%, 17.3% SwStr%, 4.5% BB%) look fantastic.

The same logic applies to Jhoan Duran, who is sitting just outside the top-10 at #11 right now. He's been his usual dominant self lately, working four perfect innings for saves in each of his last four outings. He just needs the Phillies to get him more save situations, as he's been excellent at converting them.

Talk about perfect timing - Josh Hader is set to be activated off the IL today by the Houston Astros and should return to the closer role for the Astros. He had a few hiccups in his minor league rehab starts, but he's been the model of consistency as a closer over the last five years.

Josh Hader's 2026 debut!

The @astros closer works a scoreless frame and picks up a K in a rehab outing with the @SLSpaceCowboys 🔥 pic.twitter.com/Xm7KT42gFh

— Minor League Baseball (@MiLB) May 6, 2026

The Astros' bullpen has been a mess without Hader, so hopefully he can provide some stability for them. And if Houston does entertain dealing some veterans at the deadline, then Hader would surely be one of the top options available. A change of scenery to a contending team may only improve his value if that scenario ends up coming to fruition.

And finally, let's address the former starter and current Texas closer, lefty Jacob Latz. I was not sure that Latz would stick long-term as the closer in Texas, but he continues to get the job done and has picked up the save the last two nights for the Rangers.

Jacob Latz #AllForTX locked down his eighth save, firing a clean bottom of the ninth and recording two strikeouts. He threw 16 pitches (75 Strike%) and generated five whiffs (31.3 SwStr%). He had the 2nd highest📈in SwStr% from March/April to May among qualified RPs: pic.twitter.com/QBkI2dbSIZ

— Closer Monkey (@CloserMonkey) June 2, 2026

The underlying numbers look good, too, as he really improved in May as far as missing bats goes. His main competition is all guys currently on the IL (Chris Martin, Robert Garcia, and Cole Winn), and it's pretty clear that none of the other Texas relievers have the same type of strikeout stuff or closing experience.

There's certainly a chance that he doesn't finish the year as the closer in Texas, but so far, this experiment with converting him into a closer has gone well. And as long as he's pitching well and getting saves, it's hard to imagine Texas deviating from what's working.

My honorable mentions for others who I have just outside the top ten this month would be Tanner Scott of the Dodgers and Seanthony Domínguez of the White Sox. Paul Sewald belongs in the conversation, too.

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