Jhoan Duran

Jhoan Duran enters the 2026 season as the Philadelphia Phillies closer. Having started 2025 in Minnesota, closing for a much better team will instantly offer more fantasy value. It's no surprise that Duran had as many saves (16) for the Twins as he did for the Phillies last year. That's despite appearing in less than half as many games for Philadelphia (23) than he read more...

Jhoan Duran enters the 2026 season as the Philadelphia Phillies closer. Having started 2025 in Minnesota, closing for a much better team will instantly offer more fantasy value. It's no surprise that Duran had as many saves (16) for the Twins as he did for the Phillies last year. That's despite appearing in less than half as many games for Philadelphia (23) than he did for Minnesota (49). Duran's fastball is good enough to succeed anywhere. It averaged 100.6 MPH in 2025, the second fastest among qualified pitchers. Add in a splitter, knuckle curve, and a sweeper, and it's easy to see why Duran has a career 30.8% K%. Duran did have a career-low 27.9% K% (83rd percentile) in 2025. However, he had a 25.7% K% before the trade and a 33.3% K% as a member of the Phillies. There's no reason to fear it regressing further, and a repeat of his 2025 strikeout numbers will still leave Duran in the top echelon of closers. Now getting to have a full season on a very good team, he should have no problem reaching 30 saves for a second straight season. Duran is justifiably being drafted as a top-five closer and looks like one of the safest closer options in drafts.less...