Ryan Helsley 2024 Player Outlook: Oft-Injured Flamethrower Looks To Get Off On The Right Foot
3 months agoAfter spending the first three years of his career as a strict middle reliever and setup man, St. Louis Cardinals closer Ryan Helsley burst onto the scene with a dominant 2022. Helsley overtook the struggling Giovanny Gallegos as the closer once the calendar turned to May that year, firing off 16 1/3 scoreless innings before allowing his first earned run. The right-hander's All-Star campaign was enough to set him up as St. Louis' favorite for saves entering 2023, but he faced far more adversity. Starting the year with a blown save on Opening Day, Helsley later hit the injured list on June 10 due to a strained right forearm that would ultimately sideline him for nearly three months all the way up until Sep. 1 amid a lost Cardinals season. After attaining a pristine 1.25 ERA in the season prior, the 29-year-old carted a far inferior 3.24 ERA to the shelf but ended the campaign looking like his '22 self with a 0.77 ERA and seven saves over his final 11 2/3 frames. All told, Helsey put together a 2.45 ERA, 1.06 WHIP, and 52:17 K:BB, and 14 saves across 36 2/3 innings of work in 2023. What version of Helsley shows up in 2024 remains to be seen, but it's not big enough of a question mark to unseat him as a top 12 reliever in fantasy drafts. A bigger question mark for Helsley is perhaps his ability to keep his throwing arm healthy; a stress reaction in his right elbow in August of 2021 would end his season prematurely and a right shoulder impingement would cost him over a month of action back during 2019. The flame-throwing Helsley consistently touches 100 mph on the gun with his fastball, and although he didn't qualify in most Statcast rankings, Helsley's .157 expected batting average and 35.6% strikeout rate were unreal marks. Among the most talented at his position in 2024, Helsley should be treated as a high-risk, high-reward closer, but you're unlikely to need to spend a top-100 pick to land him.