Ryan Pressly 2024 Player Outlook: Longtime Closer Set To Take Back Seat After Splashy Offseason Acquisition
3 months agoHouston Astros relief pitcher Ryan Pressly enters the 2024 season with far different expectations than he's experienced in recent years. Functioning as Houston's unquestioned closer since Roberto Osuna fell out of the majors in 2020, Pressly now has company and a significant threat to his ninth-inning gig in the form of five-time All-Star Josh Hader. Hader is the early favorite for saves after landing a historic contract with the Astros, and his arrival means Pressly is likely to give way to the closing job that was all his for the past four years. Pressly got off to a rocky start in 2023, taking an Opening Day loss and giving up two runs, and he didn't assemble a noticeably strong string of play at any point. Despite Bryan Abreu and Hector Neris throwing well all year long, Pressly maintained his grip as the closer and produced a solid, yet unspectacular 3.58 ERA, 1.07 WHIP, and 74:16 K:BB with 31 saves. The 35-year-old right-hander's reliance on off-speed pitches just isn't likely to hold up to Hader's incoming blow-away stuff, but he should at least remain in the mix for a save chance here and there if the matchup is right. Pressly's 91.3 mph average exit velocity that sat in the bottom-five percent of baseball, however, is also a major red flag. Considering Hader has stayed exceptionally healthy throughout the course of his seven-year big-league career, Pressly's contingency upside doesn't appear to be particularly pronounced unless Hader's late 2022 form rears its ugly head. Whereas Pressly was hovering around the top 12 relievers in 2024 fantasy drafts before Hader's signing, he's now more of a low-upside late-round flier and ratio stabilizer in leagues that don't record holds. Pressly should shift into the departed Neris' high-leverage spot, a role that yielded an MLB-high 33 holds a year ago.