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The Baller Ranks: Weekly Top 70 Relief Pitcher Rankings

Nick Mariano's Baller Ranks is a weekly fantasy baseball rankings list for the top 70 relief pitchers and closers. He ranks and analyzes updated pitcher values for Week 3.

Welcome to the first version of my 2021 Relief Pitcher Baller Ranks, where we take a weekly peek at my top 70 SPs moving forward. This is geared towards traditional 5x5 roto leagues, with the understanding that RPs are as volatile as it gets.

Since this is the first version of the year, it won't be "full" because much of the punch hinges on movement from the prior week and a reliable set of stats. For now, enjoy my early Top 70 RPs with notes on many of these arms. Do note that I leave off most injured players.

Beginning next week, we'll also have enough stats to go off of for a proper Baller Ranks spreadsheet with the usual 5x5 categories, strikeout rates, Called + Swinging Strike rates, xwOBA and more. Many of those stats are simply too noisy/small-sampleish this early, it'll just weigh us down.

Be sure to check all of our fantasy baseball lineup tools and resources:

 

Top 70 Relief Pitchers for Fantasy Baseball - Week 3

Rank $ Tier Player Notes
1 $14.0 1 Josh Hader
Few opportunities early but looks elite, DWill fading pads security
2 $14.0 1 Liam Hendriks Not worried one bit, happy to lean into someone who is
3 $13.5 1 Aroldis Chapman 11-of-12 outs via K, a top-tier closer once again
4 $12.0 2 Raisel Iglesias A few hiccups but it'll take far more to unseat him
5 $11.5 2 Edwin Diaz It's only been ~1 week for NYM, relax; 1 bad day in '21 so far
6 $11.5 2 Brad Hand Looks solid out of the gate, health appears OK
7 $11.0 2 Craig Kimbrel Congrats to all who bought low; elite Craig is rising up
8 $8.5 3 Ryan Pressly Has done all he could, HOU hasn't generated SV opps
9 $8.0 3 William Smith The 9th is his; Chris Martin dealing with finger numbness
10 $8.0 3 Kenley Jansen
LAD won't overwork him but he looks A-OK; Knebel just security
11 $7.0 3 Amir Garrett Multiple baserunners in all 3 appearances, tighten it up
12 $6.5 3 Jake McGee Looks incredible with MLB-leading five saves early
13 $6.5 3 Hector Neris Absorbed L on Tuesday but clean 5 IP prior to that
14 $6.0 3 Matt Barnes 12 K's, 1 baserunner over 6 IP -- he's the guy in Beantown
15 $6.0 3 Diego Castillo No Fairbanks just tightens Diego's grip on the gig
16 $6.0 3 Alex Reyes Trio of early saves, can he stay healthy? Stave off Hicks?
17 $5.0 3 Mark Melancon 1 measly baserunner so far - yer a wizard
18 $4.0 4 Greg Holland A couple of tightrope appearances, still favorite for 9th
19 $4.0 4 Yimi Garcia Simply looks better than Bass, guard has changed
20 $3.5 4 Rafael Montero
4 scoreless appearances, no one in COL is threatening anyway
21 $3.5 4 Daniel Bard Has yielded a run in 3-of-6 games, seat getting hot?
22 $3.0 4 Ian Kennedy Vet stopgap doing fine as TEX stopper; trade candidate
28 $2.5 5 Giovanny Gallegos One of the best non-closing RPs out there
23 $2.5 5 Drew Pomeranz Ditto
24 $2.0 5 Jake Diekman Still the primary stopper but matchups will dictate use
25 $2.0 5 Lou Trivino Cutter velo up, should be viewed as 40/60 in committee
26 $2.0 5 Richard Rodriguez Strong out of the gate, PIT just won't win often
27 $2.0 5 Jordan Romano Doesn't look sharp but Merryweather's hip may elevate him
29 $2.0 5 Alex Colome Lower K's and deep 'pen lower range of outcomes
30 $2.0 5 Emmanuel Clase Triple-digit cutters leading to 1A seat in CLE committee
31 $2.0 5 Cesar Valdez Favorite for SVs in BAL above Scott, lacks big K's
32 $1.5 5 Julian Merryweather Hopefully the hip injury isn't serious; medical history scary
33 $1.5 6 Lucas Sims Scooped a one-out save on Monday, we'll take it
34 $1.5 6 Stefan Crichton Prefer to avoid ARZ situation altogether
35 $1.5 6 Devin Williams Being eased off until he settles in, 4 BB's over 2 2/3 IP
36 $1.0 6 Trevor May If you don't believe in Diaz then May is a great stash
37 $1.0 6 Corey Knebel Nice to see Knebel healthy and "on," but Jansen still closer
38 $1.0 6 Gregory Soto Best upside for DET, save speculators should be on this
39 $1.0 6 James Karinchak Notched Tuesday save, Clase had pitched B2B though
40 $1.0 6 Kevin Ginkel Surrendered runs in his last 2, ARZ 9th is shaky as ever
41 $1.0 6 Jordan Hicks
42 $1.0 6 Tanner Scott
43 $1.0 6 Nick Wittgren
44 $1.0 6 Mike Mayers Would be top-15 RP if he got a crack at the 9th
45 $1.0 6 Chad Green
46 $1.0 6 Kendall Graveman Worth a speculative add given Montero's vulernability
47 $1.0 6 Adam Ottavino
48 $1.0 7 Garrett Crochet
49 $1.0 7 Michael Kopech Stellar multi-inning arm out of 'pen; 6.1 scoreless IP, 11 K's
50 $1.0 7 Taylor Rogers
51 $1.0 7 Jose Cisnero
52 $1.0 7 Daniel Hudson
53 $1.0 7 Jose Alvarado Throwing gas as PHI's late lefty, but Girardi likes set roles
54 $1.0 7 Dylan Floro
55 $1.0 7 David Bednar
56 $1.0 7 Emilio Pagan
57 $1.0 7 Tyler Rogers
58 $1.0 7 Austin Adams Monitor form coming off injury, could be top-5 K/9 guy
59 $1.0 7 Hansel Robles
60 $1.0 7 Kyle Zimmer
Has 1 save already, could earn more if Holland falters
61 $0.5 8 Ryan Weathers
62 $0.5 8 Keynan Middleton
63 $0.5 8 Anthony Bass
64 $0.5 8 Sean Newcomb
65 $0.5 8 Chris Devenski On restricted list for personal reasons, eye him w/ ARZ in flux
66 $0.5 8 Chris Rodriguez
67 $0.5 8 Kyle Cody
68 $0.5 8 Jonathan Loaisiga Not quite Kopech level but 6 shutout frames w/ 8 K's
69 $0.5 8 Hirokazu Sawamura
70 $0.5 8 Ryan Thompson



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