Updated Fantasy Baseball Closer Rankings and Relief Pitcher Rankings

Welcome back RotoBallers to more fantasy baseball rankings! With Spring Training rolling and the fantasy baseball draft season in full swing, it's time to look at closers and relief pitchers and see who may or may not be fantasy-relevant and worthy of a draft pick this season.

RotoBaller's lead MLB rankers - JB Branson, Pierre Camus, Ariel Cohen, Nicklaus Gaut, and Nick Mariano - have all updated their 2022 fantasy baseball mixed league roto rankings to help you prepare for draft day. You can also find our other draft rankings for all sorts of league formats, continually updated throughout the preseason, right here in our main fantasy baseball Rankings Wizard tool.

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Be sure to check all of our fantasy baseball waiver wire pickups and weekly lineup resources:

• Nick Mariano's fantasy baseball waiver wire pickups (Premium)
• Start/Sit recommendations - All Pitcher Matchups for Week Ahead
• Fantasy baseball waiver wire rankings (top 80 players)
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• Starting pitcher fantasy baseball waiver wire pickups
• Outfield fantasy baseball waiver wire pickups
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• Catcher fantasy baseball waiver wire pickups
• Hitter streamers - fantasy baseball waiver wire pickups
• Two-start pitcher streamers - fantasy baseball waiver wire pickups
• Cut List - Players To Consider Dropping

 

Updated Fantasy Baseball Relief Pitcher Rankings

In case you missed it, our very own "Big Pick Nick" Mariano was named the #1 overall most accurate industry expert ranker for the 2018 season, and Ariel Cohen was the top ranker in 2019. In addition, ATC Projections by Ariel Cohen have been the #1 most accurate projections system for the past three years. Be sure to follow their updated rankings and projections all season long!

Reliever Rank	Reliever Tier	Player	Position	Overall Rank	Overall Tier
1	1	Liam Hendriks	RP	36	3
2	1	Josh Hader	RP	40	3
3	2	Raisel Iglesias	RP	66	5
4	2	Ryan Pressly	RP	76	5
5	2	Craig Kimbrel	RP	79	5
6	2	Emmanuel Clase	RP	81	5
7	2	Edwin Diaz	RP	83	5
8	3	Kenley Jansen	RP	91	5
9	3	Aroldis Chapman	RP	93	6
10	3	Jordan Romano	RP	108	6
11	3	Giovanny Gallegos	RP	123	7
12	4	Michael Kopech	RP	145	8
13	4	Corey Knebel	RP	147	8
14	4	Taylor Rogers	RP	149	8
15	4	Scott Barlow	RP	178	10
16	4	Ranger Suarez	SP/RP	184	10
17	4	Mark Melancon	RP	190	10
18	4	Andrew Kittredge	RP	199	11
19	5	David Bednar	RP	215	11
20	5	Tanner Houck	SP/RP	221	11
21	5	Matt Barnes	RP	224	12
22	5	Lucas Sims	RP	226	12
23	5	Camilo Doval	RP	228	12
24	5	Gregory Soto	RP	234	12
25	6	Paul Sewald	RP	246	12
26	6	Devin Williams	RP	248	12
27	6	Blake Treinen	RP	249	12
28	6	Garrett Whitlock	RP	258	13
29	6	Jake McGee	RP	266	13
30	6	Lou Trivino	RP	267	13
31	6	Cal Quantrill	SP/RP	269	13
32	6	Anthony Bender	RP	273	13
33	6	Dylan Floro	RP	274	13
34	6	Robert Suarez	RP	278	13
35	6	Kyle Finnegan	RP	282	13
36	6	Nestor Cortes Jr.	SP/RP	283	14
37	6	Cole Sulser	RP	284	14
38	7	Drew Rasmussen	SP/RP	287	14
39	7	Aaron Ashby	RP	288	14
40	7	Rowan Wick	RP	294	14
41	7	Joe Barlow	RP	296	14
42	7	Jonathan Loaisiga	RP	297	14
43	7	William Smith	RP	299	14
44	7	Emilio Pagan	RP	303	14
45	7	Cristian Javier	SP/RP	308	14
46	7	Chad Green	RP	310	14
47	7	Diego Castillo	RP	318	15
48	7	Daniel Bard	RP	327	15
49	7	Dinelson Lamet	SP/RP	330	15
50	7	Chris Stratton	RP	331	15
51	7	Alex Colome	RP	333	15
52	8	Pierce Johnson	RP	335	15
53	8	Drew Steckenrider	RP	339	15
54	8	David Robertson	RP	342	16
55	8	Spencer Patton	RP	349	16
56	8	Hunter Strickland	RP	353	16
57	8	Mychal Givens	RP	354	16
58	8	Daniel Hudson	RP	355	16
59	8	Luis Cessa	RP	367	16
60	8	Michael Fulmer	RP	368	16
61	8	Art Warren	RP	369	16
62	8	Tyler Wells	RP	372	16
63	8	Hector Neris	RP	389	17
64	8	Jorge Alcala	RP	391	17
65	9	Chris Martin	RP	398	17
66	9	Manuel Rodriguez	RP	406	18
67	9	Tanner Rainey	RP	407	18
68	9	James Karinchak	RP	409	18
69	9	Matt Bush	RP	410	18
70	9	Tyler Rogers	RP	418	18
71	9	Aaron Bummer	RP	420	18
72	9	Brusdar Graterol	RP	421	18
73	9	Trevor May	RP	425	18
74	9	Garrett Crochet	RP	437	18
75	9	A.J. Puk	RP	439	18
76	9	Collin McHugh	SP/RP	440	18
77	10	Ryan Yarbrough	SP/RP	448	19
78	10	Jeffrey Springs	RP	450	19
79	10	Kendall Graveman	RP	468	20
80	10	Ken Giles	RP	472	20
81	10	Matt Wisler	RP	475	20
82	10	Ryan Thompson	RP	480	20
83	10	Josh Staumont	RP	484	20
84	10	Alex Reyes	RP	486	20
85	10	Tim Mayza	RP	488	20
86	10	Trevor Richards	RP	496	20
87	10	Trevor Rosenthal	RP	503	20
88	10	Jake Cousins	RP	504	20
89	10	Brent Suter	RP	507	20
90	10	Joely Rodriguez	RP	508	20
91	10	Mike Mayers	RP	509	20
92	10	Rafael Montero	RP	510	20
93	10	Carlos Estevez	RP	511	20
94	10	Adbert Alzolay	SP/RP	514	20
95	11	Tommy Kahnle	RP	517	20
96	11	Paul Fry	RP	519	20
97	11	Brad Hand	RP	523	20
98	11	Nick Sandlin	RP	525	20
99	11	Jake Diekman	RP	527	20
100	11	Seth Lugo	RP	530	20
101	11	Michael Lorenzen	RP	540	21
102	11	Caleb Thielbar	RP	549	21
103	11	Ian Kennedy	RP	551	21
104	11	A.J. Minter	RP	552	21
105	11	Andrew Chafin	RP	553	21
106	11	Steven Okert	RP	555	21
107	12	Ross Stripling	SP/RP	557	21
108	12	Robert Stephenson	RP	558	21
109	12	Jake Brentz	RP	559	21
110	12	Jose Alvarado	RP	564	21
111	12	Jarlin Garcia	RP	567	21
112	12	Darwinzon Hernandez	RP	568	21
113	12	Colin Poche	RP	570	21
114	12	Tyler Matzek	RP	572	21
115	12	Caleb Ferguson	RP	574	21
116	12	J.P. Feyereisen	RP	575	21
117	13	Andres Munoz	RP	578	21
118	13	Phil Maton	RP	584	21
119	13	Jordan Hicks	RP	587	21
120	13	Tyler Alexander	SP/RP	589	21
121	13	JT Chargois	RP	590	22
122	13	Genesis Cabrera	RP	592	22
123	13	Casey Sadler	RP	594	22
124	13	Amir Garrett	RP	596	22
125	13	Randy Dobnak	SP/RP	604	22
126	13	Austin Adams	RP	609	22
127	14	Tim Hill	RP	611	22
128	14	Yimi Garcia	RP	612	22
129	14	John King	RP	616	22
130	14	Alex Vesia	RP	620	23
131	14	Connor Brogdon	RP	622	23
132	14	Anthony Bass	RP	626	23
133	14	Ryan Tepera	RP	627	23
134	14	Caleb Smith	SP/RP	628	23
135	14	Richard Bleier	RP	630	23
136	14	Julian Merryweather	RP	631	23
137	14	Hansel Robles	RP	632	23
138	14	Tony Watson	RP	634	23
139	14	Aaron Loup	RP	641	23
140	14	Drew Pomeranz	RP	644	23
141	14	Mitch White	SP/RP	645	23
142	14	Reynaldo Lopez	SP/RP	646	23
143	14	Deolis Guerra	RP	649	23
144	14	Joe Kelly	RP	657	23
145	15	Bryan Garcia	RP	661	23
146	15	Tyler Duffey	RP	667	23
147	15	Clay Holmes	RP	669	23
148	15	Brad Boxberger	RP	671	23
149	15	Nick Wittgren	RP	674	23
150	15	Richard Rodriguez	RP	675	23
151	15	Adam Ottavino	RP	676	23
152	15	Josh Sborz	RP	678	23
153	15	Luke Jackson	RP	682	23
154	15	Phil Bickford	RP	684	23
155	15	Sammy Long	SP/RP	685	23
156	15	Josh Taylor	RP	686	23
157	15	Tanner Scott	RP	689	23
158	15	Kervin Castro	RP	692	23
159	15	Craig Stammen	RP	695	23
160	15	Pete Fairbanks	RP	702	23
161	15	Anthony Misiewicz	RP	703	23
162	15	Jose Leclerc	RP	705	23
163	15	Sean Newcomb	RP	706	23
164	15	Dominic Leone	RP	707	23
165	15	Nick Anderson	RP	710	23
166	15	Brooks Raley	RP	711	23
167	15	Jose Quijada	RP	723	23
168	15	Heath Hembree	RP	726	23
169	15	Thomas Hatch	RP	728	23
170	15	Alex Faedo	RP	729	23
171	15	Tony Santillan	RP	732	23
172	15	Sam Coonrod	RP	736	23
173	15	Greg Holland	RP	737	23
174	15	Ryan Helsley	RP	739	23
175	15	Ryne Stanek	RP	742	23
176	15	Sergio Romo	RP	744	23
177	15	Alec Mills	SP/RP	747	23
178	15	Jorge Lopez	SP/RP	749	23
179	15	John Gant	SP/RP	764	23
180	15	Jose Cisnero	RP	767	23
181	15	Dylan Coleman	RP	773	24
182	15	Bailey Falter	SP/RP	778	24
183	15	Paolo Espino	SP/RP	781	24
184	15	J.B. Wendelken	RP	790	24
185	15	Scott Effross	RP	792	24
186	15	Spencer Strider	SP/RP	793	24
187	15	Kirby Yates	RP	796	24
188	15	Josh Fleming	SP/RP	802	24
189	15	J.B. Bukauskas	RP	804	24

 

Tier 1

It's Hendriks or Hader here, and if you want to nab an elite closer this season, you're going to need to draft one early. These two are going in the third round of drafts.

I would be fine taking either of them, but I lean towards Hendriks as do our rankings. After posting 38 saves last season, he's primed for another huge year with Chicago. I have nothing against Hader, but the walks really stand out here when you compare them to how incredibly efficient Hendriks was (less than one walk per nine innings).

Personally, I have been punting saves in some of my drafts this year as I have been trying to get some leverage on other owners in my leagues who are paying a premium for closers. If you're not comfortable with that strategy or just don't want to spend a third-round pick on these two, then there are still quality closers to be had in the next few tiers, too.

 

Tier 2

Raisel Iglesias and Edwin Diaz stand out here to me as the cream of the crop in this tier. Both had over 30 saves last year and the unquestioned closers for their respective teams (good teams, that should win a lot of games).

Iglesias continued to increase his K% while decreasing his BB% for the fourth-straight season - you know what you're getting with him at this point in his career. Diaz saw his ERA puff up to 3.45 last year, but his underlying numbers were just fine. With the elite starting pitching the Mets have put together and the above-average collection of bats, he could find himself in more save situations than he did last season.

UPDATE: Craig Kimbrel has been traded to the Dodgers in exchange for outfielder A.J. Pollack.

That really throws a wrinkle in the rankings and of course, it happened the same day this article was published! That's par for the course with this wacky post-lockout Spring that we have had so far. If you already grabbed Kimbrel in the late rounds, then congratulations on snagging the best value closer. He's going to get a ton of save opportunities for a title contender and Blake Treinen had already gone on record that he preferred working as a setup man. Our rankings have slotted him in fifth overall right between these next arms.

Ryan Pressly and Emmanuel Clase are the next two closers here. Both are solid options coming off 26 and 24 save seasons, respectively. We have Pressly ahead of Clase and that's likely due to the higher K% and pitching for a better team. Both guys had sub-one WHIPs last season and don't mess around with walks.

 

Tier 3

As we drop down into Tier 3, we are now talking about guys you are taking in rounds 8-12 basically and there's far less certainty here, which explains why the prices for the top handful of elite closers continue to go up.

Kenley Jansen gets dropped to Tier 3 mainly due to the fact that it's likely he splits some save opportunities with lefty Will Smith. He's still at the top of his game and joins a talented Braves team, but it's hard to take him ahead of the rest of these guys who have a stranglehold on the high-leverage situations.

I had a whole section on why to avoid Treinen here, but that's a moot point now with the Kimbrel trade, so let's look at the other relevant relievers instead.

I'd prefer Aroldis Chapman or youngster Jordan Romano ahead of Treinen. Chapman can be a drag on your WHIP with all the walks, but he still saved 30 games last season and the Yankees don't really have anyone else in that bullpen who's a threat to his save situations. I really like Romano in Toronto this year and if the Blue Jays don't beat everyone by 10 runs every night with that elite offense, he's got a great chance at 30 saves with solid ratios.

Giovanny Gallegos is another young closer worth considering here, but he carries some risk too, as it was recently reported that the Cardinals could also use a committee approach to closing out games. Despite his electric stuff, St. Louis has several other really good arms in that pen too that they could choose to use in save situations. My buddy Eric Samulski sums it up well with this tweet.

My Gallegos shares don't love this, but I think they expected it https://t.co/TWjNpFLH3a

— Eric Samulski (@SamskiNYC) April 1, 2022

Hicks is a phenom and going to be used in plenty of high leverage situations, too. They're both excellent young arms and Gallegos certainly won't hurt you if your league counts holds as well as saves with his solid ratios.

 

Tier 4

This tier is loaded with guys who are either splitting the closing duties, who play for below-average teams where they won't get as many save situations, or lack the elite strikeout upside that we see from the upper-tier closers (see Melancon, Mark).

Rather than talk about any of them, I'd much rather implore you to draft Michael Kopech here. After pitching out of the pen last season (and looking incredible), he's slated to move to the rotation this year and I love the idea of getting a starter with RP eligibility. Kopech's stuff is downright filthy and while he probably will have pitch counts and inning limitations, he could pile up strikeouts and wins as a starter with good ratios too.

Ranger Suarez is another SP/RP here in this tier, and while he was lights out down the stretch, he relied a lot more on an elite groundball rate than he did on swing-and-miss stuff. I'm fine grabbing him around picks 180-190 and hoping it wasn't a fluke.

Corey Knebel and Taylor Rogers are both $8 auction values and then it drops to $5 closers here with Barlow, Melancon, and Kitteredge. Knebel is my favorite of the bunch and he could rack up saves in bunches if the Phillies have a big year. The Twins made a splash by getting Correa in the offseason and could contend in the AL Central, too.

 

Tier 5

Could I interest you in another starter or two who are also SP-eligible? Tanner Houck stands out to me here as he had elite strikeout stuff last season while swapping back and forth between the pen and the rotation. He's being drafted as many as 40-60 picks too late, according to our rankings when compared to his ADP.

Cal Quantrill will be starting for the Guardians too, though he doesn't have the same strikeout potential as Houck. He put together an excellent second half last season and was a solid inning-eater with good run prevention if nothing else.

As far as the other closers in this tier go, I know a lot of people are enamored with Lucas Sims, but the Reds might be bad and he's already set to open the season on the injured list. He's not someone you should take ahead of Barlow, Bednar, or Kitteredge despite his upside.

Camilo Doval is pretty clearly the best young arm of the trio of Giants closers, but it still sounds like they'll close by committee. He's worth grabbing at his ADP, however, with the hopes that he ends up with the most save opportunities in San Francisco on a very good Giants team.

 

Tier 6 And Beyond

If we knew whether or not Robert Suarez or Dinelson Lamet would win the job as Padres' closer, they'd both be a steal compared to where they're being drafted. But it could honestly end up neither of them with Emilio Pagan and others all vying for save situations.

I had to admit, I am intrigued by Nestor Cortes Jr. as a starter this season. He combines a number of different arm angles, wind-ups, and throws a lot of different pitches, and has been pretty effective as hitters have a hard time adjusting. Another starter down here is Drew Rasmussen, who while unproven, is projecting as the #2 starter for the Rays right now and has a chance of having a solid season. We know Tampa has had a lot of success with pitchers.

I'm also pretty enamored with Aaron Ashby and you can read more of my thoughts on him here. He should start the season in long relief or as a sixth starter, but he's going to be good, and at some point, I think he's likely to crack the rotation.

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