Fantasy baseball 2020 tiered relief pitcher rankings
By Bill Pivetz
With more relief pitchers getting opportunities, fantasy baseball owners have their pick of the litter to build their bullpen.
The use of relief pitchers in baseball has changed over the last couple of years. Then, it was a simple progression from middle reliever to setup man to closer. Now, managers are using their best relief pitchers in the most crucial moments in the game, whether that be in the seventh, eighth or ninth inning. That has a big impact on how fantasy baseball owners value relievers.
Baseball managers are also quick to pull their starting pitcher from games. Looking at just five seasons ago, starting pitchers averaged 6.0 innings per start. That number was down almost an inning last season, 5.2 innings per start.
With pitcher injuries on the rise, Chris Sale, Luis Severino and Noah Syndergaard will all undergo Tommy John surgery, teams do not want to risk their future on just one game. This gives relief pitchers more innings on the mound to rack up strikeouts.
However, too many relievers dilutes the fantasy baseball market for valuable relievers. Saves are being spread around bullpens more often. Back in 2014, there were seven closers with at least 40 saves and three more with 39. Just last season, Kirby Yates was the only one to break 40. Alex Colome, Ian Kennedy and Taylor Rogers were in the top 10 with just 30.
Drafting a top-10 closer is more important now than ever. If you want to lock down saves, you’ll have to spend an early draft pick on a closer. Though, there is merit to the strategy of waiting for saves. We saw plenty of relievers emerge to take over their respective team’s closer job.
This post features the top-60 relief pitchers in baseball. It does not include starting pitchers with RP eligibility. So guys like Yonny Chirinos and Carlos Martinez will not be on this list. There will also be a lot of middle relievers and setup men. With some leagues using SV+HD, they have value as well.
Here it is. My final tiered rankings list. My top-60 relievers broken into eight tiers to give you the best idea on where to draft a certain relief pitcher based on your team’s needs.