Fantasy Baseball Draftable Relief Pitchers: Emmanuel Clase, Devin Williams, Josh Hader, Edwin Diaz and More

The MLB season is long and arduous. It hasn't been quite so treacherous the last week, but it was a bit of a process going through each fantasy baseball position and determining the “draftable” players based on preseason rankings. 

You can find those articles at the links below: Catcher, First Base, Second Base, Third Base, Shortstop, Outfield, Starting Pitcher.

Let's finish up by looking at the draftable relief pitchers based on ESPN's points rankings. The tiers are based on those rankings more than my own valuations, though I will give my own thoughts on guys I have strong feelings about. Most stats are from MLB.com.

Top Tier

• Emmanuel Clase, Cleveland Guardians, ranked 30th overall
• Devin Williams, New York Yankees, 36th
• Josh Hader, Houston Astros, 37th
• Edwin Diaz, New York Mets, 41st

My strategy is to not go after relief pitchers in the draft, especially not until the later rounds. I've shared mock drafts recently in which I didn't draft any relievers, eschewing saves completely.

I also did one in which I used the “Hero Relief Pitcher” strategy: I drafted Hader and Diaz in the fourth and fifth round, otherwise taking all hitters until the final rounds when I had to fill the pitching staff. You can read that column to see how the team turned out, but I felt that it was short on impact position players at the expense of two relievers, the most volatile players in fantasy baseball.

Pitchers suffer more injuries than position players, so it's automatically riskier to take a pitcher. That doesn't mean you have to ignore the aces, but it quickly gets to a point where players offer similar value, and it will mostly come down to luck and development. Relief pitchers are even more unsettled than those starters, making it a risky proposition to take the top closers early.

If you want saves, though, these are the pitchers. I could listen to an argument for any of the four as the top guy. You'll get plenty of strikeouts, too. Those numbers will still add up to less than even average starting pitchers, though, the main reason for my preferred method.

Second Tier

• Ryan Helsley, St. Louis Cardinals, 48th
• Mason Miller, Athletics, 51st
• Raisel Iglesias, Atlanta Braves, 58th
• Ryan Walker, San Francisco Giants, 66th

If I'm not going after the top guys, I'm surely not looking at this tier. Position players who are ranked in this range include Pete Alonso, Julio Rodriguez, Jarren Duran, and more. Those players are eminently more valuable than these closers.

Each guy here is better than a strikeout per inning, making them feasible fantasy players; without the volume of a starter, relievers pretty much have to reach that mark to offer the highest upside. Racking up saves is the other aspect, which often comes down to luck over any stretch of the season.

Helsley struck out 79 batters in 66.1 innings with 49 saves last season. That's a phenomenal fantasy performance, but it's tough to replicate. Miller struck out 104 in 65 innings (!) and had 28 saves. Playing with the A's might lower his save chances, but the team did add talent this offseason and might be a little better, which would raise his value.

Third Tier

• Felix Bautista, Baltimore Orioles, 82nd
• Andres Munoz, Seattle Mariners, 83rd
• Robert Suarez, San Diego Padres, 93rd
• Jhoan Duran, Minnesota Twins, 100th
• Jeff Hoffman, Toronto Blue Jays, 107th
• Ryan Pressly, Chicago Cubs, 122nd

I feel better about drafting in this tier than the previous one if you want closers; there's a lot more value among similar players by getting them in the 10th round rather than the fifth or sixth. That said, I still don't like drafting these guys.

Bautista missed the whole 2024 season and now returns after Tommy John surgery. It's hard to know what he will look like right away, making him a very risky player. He just made his Spring Training debut and looks on track to be ready for the beginning of the season, but there's still enough risk to steer me away.

Duran was one of the top relief pitchers drafted in fantasy leagues last year, armed with a 100-plus mph fastball. His strikeout rate dropped in 2024 from 2022-23, falling from around 33% to 29%. The latter number is still above average, but it goes from fantastic to just really good. Finding more of that K magic would raise his ceiling; it's a worthy bet if you want to grab a closer in this range.

Pressly has had a similar recent past to Duran: After sporting a strikeout rate over 31% every season from 2018 to 2022, Pressly dropped to 27.6% in 2023 and 23.7% in 2024. The latter is just a little better than average among all pitchers, making it less impressive for a reliever. He lost Houston's closer job last season when the team signed Hader, but now he has a chance to finish games again. His drop in performance is concerning, but Pressly is an OK bet at the end of your fantasy draft.

Early Season Streamers

• Alexis Diaz, Cincinnati Reds, 134th (starts season @ Miami Marlins)
• Pete Fairbanks, Tampa Bay Rays, 215th (vs. Colorado Rockies)
• Kenley Jansen, Los Angeles Angels, 297th (@ Chicago White Sox)

These guys are all the likely closers for their teams, and they each have great matchups to start the season. I would probably pick the White Sox, Rockies, and Marlins as the worst teams in baseball (in that order), so the opposing closers will open with three or four games with better chances at save opportunities.

I'd rather get one or more of these pitchers with my last pick or two rather than most of the players in the previous few tiers. They are short-term bets but valuable over the first weekend of the season. My strategy would then be to stream these guys, bringing in starters probably or whoever has the best matchup next.