Ernesto Frieri notched his third save in as many days this afternoon in a 3-2 Angels victory over the White Sox. The Angels’ ninth-inning man faced one over the minimum, surrendering a one-out single to Dayan Viciedo, en route to his seventh save on the year. In his last three trips to the hill, Frieri is 3-for-3 in save opportunities with a 0.00 ERA, a 0.54 WHIP and a 7.0 K/BB. Additionally, the right-hander is a perfect 4-for-4 in May and has lowered his ERA from 2.19 to 1.59.

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Mariano Rivera notched his 13th save on the season and the 621st of his career this afternoon as the Yankees clipped the Rockies, 3-1. The future Hall-of-Famer got two quick outs off the bats of Wilin Rosario and Nolan Arenado before plunking the third batter he faced, Jordan Pacheco. But the potential tying run, Josh Rutledge, grounded out to Jayson Nix to seal Colorado’s fate. The closer’s age and last year’s injury are clearly not a factor. Mariano is Mariano. Arguably (hardly) the best closer ever.

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Fantasy baseballers in non-holds leagues often look past middle relievers who don’t appear to be in line for saves. But these late-inning arms can provide support in the wins, strikeouts, ERA, WHIP and even K/BB categories for those in alternative formats.

Here are three middle relievers who could help you stabilize a few categories in your standard non-holds leagues.

All ownership percentages reflect Yahoo! leagues.

Trevor Rosenthal | Cardinals | 15% – Trevor Rosenthal became a household name late last season when his rocket of an arm first went on display in the bigs. Based on this showing, industry analysts quickly pegged the fireballer as the favorite to succeed Jason Motte for ninth-inning duties in St. Louis when Motte went down with what would eventually be a torn ulnar collateral ligament. And Mike Matheny provided Rosenthal with the opportunity to do so, but he blew two saves in his first four outings, resulting in Edward Mujica’s ascension into the Cardinals’ closing role.

Despite the fact that Rosenthal may not get the nod in the ninth frame doesn’t suggest the right-hander isn’t valuable for fantasy purposes. Sure, a large portion of the 15% of leagues that own shares of Rosenthal are likely to be holds leagues where he carries the most value, but it’s time for owners in all leagues to consider adding the 23-year-old for steady production in the strikeout and ratio categories.

Rosenthal’s 30.9 K% isn’t exactly Kimbrelian, but it places him among the top 25 relievers with at least 10 innings on the hill — and it reeks of upside. His current 2.95 ERA (2.85 FIP) and 1.31 WHIP also leave a lot to be desired — especially if you’re adding him for ratio support — but it appears he’s made some strides as of late. In Rosenthal’s last six trips to the bump (5.2 IP), he’s posted a 0.00 ERA with a 0.76 WHIP and a 33% K%. Seems helpful, right? It is.

Parlay the fireballer’s recent success with the understanding that he has just 41 major league innings under his belt and he has the potential to be a future closer.

Jerry Blevins | Athletics | 4%  – Blevins, the Athletics’ 29-year-old southpaw, is 2-0 with a 1.96 ERA (1.78 FIP), a 0.71 WHIP and a 27.9 K% in just over 18 innings of work. He’s missing bats and inducing weak contact at career rates — 12.5% SwStr% and 25% IFFB% respectively — meaning his stuff is either better than ever or he’s due for some regression. In addition to the spike in swings-and-misses and weak contact, Blevins has earned more fly ball outs in ‘13 (50% FB%) versus his career (43.7% FB%), but luckily, most are falling in the field of play (4.2% HR/FB — also a career best).

Blevins may get bit by the regression bug sooner-or-later, but in the meantime, allow him to provide your team with some scab wins, strikeouts and ratio support. Leaving a middle reliever like Blevins in your starting lineup is a relatively low-risk strategy to gain an edge in those categories since they pitch so few innings per week.

Steve Delabar | Blue Jays | 2% – Speaking of scab wins, Delabar is 3-0 with a 1.80 ERA (2.83 FIP) and a 28.2% K%. Fantasy owners love the three scabs wins, but we can’t expect them going forward since there is a bit of luck associated with them. The downfall for the 29-year-old is an unimpressive 16.5% BB% — the root of a 1.35 WHIP — but sometimes we have to take the good with the bad. Streaming middles like Delabar in deeper rotisserie or head-to-head formats is an intriguing strategy for owners looking for a few extra strikeouts and some possible wins.

Rafael Soriano untucked his shirt for the ninth time in ten chances this evening, and he did so facing some of the heaviest hitters — and most prolific whiffers — in the league today. The 33-year-old faced just one over the minimum — yielding a two-out single to Evan Gattis — en route to his 141st career save. Soriano induced consecutive groundouts to Justin Upton and Freddie Freeman, then got Dan Uggla to fly out to right-center with Gattis on first to end the game. Surprisingly, Soriano failed to record a strikeout against the Braves — who entered today with 255 strikeouts as a team, second most in the majors — causing his K% on the year to dip to 24%. And although Soriano may not be receiving the same attention as he did when pitching in the Big Apple, he’s quietly putting together another fine season, and continues to be a top ten closing option. Maybe all that Strasburg, Harper, Zimmermann talk is overshadowing him?

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Alarm goes off. Slam snooze. Slam snooze again. Wake up. Grab some coffee. Flip on the laptop. Check your fantasy baseball team(s). Check the box scores. Navigate to Fangraphs. Rummage through the leaderboards. Sort. Analyze. Grab a second cup of coffee then sort again.

It’s a vicious cycle. But we all do it, right? Right? Maybe it’s just me, but, I’m eternally on the prowl for something different when scouring the leaderboards.

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– Craig Kimbrel locked down his 9th save on 10 pitches tonight in a 3-2 Braves victory over the Nationals. The right-hander whiffed just one batter in the top of the ninth-inning resulting in a dip of his K% from 38.9% to 38.5% on the season. Oof. Kimbrel is now 9-of-10 in save opportunities with a 1.69 ERA (1.03 FIP) on the year. But the narrative shouldn’t just be about ninth-inning man here. Fredi Gonazlez summonsed both Jordan Walden and Eric O’Flaherty from the ‘pen prior to calling on the closer. Combined, Walden and O’Flaherty dished 2.2 clean innings while fanning five Nationals. Entering tonight, the Braves bullpen held a 2.18 ERA (2.84 FIP) in 70.1 IP. Not bad.

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When possible, we try to avoid one-trick ponies in fantasy baseball. That’s why hitters like Mike Trout, Carlos Gonzalez and Andrew McCutchen are as valuable as they are — they’re balanced and typically contribute to each of the traditional five hitting categories. But when honing your search for the perfect middle reliever in your deep holds league, the task becomes a bit trickier. In order to get the best bang for your buck, you want to look for the middle reliever who can earn the scab win, grab a save when the anointed closer has the night off and posts eye-popping whiff rates.

Let’s take a look at the four middle relievers who currently have at least one hold with a K% of 30% or better and a fifth reliever you should be paying attention to.

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– Brandon League seems to enjoy skating on thin ice. The Dodgers’ ninth-inning man blew a save in New York last night — and including tonight — has surrendered four earned runs in his last six outings. Tonight’s earned run came on a leadoff solo homer by Ike Davis of the Metropolitans. League managed to sneak his way out of the ninth without any further damage to earn his sixth save — and most importantly, a Dodgers victory — but some have to be wondering how long his leash is. League’s velocity appears to be down a few ticks and his stuff isn’t causing batters to swing-and-miss (5.3% SwStr%) as they’ve done in the past. Moreover, League has recorded just three strikeouts on the season (8.1% K%). Keep close tabs on Kenley Jansen — and even make the speculative add — if you’re as concerned as I am.

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–Edward Mujica snuck himself out of a jam tonight to earn the four-out save, his first since May 2012, in a 4-3 Cardinals victory over the Phillies. Mike Matheny called for the 28-year-old Mujica to bail out young gun Trevor Rosenthal with two down and two on in the eighth. The veteran subsequently fanned Laynce Nix to end the Phillies’ rally. Mujica then surrendered two consecutive singles of his own to start the ninth-inning, but was able to finish off the Phils with two infield groundouts and a strikeout, securing his first save of the season. Quickly after the save, our friend Drew Silva tweeted this:

Edward Mujica, acquired last July for, umm, Zack Cox, now has a 1.11 ERA, 0.90 WHIP and 28/4 K/BB in 32 1/3 innings with the Cardinals.

— Drew Silva (@drewsilv) April 19, 2013

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As we approach the end of week three in fantasy baseball, it’s probably safe to say we can do a decent job of evaluating our team’s strengths and weaknesses. The general rule-of-thumb encourages owners not to panic too early with regards to our stars, but now could be a good opportunity to try and acquire some middle relief as a throw-in via trade (to an owner that IS panicking) or simply from the waiver wire.

Thus far, there have been 77 relievers who have earned a hold. But, there have been just four middle relievers who have notched at least three without allowing a free pass. Now we’re talking! Some are willing to accept the fact that “holds guys” are there to earn you “holds” and will sacrifice their ratios and whiffs to acquire said holds. Don’t settle for mediocrity. Get the reliever who will positively contribute to as many categories as possible.

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