Risers and Fallers: Relief Pitchers
Relief pitchers are wild, untamable beasts, and the fantasy saves and holds markets are incredibly volatile from season to season. In competitive, standard 5×5 roto formats, we mostly pay up for the ace closers because they are rare commodities. During the season, we chase relievers moving up their team’s respective bullpen hierarchies in hopes of landing a team’s next closer for pennies on the dollar. In leagues that include holds, the landscape is even more volatile and unpredictable. Skills decline, bullpen roles change, and relievers’ respective teams get better or worse from season to season. Since 2024, only 12 relievers have averaged 20 or more holds per season. One of them (Griffin Jax) is now a starter, and another (Bryan Abreu) has become the biggest liability at the position. The reliever with 30+ holds in a season is a unicorn. Former Giants and current Blue Jays submariner Tyler Rogers is the only reliever with 30 or more in each of the last three seasons. In 2025, six relievers earned 30 or more. In 2024, there were seven, and in 2023 only three, including Rogers. Though in holds leagues, holds are just part of the fantasy package — it’s only one category. Similar to how some managers approach OBP instead of AVG leagues, we often tend to overvalue the category that shifts from the standard. To provide value, relievers must also help in strikeouts and the ratio categories.
In this article, I’ll review the biggest risers and fallers from last season to this season. The goal is twofold: to identify relievers who might be fantasy-useful (for standard formats and holds leagues) and to weed out those whose skills, roles and fantasy viability are declining. Mike Podhorzer wrote a fantastic piece on non-closing relievers, and you’ll see some of the same pitchers highlighted in his data tables.
