Roto Riteup: May 24, 2026

Dylan Crews is back, baby!

On the Agenda: 

1. Closer Chaos
2. Quick Hits
3. Various News and Notes
4. Streaming Pitchers
5. Ottoneu Six Picks

Closer Chaos

An 11-inning affair during a double-header is prime territory for pitcher implosions and both the Cardinals and Reds bullpens had their struggles. Tony Santillan blew a save in the 9th, giving up 2 ER on 2 H and 2 BB. Given one of the hits was a homer, he is lucky things didn’t turn out worse. Graham Ashcraft and Brock Burke combined for three scoreless innings and a hold apiece before Ashcraft, if you are keeping score in that pen. The Cardinal pen was actually pretty strong, going 4 IP of 1-run ball before Riley O’Brien took the loss in the 11th, allowing the zombie runner to score. Maybe the lede in this paragraph was unfair to St. Louis.

Jeff Hoffman may be retaking the 9th in Toronto. He closed out the Pirates by striking out the side on 13 pitches, including six whiffs. This was the second time in the last three days that Hoffman got a save, with Louis Varland unavailable. Interestingly, between the two outings, he threw 25 pitches – 16 sliders, seven splitters, and two four-seam fastballs. He used the four-seam 37% of the time last year and that was his problem pitch, as it allowed a .644 xSLG and 10 of his 15 HRA. He was using it about the same amount this year and all three of his 2026 HRA were off the pitch. We’ll see how he does moving forward, but ditching a pitch that keeps getting crushed seems like not the worst idea.

Another night, another closer for the Twins. But this time it was Taylor Rogers getting his second, so we don’t get to add a tally to their list of pitchers with at least one save. The Twins efforts to chase down the Diamondbacks for the most pitchers to record a save in a season is the only interesting thing going on in that pen.

Bryan King was at it agin, closing out a 3-0 win for the Astros in Wrigley. We talked about his situation yesterday. Richard Lovelady got his 4th save for the Nats, and he will continue to be in the 9th inning picture. Mason Miller locked down his 16th save, but he only had two strikeouts in his perfect inning. Kirby Yates was the latest to get a shot for the Angels, his 1st save of the year. Paul Sewald got his 12th and Jhoan Duran bounced back from the Friday night loss to pick up his 9th.

Quick Hits

Taj Bradley returned from the IL and picked up where he left off, striking out five and walking two over 5 IP against the Red Sox. He gave up just one run on three hits and picked up his 5th win.

Yordan Alvarez was pulled mid-AB with back spasms on Saturday, and won’t play today either. The team said removing him was precautionary and that today’s off-day was already planned. But that all feels very optimistic and backs can be tricky. Given the Astros track record, fantasy managers are probably not feeling all too confident at the moment. I know I am not. But there is nothing to do but wait and see.

Another Lone Star state bat left early, as well. Josh Jung left with left shoulder soreness, possibly a result of a diving catch. Jung was have a resurgent 2026 season, so this is something to track. Shoulder injuries can mess with hitters and Jung wouldn’t be the first bat to get hurt on a diving catch and see his offense go into a funk.

I didn’t feel good about streaming Jake Irvin of Grant Holmes in their matchup, but Irvin threw five no-hit innings while striking out seven and walking just one, and Holmes piled up 10 strikeouts in his five innings. I will still be hesitant to trust either pitcher, but this is a reminder that they both have upside. Irvin, however, left with an injury. He tried to warm up to start the 6th and had to come out. He seemed to be in some discomfort after attempting to field a ball in the 5th. He said it was back tightness, but the team hasn’t provided an update except to say he will be getting an MRI today.

Meanwhile, Lourdes Gurriel Jr., who left Friday’s game early, hit the IL Saturday with hamstring tightness. The team is hopeful they are being overly cautious and he’ll be back after a short absence, but expect more information soon.

Various News and Notes

Bryan Torres made his debut for the Cardinals Saturday and made the most of it. Torres played left field and hit seventh in both games of the Cardinals double-header with the Reds, going a combined 3-8 with a homer and a walk. The 28-year-old isn’t really a prospect, but after toiling away in the minors for more than a decade, this was still a pretty great moment.

The “upper 20’s career minor leaguer gets the call and gets hot and we all wonder if he’s just a really late breakout” story isn’t a new one and it never really ends well. Go checkout a leaderboard of 27+ year old rookies since 2010 for a who’s who of guys fantasy managers got excited about unnecessarily. If Torres sticks around and gets hot, he might be Frank Schwindel or Joey Meneses, but rookies that age who go on to be valuable fantasy players for more than a month are few and far between. The exceptions are the guys like Jose Abreu who were rookies in MLB but had been playing at the highest levels in other countries first. Jordan Walker, on the other hand, had a homer in both ends of the double-header, and that is a profile I remain excited about.

Remember last year when it seemed like Christian Walker was suddenly crazy old and washed? He is up to a 139 wRC+ in 2026 after going 3-3 with a walk and two homers, driving in all three runs for the Astros on Saturday. Walker has seen some plate discipline improvement, but there isn’t a ton to suggest he is actually better this year, under the hood. He is chasing more and swinging in the zone less; his swing speed, exit velocity, fast swing rate, and hard-hit rate are all pretty similar to 2025. It seems like in 2025 he didn’t get the results he deserved, though he may be making up for that this year. Expect some regression, but Walker will continue to produce.

Walker wasn’t the only guy to hit a pair of long balls Saturday – Liam Hicks wanted in on the act. Hicks hadn’t hit a home run since May 7 and had a 27 wRC+ in that 15 day window, so Saturday was much needed. I don’t think Hicks is a bad hitter, but I would bet against him reaching 20 HR this year, despite having 11 already. He just hasn’t shown that kind of power at any point in his career.

Patrick Corbin outpitching Paul Skenes wasn’t on my bingo card, but here we are. Skenes now has a 3.00 ERA after giving up 4 ER on 9 H and a walk in 5 IP with just 2 K in Toronto. A 3.00 ERA is nothing to sneeze at but somehow feels disappointing from Skenes, doesn’t it? Corbin, meanwhile went six allowing just 1 ER on 5 H wtih 7 K and no walks to get his second win, bringing his ERA down to 3.86. To say I am skeptical that Corbin has found the fountain of youth is an understatement, but I guess he’s worth watching.

Brayan Bello pitched well as a follower, once again, taking innings 2-6 and striking out five with just one walk, eight hits and two runs, both unearned. He has been such a disappointment this year, but in his three follows, he has gone 18.1 IP with a 1.74 FIP. The Red Sox would probably be well served to just let him continue to follow.

We all wondered after his last start if Roki Sasaki was finally figuring things out. Saturday didn’t answer many questions. He wasn’t terrible, but he walked two and struck out four over five innings, allowing three runs (2 ER) on four hits. If Sasaki had been pitching well, we would say he got BABIP’ed and move on. If he hadn’t started to turn a corner, we would say 7.2 K/9 and 3.6 BB/9 is not getting it done. But we’ll just have to wait and see what he does next. That’ll be against the Phillies.

Some fun numbers from the Dodgers offense, as Teoscar Hernández had three hits and six runs batted in, while Freddie Freeman piled up four walks. He wasn’t alone, as every other Dodger walked once, except Mookie Betts, who managed to go 0-6 on a night when every one of his his teammates not only reached base but either drove in or scored a run. Betts has not remotely bounced back from his poor 2025, and at 33-years-old it is fair to question what a rebound will look like. He won’t continue to be this bad but how good can he still be? Teoscar, however, is up to a 125 wRC+ and looks quite useful.

Finally, how about Stephen Kolek with the CGSO against Seattle? This was a dead-ball-era throw back, as he gave up just four hits, but had only two strikeouts and one walk. Somehow he went the first seven innings without a single strike out, before getting one in each of the last two innings. That does not seem like a feat he should be expected to repeat.

Streaming Pitchers

Streamers are under 50% rostered on CBS.

Pitcher for Today: Christian Scott (NYM, 36%) vs. WAS

There are some other pitches going today that I like as streamers, but the matchups aren’t great. Brandon Sproat has the Dodgers. Matthew Liberatore is at Great American Ballpark. So Scott wins by default.

Pitcher for Tomorrow: Kumar Rocker (TEX, 17%) vs. HOU

The Astros are banged up and no Yordan Alvarez makes this matchup much tastier. Plus this is a good excuse to watch Rocker and his opponent, Tatsuya Imai. Imai didn’t walk a hitter in his last start and while that isn’t some incredible feat, it represents progress. I am curious to see if he can keep taking steps.

Ottoneu Six Picks

A new addition to my Roto Riteups will be sharing my Ottoneu Six Picks lineups. You can read more about Six Picks here but the concept is simple: six lineup spots (C, CI, MI, OF, SP, RP); $120 to fill those six spots; Ottoneu FanGraphs Points scoring. The only thing to keep in mind: Your SP will only score points if he starts and your RP will only grab points if he relieves. So no grabbing an RP-eligible player slated to start today.

Here is my Saturday lineup:

• Ivan Herrera ($11.25) – I can bet on him at that park.
• Juan Soto ($69.25) – With my inexpensive Crews choice, I can splurge on Soto.
• Sal Stewart ($7.75) – Stewart is picking it up again.
• Dylan Crews ($3.00) – Let’s ride the hot hand!
• Bryan Woo ($25.00) – I didn’t love most of the choices, and he was a better value than Yoshinobu Yamamoto.
• Gregory Soto ($0.50) – It’s a Soto stack.