Scheming For Relief: Tolleson, Barrett and Siegrist

The beginning of the fantasy baseball season can be a crucial time for those looking to make adjustments to their teams courtesy of the waiver wire. With that said, we’ll be looking at a few more middle relievers this week that may be on your league’s wire and could be a steady source of holds and strikeouts going forward.

As always, I’ll list ownership in both Yahoo! and ESPN, simply because those are the outlets I frequent the most. Knowing that most standard leagues may not value holds or solds (holds + saves), I looked for players owned in three percent or less of leagues on each aforementioned outlet. Relievers with more than one save, no holds or a K-BB% at zero or in the negative failed to qualify.

Beware of small sample sizes.

Aaron Barrett | Washington Nationals | 2% (Y!), 0% (ESPN)

The Nationals’ right-handed reliever owns just one hold on the season, but a K-BB% north of 30% along with a 1.29 ERA (1.05 FIP) and a 0.86 WHIP in eight games (7 IP) make Barrett a reasonable option for those seeking middle relief arms. Usage wise, the Nationals have signaled for Barrett five times while trailing, twice in a tie game and just once with a lead. With that said, the holds may not add up as quickly as the others on this list, but he could be in line for more scab wins — he already has two — than the others. And unless you’re in a points league where holds and wins are weighted differently, the notches in the win column will provide equal value.

So far this season, Barrett’s velocity is up, his strikeouts are up (38.5% K%) and his ability to miss bats is also up (14.9% SwStr%). He’s nailing the first pitch strike almost 20% more than he did in ‘14 — up to 73.1% from 54.6%. Good signs.

Shawn Tolleson | Texas Rangers | 3% (Y!), 0% (ESPN)

Shawn Tolleson leads the list below with an impressive 44% K-BB% in seven trips to the bump (7.1 IP). Additionally, he’s notched a win, three holds, a 1.23 ERA (0.05 FIP) and a 0.41 WHIP. Unlike Barrett, Tolleson has been used on four occasions in which the Rangers were ahead, twice in a tie game situation and just once while down to their opponent. The usage indicates Tolleson could be in line for a good amount of holds down the road as long as this pattern remains the same. Although many in standard mixers would neglect using a guy like Tolleson on their team, the steady contributions across the traditional five categories could provide value. I typically roster and/or stream middle relievers in both head-to-head and roto leagues that do not have transaction limits. Tolleson is one of them.

Kevin Siegrist | St. Louis Cardinals | (2% (Y!), 0% (ESPN)

For the second consecutive season, Kevin Siegrist finds himself in this columns. That’s a good thing for those seeking middle relief help, I suppose. In seven appearances (6 IP) he has a win, a save, two holds, a handful of sparkling peripherals and a K-BB% just shy of 30%. In his seven trips to the hill, the 25-year-old has been used three times while the Cards were up, three while they were trailing and once in a tie. The walk being down a bit this season is huge for the 25-year-old, but his velocity is also down a tick. Like other hurlers, Siegrist may just need a few more innings under his belt to get his velocity back to where it was last year, but this is a situation to monitor considering he’s coming off of a forearm injury that occurred last season.

They failed to make the list, but I really wanted to discuss Jerry Blevins who was off to a fine start prior to hitting the disabled list and A.J. Ramos who is pitching well but didn’t make the cut due to ownership rates (6%). Other middles like Cody Martin and Yimi Garcia were also left out of the above notes due to the frequency in which those players have been written about as of late, but they should be considered if available in your format.

Here’s the chart I was working with, for your viewing pleasure, sorted by K-BB%. You can also view it here.