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Andrew Ericksen profiles Baltimore Orioles relief pitcher Cole Sulser as a waiver wire pickup and add in Week 5 of the 2020 MLB season.
BALLER MOVE: Add in 12+ Team Leagues
ROSTERED IN: 23% of leagues
ANALYSIS: In true-to-form, bizarre 2020 fashion, the Baltimore Orioles have gotten off to a fantastic start to the year, winning 10 of their first 17 games. As a result, it might mean that this year we need to pay more attention to whoever is closing games in Baltimore and right now, that's exclusively Cole Sulser.
Sulser has received six save opportunities so far this year and he's converted four of them. Going into the year, it seemed as if Mychal Givens would be the team's primary closer as he led the team in the category last year, but so far in 2020, Givens has been exclusively used in a set-up role and has three holds on the year.
Sulser hasn't been fantastic overall. He's allowed five hits, five walks and five earned runs through seven innings of work, good for a 5.00 ERA and 1.11 WHIP. He's averaged a strikeout per inning.
Yet as often the case is with closers, it's more about opportunity than performance and right now, Sulser has the opportunity. Fantasy owners in need of saves in leagues of 12 teams or deeper should be taking a chance on Sulser to see if he can continue to hold down the closing role. In more shallow leagues, if saves are scarce on the waiver wire, he's worth an add, but otherwise, he can remain unowned for now.
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