4 years agoRyan Pressly was hands down my favorite set-up man heading into 2020, as he had been nothing short of dominant since being traded to the Astros in 2018. When Roberto Osuna was placed on the Injured List and was slated to have Tommy John Surgery, I expected a top-five relief pitcher season from Pressly. But it turned out there was going to be a little adjustment period needed in the new role. Only Daniel Hudson had more blown saves than Pressly in 2020, as he blew four opportunities and finished with a 75% conversion rate. But Pressly suffered from some bad COVID-season luck as he experienced a career-high BABIP in the small-sample season, but boasted a shiny 2.81 FIP. Most of his damage came in his first two appearances of the season where he gave up three runs without recording three outs. The good news is Pressly went on to surrender only five ER over his next 20 IP, and his O-Swing%, Contact%, and SwStr% were all right on par with 2019. In fact, his 17.4 SwStr% was still top-10 among relief pitchers. Some early curveball struggles led to a lower usage (down 14% from 2019), which led to a career-high slider usage and frankly a different pitcher than we had seen in previous seasons. With the closer-adjustment period behind him, and a (hopefully) normal offseason ahead of him, I am confident the 2020 issues will be looked at as an awkward-season blip in future years. As Roberto Osuna was recently released, Ryan Pressly should be firmly entrenched as the Stros closers and warrants his current 124 ADP as a top-10 relief pitcher.--JB Branson - RotoBaller