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Draft season is upon us, and we'll be releasing updated rankings constantly! In this article below, you'll find our MLB team's updated 2023 fantasy baseball closers and relief pitcher rankings for roto leagues and tiers for 5x5 mixed roto leagues as of March 17. This is an exciting time of year for MLB and fantasy baseball fans, as the MLB season is getting closer, and a full year of fantasy baseball lies ahead. We're here to ensure you crush your drafts, win your leagues, and earn those bragging rights.
More teams are shying away from using a traditional closer, making it tough for fantasy managers to accumulate the category saves. Teams either use a closer-by-committee or their top reliever in high-leverage situations. The Rays, for example, logged 44 saves between 11 pitchers, with Jason Adam and Pete Fairbanks tying for a team-high eight saves in 2022. Cleveland Guardians right-hander Emmanuel Clase and Boston Red Sox right-hander Kenley Jansen were the only two relievers to notch over 40 saves last season. New York Mets reliever Edwin Diaz (knee) will undergo surgery on Thursday to fix a right patellar tendon injury and is out for the season, while Atlanta Braves reliever Raisel Iglesias (shoulder) will start the season on the injured list with low-grade right shoulder inflammation, making the closer position even more volatile. A few solidified options remain, but the list gets pretty dicey once the top 10 relievers are off the board. We're here to help sort it out with our 2023 fantasy baseball rankings. Let's see where key relievers like Devin Williams, Clay Holmes, Andres Munoz, Alex Lange, David Robertson, and Jose Leclerc rank, among others.
Our fantasy baseball relief pitcher rankings are put together by Nick Mariano, Jon Anderson, JB Branson, Connelly Doan, and Ben Rosener. You can also find our other draft rankings for all league formats, continually updated throughout the preseason, in our main fantasy baseball Rankings Wizard tool. Also, make use of all our premium resources with our MLB Draft Kit. Most importantly, our brand new free mobile app is a must-have – download it and configure your notifications. We deliver all the top MLB news, injuries, and fantasy analysis 24x7 with our free push notification alerts!
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Fantasy Baseball Closer and Relief Pitchers News and Injuries
- Raisel Iglesias To Land On Injured List To Begin Season
- A.J. Minter Likely To Open Year As Braves Closer
- Brandon Hughes Hoping To Avoid Injured List Stint
- Jimmy Nelson To Open Year On Injured List
- Jhoan Duran To Throw Thursday
- Ryan Yarbrough Continues Making Progress
- Mets Claim Dennis Santana Off Waivers From Twins
- Royals Sign Jake Brentz To Two-Year Deal
- Mets Will Be Reimbursed For Edwin Diaz's Salary
- Matt Strahm To Be Multi-Inning Reliever
- Mark Melancon Will Open Season On Injured List
- Andres Munoz Pitching In B Game Thursday
- David Robertson, Brooks Raley Could Be In The Mix For Saves
- Sergio Romo Signs Minor League Deal With Giants
- Justin Wilson "Progressing Nicely"
- Nick Nelson Shutdown With Hamstring Injury
- Alex Lange Likely The Tigers Closer
- Rays Add Trevor Kelley To 40-Man Roster
Fantasy Baseball Closers and Relief Pitcher Rankings - Roto Leagues
The staff rankings are for roto leagues and standard 5x5 categories. They are always updated on our fantasy baseball rankings dashboard. Nick Mariano was named the #1 overall most accurate industry expert ranker for the 2018 season, and Ariel Cohen was #1 overall for the 2019 season.
Last updated on Thursday 3/23 at 8:00 pm ET:
| RP Tier | RP Ranking | Player Name | Pos | Overall |
| 1 | 1 | Emmanuel Clase | RP | 38 |
| 1 | 2 | Josh Hader | RP | 52 |
| 2 | 3 | Cristian Javier | SP/RP | 54 |
| 2 | 4 | Jordan Romano | RP | 58 |
| 2 | 5 | Ryan Pressly | RP | 62 |
| 2 | 6 | Devin Williams | RP | 63 |
| 2 | 7 | Ryan Helsley | RP | 72 |
| 2 | 8 | Felix Bautista | RP | 74 |
| 3 | 9 | Kenley Jansen | RP | 98 |
| 3 | 10 | Nestor Cortes Jr. | SP/RP | 105 |
| 4 | 11 | David Bednar | RP | 110 |
| 4 | 12 | Camilo Doval | RP | 111 |
| 4 | 13 | Clay Holmes | RP | 115 |
| 4 | 14 | Raisel Iglesias | RP | 126 |
| 4 | 15 | Andres Munoz | RP | 143 |
| 5 | 16 | Jhoan Duran | RP | 151 |
| 5 | 17 | Scott Barlow | RP | 158 |
| 5 | 18 | Pete Fairbanks | RP | 159 |
| 5 | 19 | Jeffrey Springs | SP/RP | 163 |
| 5 | 20 | Alexis Diaz | RP | 164 |
| 5 | 21 | Daniel Bard | RP | 169 |
| 5 | 22 | Paul Sewald | RP | 176 |
| 5 | 23 | David Robertson | RP | 183 |
| 6 | 24 | Hunter Brown | RP | 184 |
| 6 | 25 | Alex Lange | RP | 204 |
| 6 | 26 | Evan Phillips | RP | 209 |
| 6 | 27 | Jose Leclerc | RP | 215 |
| 6 | 28 | A.J. Minter | RP | 226 |
| 6 | 29 | Seranthony Dominguez | RP | 232 |
| 6 | 30 | Jason Adam | RP | 235 |
| 6 | 31 | Adam Ottavino | RP | 236 |
| 6 | 32 | Kyle Finnegan | RP | 247 |
| 6 | 33 | David Peterson | SP/RP | 257 |
| 6 | 34 | Jorge Lopez | RP | 259 |
| 6 | 35 | Zach Eflin | SP/RP | 265 |
| 6 | 36 | Garrett Whitlock | SP/RP | 271 |
| 7 | 37 | Daniel Hudson | RP | 273 |
| 7 | 38 | Steven Matz | SP/RP | 274 |
| 7 | 39 | Craig Kimbrel | RP | 280 |
| 7 | 40 | Taylor Rogers | RP | 291 |
| 7 | 41 | Kendall Graveman | RP | 292 |
| 7 | 42 | Ross Stripling | SP/RP | 296 |
| 7 | 43 | Aaron Ashby | SP/RP | 300 |
| 7 | 44 | Dylan Floro | RP | 302 |
| 7 | 45 | Trevor May | RP | 303 |
| 7 | 46 | Giovanny Gallegos | RP | 304 |
| 7 | 47 | Tanner Houck | SP/RP | 311 |
| 7 | 48 | Carlos Estevez | RP | 317 |
| 7 | 49 | Reynaldo Lopez | RP | 323 |
| 7 | 50 | A.J. Puk | RP | 329 |
| 7 | 51 | Michael Fulmer | RP | 334 |
| 7 | 52 | Brusdar Graterol | RP | 335 |
| 8 | 53 | Michael King | RP | 338 |
| 8 | 54 | Clarke Schmidt | SP/RP | 346 |
| 8 | 55 | Rafael Montero | RP | 351 |
| 8 | 56 | James Karinchak | RP | 353 |
| 8 | 57 | Joe Jimenez | RP | 357 |
| 8 | 58 | Andrew Chafin | RP | 366 |
| 8 | 59 | Collin McHugh | RP | 376 |
| 8 | 60 | Jose Alvarado | RP | 382 |
| 8 | 61 | Tylor Megill | SP/RP | 390 |
| 8 | 62 | John Schreiber | RP | 397 |
| 8 | 63 | Adbert Alzolay | RP | 406 |
| 8 | 64 | Dylan Lee | RP | 408 |
| 9 | 65 | Dylan Coleman | RP | 411 |
| 9 | 66 | Jalen Beeks | SP/RP | 414 |
| 9 | 67 | Erik Swanson | RP | 415 |
| 9 | 68 | Joe Mantiply | RP | 417 |
| 9 | 69 | Alex Vesia | RP | 418 |
| 9 | 70 | Aroldis Chapman | RP | 422 |
| 9 | 71 | Liam Hendriks | RP | 423 |
| 9 | 72 | Chris Martin | RP | 424 |
| 9 | 73 | Trevor Stephan | RP | 425 |
| 9 | 74 | Jimmy Herget | RP | 426 |
| 9 | 75 | Caleb Thielbar | RP | 427 |
| 9 | 76 | Robert Suarez | RP | 428 |
| 9 | 77 | Brad Boxberger | RP | 429 |
| 10 | 78 | Luis Garcia (RP) | RP | 431 |
| 10 | 79 | Bryan Abreu | RP | 433 |
| 10 | 80 | Scott McGough | RP | 444 |
| 10 | 81 | Matt Brash | SP/RP | 447 |
| 10 | 82 | Gregory Soto | RP | 451 |
| 10 | 83 | Nick Martinez | SP/RP | 453 |
| 10 | 84 | Yimi Garcia | RP | 455 |
| 10 | 85 | Matthew Boyd | RP | 456 |
| 10 | 86 | Brock Burke | RP | 459 |
| 10 | 87 | Aaron Bummer | RP | 466 |
| 10 | 88 | Jovani Moran | RP | 476 |
| 10 | 89 | Joe Kelly | RP | 477 |
| 10 | 90 | Anthony Bass | RP | 478 |
| 10 | 91 | Dany Jimenez | RP | 479 |
| 10 | 92 | Hunter Harvey | RP | 488 |
| 10 | 93 | Steven Okert | RP | 489 |
| 10 | 94 | Jonathan Loaisiga | RP | 491 |
| 11 | 95 | Brandon Hughes | RP | 492 |
| 11 | 96 | Tim Mayza | RP | 493 |
| 11 | 97 | Ron Marinaccio | RP | 495 |
| 11 | 98 | Tanner Scott | RP | 496 |
| 11 | 99 | Caleb Ferguson | RP | 501 |
| 11 | 100 | Colin Poche | RP | 502 |
| 11 | 101 | Tommy Kahnle | RP | 504 |
| 11 | 102 | Zach Jackson | RP | 505 |
| 11 | 103 | Kevin Ginkel | RP | 507 |
| 11 | 104 | Garrett Crochet | RP | 511 |
| 11 | 105 | Diego Castillo (RP) | RP | 514 |
| 11 | 106 | Yusei Kikuchi | SP/RP | 517 |
| 12 | 107 | Hector Neris | RP | 518 |
| 12 | 108 | Penn Murfee | RP | 519 |
| 12 | 109 | Yonny Chirinos | SP/RP | 520 |
| 12 | 110 | Seth Lugo | RP | 522 |
| 12 | 111 | Connor Brogdon | RP | 524 |
| 12 | 112 | Domingo Acevedo | RP | 527 |
| 12 | 113 | Adam Cimber | RP | 531 |
| 12 | 114 | Keegan Thompson | SP/RP | 537 |
| 12 | 115 | Tejay Antone | RP | 540 |
| 12 | 116 | Jakob Junis | SP/RP | 541 |
| 12 | 117 | Garrett Cleavinger | RP | 543 |
| 13 | 118 | Tyler Wells | RP | 545 |
| 13 | 119 | Emilio Pagan | RP | 546 |
| 13 | 120 | Drew Smith | RP | 551 |
| 13 | 121 | Eli Morgan | RP | 557 |
| 13 | 122 | Enyel De Los Santos | RP | 559 |
| 13 | 123 | Luis Ortiz | RP | 560 |
| 13 | 124 | Adrian Morejon | RP | 566 |
| 13 | 125 | DL Hall | RP | 573 |
| 13 | 126 | Sam Hentges | RP | 574 |
| 14 | 127 | Jordan Hicks | SP/RP | 580 |
| 14 | 128 | Mark Melancon | RP | 581 |
| 14 | 129 | Bryan Baker | RP | 583 |
| 14 | 130 | Matt Bush | SP/RP | 586 |
| 14 | 131 | Cionel Perez | RP | 587 |
| 14 | 132 | Matthew Festa | RP | 589 |
| 14 | 133 | Griffin Jax | RP | 590 |
| 14 | 134 | Elieser Hernandez | SP/RP | 591 |
| 14 | 135 | Matt Strahm | RP | 592 |
| 14 | 136 | Ryan Thompson | RP | 600 |
| 14 | 137 | Lucas Sims | RP | 601 |
| 14 | 138 | Mychal Givens | RP | 602 |
| 14 | 139 | Brooks Raley | RP | 606 |
| 14 | 140 | Andrew Bellatti | RP | 608 |
| 14 | 141 | Jake Cousins | RP | 611 |
| 14 | 142 | Peter Strzelecki | RP | 612 |
| 14 | 143 | Trey Wingenter | RP | 614 |
| 14 | 144 | Phil Bickford | RP | 619 |
| 15 | 145 | William Smith | RP | 623 |
| 15 | 146 | Chris Flexen | SP/RP | 626 |
| 15 | 147 | Jonathan Hernandez | RP | 629 |
| 15 | 148 | Wandy Peralta | RP | 632 |
| 15 | 149 | Andrew Kittredge | RP | 634 |
| 15 | 150 | Matt Barnes | RP | 638 |
| 15 | 151 | Aaron Loup | RP | 639 |
| 15 | 152 | Dinelson Lamet | RP | 642 |
| 15 | 153 | Jorge Alcala | RP | 644 |
| 15 | 154 | Lou Trivino | RP | 645 |
| 15 | 155 | JT Chargois | SP/RP | 647 |
| 15 | 156 | Steven Wilson | RP | 649 |
| 15 | 157 | Pierce Johnson | RP | 654 |
| 15 | 158 | Drew Pomeranz | RP | 656 |
| 15 | 159 | Joe Barlow | RP | 658 |
| 15 | 160 | Corey Knebel | RP | 660 |
| 15 | 161 | Trevor Gott | RP | 661 |
| 15 | 162 | Nabil Crismatt | RP | 663 |
| 15 | 163 | Kutter Crawford | SP/RP | 664 |
| 15 | 164 | Seth Martinez | RP | 667 |
| 15 | 165 | Rowan Wick | RP | 668 |
| 15 | 166 | Kevin Kelly | RP | 671 |
| 15 | 167 | Nick Sandlin | RP | 672 |
| 15 | 168 | Hoby Milner | RP | 675 |
| 15 | 169 | Shawn Dubin | SP/RP | 676 |
| 15 | 170 | Mitch White | SP/RP | 677 |
| 15 | 171 | Ryan Tepera | RP | 678 |
| 15 | 172 | Austin Gomber | SP/RP | 682 |
| 15 | 173 | Kirby Yates | RP | 683 |
| 15 | 174 | Ryan Yarbrough | SP/RP | 684 |
| 15 | 175 | Dillon Tate | RP | 685 |
| 15 | 176 | Shawn Armstrong | SP/RP | 688 |
| 15 | 177 | Keegan Akin | RP | 689 |
| 15 | 178 | Brandon Walter | RP | 690 |
| 15 | 179 | Ryne Stanek | RP | 694 |
| 15 | 180 | Chad Green | RP | 703 |
| 15 | 181 | Yency Almonte | RP | 705 |
| 16 | 182 | Jhony Brito | SP/RP | 706 |
| 16 | 183 | Johan Oviedo | SP/RP | 709 |
| 16 | 184 | Ken Giles | RP | 710 |
| 16 | 185 | Alex Colome | RP | 712 |
| 16 | 186 | Vince Velasquez | SP/RP | 715 |
| 16 | 187 | Alex Reyes | RP | 717 |
| 16 | 188 | Scott Alexander | RP | 718 |
| 16 | 189 | Chris Clarke | RP | 720 |
| 16 | 190 | Adrian Martinez | SP/RP | 722 |
| 16 | 191 | Reiver Sanmartin | SP/RP | 724 |
| 16 | 192 | Darius Vines | RP | 725 |
| 16 | 193 | Jose Butto | RP | 729 |
| 16 | 194 | Jarlin Garcia | RP | 732 |
| 16 | 195 | Carl Edwards Jr. | RP | 733 |
| 16 | 196 | Nick Vespi | RP | 735 |
| 16 | 197 | Richard Rodriguez | RP | 737 |
| 16 | 198 | Xzavion Curry | SP/RP | 738 |
| 16 | 199 | Casey Sadler | RP | 743 |
| 16 | 200 | Hunter Gaddis | RP | 748 |
| 16 | 201 | Cody Stashak | RP | 749 |
| 16 | 202 | Zach Brzykcy | RP | 760 |
| 16 | 203 | Ben Joyce | RP | 762 |
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