RADIO
Relief pitchers to monitor for holds or as closer handcuffs for Week 12. Rick Graham analyzes under-the-radar RP as deep league targets or waiver wire adds.
Today and every Tuesday moving forward throughout the 2018 MLB season, we will take a deep dive into some of the lesser-owned relief pitchers on the market that are worth keeping tabs on.
This can be a good tool for those in deeper holds leagues, although any pitcher in a position to make a move on their respective team's closer job will get priority.
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Under-the-Radar Relievers to Watch - Week 12
Collin McHugh, Houston Astros - 10% owned
McHugh has quietly put together a rather stellar season to this point, but with no holds or saves to show for it, has been mostly looked over. The value may not be there yet, as he is only helping with ratios (the SP eligibility helps) but the Astros' with all their bullpen shuffling could turn to him in some higher leverage situations soon. His transition to a multi-inning reliever has gone as well as the Astros' could have asked, and his stuff is really playing up in shorter stints, with his fastball adding a few MPH.
Tommy Hunter, Philadelphia Phillies - 2% owned
I was going to talk about Hunter regardless of Hector Neris's demotion, but now that there's one less late-inning reliever to worry about here, Hunter's value in holds leagues should continue to rise. After missing close to a month with a hamstring injury to begin the year, Hunter got off to a slow start but has bounced back nicely in June with nine strikeouts over seven innings while allowing five hits and no walks, and is now one of the teams most trusted set up men. Seranthony Dominguez is still the reliever to own here, but Hunter may be next in line and could still factor into some save situation depending on how Gabe Kapler decided to deploy his bullpen.
Emilio Pagan, Oakland Athletics - 2% owned
Pagan had some growing hype surrounding him heading into the year after showing elite swing and miss stuff towards the end of last season and Blake Treinen being the only guy really blocking his path to saves. Then he got off to a horrible start and wasn't even able to miss bats at nearly the same pace as last year, causing his demotion to AAA in late April. Since returning to the big club though about a month ago, Pagan has been that same guy we were all excited for at the beginning of the year. Over the past month, his K% is up to 12.46 with a 16.9 SwStr% to go with a 1.38 ERA over 13 innings pitched. The walks are still higher than you'd like to see, but this is still a step in the right direction and one that should lead to more hold chances moving forward.
John Brebbia, St. Louis Cardinals - 0% owned
Brebbia has worked his way through the Cardinals reliever carousel quite nicely and now finds himself working in a setup role behind Bud Norris and Jordan Hicks in what has been a very profitable position for holds this season. He's been able to strike out over a batter per inning this season with his fastball/slider combo and with a solid 12.5 SwStr% over the past two season, those K numbers should be here to stay. He continues to display good command as well, with a walk rate under three this season and has increased his groundball percentage 7% which in turn has seen his HR% go from 1.39% to .71%. The ERA is a little bit higher than last year (3.20 vs. 2.44), but there's a good chance that actually decreases as he has higher than usual BABIP and LOB% numbers right now.
