RADIO
Relief pitchers to monitor for holds or as closer handcuffs for Week 13. 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.
Below are my relief pitchers to target for Week 13 of the fantasy baseball season. Let's get to it.
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Under-the-Radar Relievers to Watch - Week 13
Trevor Hildenberger, Minnesota Twins - 6% owned
While maybe not the best option for holds in the Twins bullpen, Hildenberger has been the teams best reliever so far this season. So good in fact, he has gone his last 15 outings without allowing a run all while compiling a 15/2 K/BB ratio. His ERA now sits at 2.11 to go with a sub-one WHIP and a 13.5 SwStr%, which is up almost two points from last season.
With the rest of the bullpen far from sure bets, there's a chance here for him to climb up the depth chart and get some more holds and we may already be seeing signs of that happening with four of his nine holds coming in the past two weeks. Addison Reed has been inconsistent, Ryan Pressly has missed a ton of bats but when he doesn't bad things happen and Fernando Rodney is Fernando Rodney.
Jake Diekman, Texas Rangers - 1% owned
Diekman is another reliever who has started to figure it out as of late and is probably now in line as Keone Kela's handcuff should anything happen to him. The big difference for him is the difference in BB% month to month. His BB% in April was at an absurdly high 18.8% and didn't get much better in May, where it sat at 14%. In June so far though, he has the number down to 3.5%, which is more than manageable for him when he's holding hitters to a .214 average.
One interesting stat of note would be his home/away splits this year. Over 12.2 innings at home, he has an ERA of 5.68 and a K/BB ratio of 14/12 to go with just two holds. On the road, however, he has an ERA of 0.61 and a K/BB at 21/4 with eight SV+HD's over 14.2 innings.
Juan Minaya, Chicago White Sox - 0% owned
The former White Sox closer started 2018 on the wrong foot, allowing five walks, two hits, and three runs in his first inning of work, which was accumulated over three appearances. After being sent down, he's returned in June to much more success, especially in the walk column.
Over 8.1 innings, he's allowed seven but just two walks to go with twelve strikeouts. With Nate Jones on the DL and Bruce Rondon reverting back to his old self (BB rate up to 6.75) Minaya has a good chance to pick up some holds working in front of Joakim Soria.
