Who is the Nationals Closer? Fantasy Baseball Saves Outlooks

The Washington Nationals are projected somewhere around 60-70 wins for the 2024 season. They are playing amidst a challenging, competitive NL East. While they have some young talent, they lack a competitive lineup with only two top-100 preseason hitters coming into the year, CJ Abrams and Lane Thomas.

Despite the lack of competitiveness, there may still be hope for saves in the Nats bullpen. Even 60-70 wins can realistically lead to 30+ save opportunities; if most or all of those go to a single closer, that pitcher holds significant value, especially in categories-based leagues with saves.

In 2023, Kyle Finnegan amassed 28 saves, leaving Hunter Harvey with an additional 10 saves on the year. These two names figure to dominate the late-inning landscape, and hopefully one of the two will carve out a clear closer role to provide fantasy managers with value.

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Two-Headed Monster

It is clear that Kyle Finnegan and Hunter Harvey both possess the stuff to be an effective closer. Finnegan has more experience, garnering double-digit saves over the last three years. In 2022, he split the role with Tanner Rainey, but with a relatively strong finish in 2022 while Rainey's performance dipped, the closer role was primarily Finnegan's in 2023.

Finnegan boasts a strong 97-98 mph fastball that is offset by a 89 mph splitter. That splitter had a nifty 35.3% Whiff% in 2023 -- that's right, more than one third of the time a batter swung at that pitch, they whiffed. Finnegan thus has that classic one-two punch with a strong heater to effectively function as a closer.

There once was a man named Kyle Finnegan,
We were up so he came in, again.
He got outs and helped us win again.
Good ol' Kyle Finnegan, begin again...@KyleFinnegan22 // #NATITUDE pic.twitter.com/4xBiXy4rbH

— Washington Nationals (@Nationals) July 31, 2021

Harvey boasts a very similar repertoire, starting with a 98 mph fastball that he threw 60% of the time in 2023. He too offsets this pitch with an 89 mph splitter, still with a strong 27.8% Whiff% but not quite as lethal as Finnegan's splitter in 2023. Despite the slightly "better" putaway pitch, Harvey outpaced Finnegan with a 28.5% K% in 2023 compared to Finnegan's 21.9% K%.

Both of these guys have the stuff to man the ninth inning effectively. They have a strong, blow-by fastball that can be offset with a dropping splitter, leading to strikeouts and ground balls. There are multiple other names in the Nationals bullpen that might remind managers of closers in years past (Rainey, Dylan Floro, Matt Barnes), but for now the focus should be on the two-headed monster that is Finnegan-Harvey.

The Verdict

Based on their usage so far, managers should expect a similar output to last year. Expect Finnegan to get the bulk of the saves. One has to wonder if the Nats will build him up moving into the trade deadline; Finnegan is already 32 years old and closers at this point in their career often find themselves moving from non-contender to contender.

That could perhaps bolster Finnegan's first-half value in particular. Harvey will undoubtedly see some action, too -- he is definitely the prime "vulture" candidate -- but if Finnegan stays with the Nats all year, he will likely have more pure save value than Harvey.

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