Who Is The White Sox Closer? - Fantasy Baseball Saves Outlook

Ah yes, one of fantasy baseball managers' most beloved past times: Who can I trust to earn saves for the *Insert Team Here*? This predictive task is ever-evolving, night after night, and sometimes reading the minds of Major League managers can be more difficult than earning a college credit.

So, while we can't guarantee we know exactly what comes next, we at RotoBaller are here to try and make it clearer.

Today we'll look deeper at the jumbled Chicago White Sox bullpen to see if we can nail down exactly who it is that Manager Pedro Grifol will give the ball to in the ninth inning up by one, two, or three runs. Let's get to it!

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When Everyone Is Healthy

At this point, almost everyone knows the story of last year's White Sox closer Liam Hendriks. After successfully defeating cancer earlier this year, the Australian made a tear-jerking return to the club on May 29. He was understandably rusty, giving up three hits and a walk en route to two earned runs in a low-leverage spot. Clearly, Chicago wasn't going to throw the 34-year-old back to his solidified closer role right away, but it didn't take him long to usurp the likes of Kendall Graveman, Reynaldo Lopez, and Joe Kelly.

Hendriks earned a late-inning win with a scoreless outing on May 4 and followed it up two days later with his first save in 2023 despite allowing a leadoff homer in the ninth. Presumably, this is where some elbow soreness started to set in. Hendriks earned one more late-inning win against Miami on June 9 before being placed on the IL with elbow inflammation on June 11.

Based on that small sample of evidence, when Liam Hendriks does return from the Injured List in the coming weeks (he just started throwing again this week, so after the All-Star Break is a safe assumption), he will quickly find his way back to the closer role remaining the primary player to own in the White Sox bullpen.

So who should fantasy managers roster for saves until Hendriks gets back into his role?

Hendriks On The Shelf

A ton of tight late-inning games, extra innings, and rest days have made analyzing this bullpen pretty difficult post-Hendriks, but if we look closely we can make sense of it. When it comes to "Who does Grifol want to use in the ninth?", the answer appears to be Graveman first (when available), then a gap, then very narrowly Lopez over Kelly.

Based on more 6th and 7th-inning deployments, it appears Kelly will remain the glue guy to get the White Sox to the ninth inning. Lopez tends to appear more in the 8th inning. While he hasn't earned a single save since Hendriks' injury, Graveman has almost exclusively pitched in the ninth inning. In his seven outings since July 11, Graveman has only allowed a run in two, recorded two wins, and sent a few games to extra innings. Don't be thrown off by saves from Keynan Middleton or Jesse Scholtens. These came in extra innings situations or on days in which the previous three needed a rest.

Again, nothing is set in stone, but after Graveman warmed up for the ninth inning on Wednesday, up by four runs, then pitched a scoreless frame after the White Sox tacked on two more in the top half, I'm further convinced that the 32-year-old has the part-time job. He walks a few too many guys (11.4% this season) and doesn't quite strike out a batter an inning, but the former Seattle Mariners closer sports a safe 11.2% line drive rate with hard contact under 30%, so if you're chasing late-inning saves and wins in your fantasy league, Graveman is your guy until Hendriks ramps back up.

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