2017 Ranking: Top 50 Dynasty Relief Pitchers

After our recent Top 150 Dynasty Hitters and Top 100 Dynasty Starting Pitchers, we continue our rankings with our Top 50 Dynasty Relief Pitchers. But before we get to the meat and potatoes, a quick commentary about the rankings. In the world of fantasy baseball rankings, relief pitching is a hard category to rank. That all coveted “closer role” and a relief pitcher’s proximity and relationship to it has a large impact on their value in fantasy baseball. Circumstances also play a large role when placing value on a relief pitcher. Who’s ahead of whom in the bullpen horse race? Who just got injured? Is the team in many save situations? How is the current closer performing? All of these and more make discussing long term value difficult. And this is dynasty we’re talking about here. Long term is the name of the game! So just remember, a grain of salt should be taken with all website fantasy rankings, but with relief pitchers you might want to take the whole shaker. With that being said, enjoy Pitcher List’s 2017 Top 50 Dynasty Relief Pitchers.

Tier 1: Game enders (this ends now)

In the first tier you will find a common trait among pitchers: high K-rates, low ERAs, and belonging to teams that will win a lot of games, hence being in many save situations. Their jobs, for the most part, are relatively safe. They also have proven track records, so a rough beginning to the season won’t have them prematurely yanked from their role. Enjoy the strikeouts and boatload of saves with these flamethrowers.

1. Aroldis Chapman (29, New York Yankees)

2. Kenley Jansen (29, Los Angeles Dodgers)

3. Craig Kimbrel (29, Boston Red Sox)

4. Zach Britton (29, Baltimore Orioles)

5. Edwin Diaz (23, Seattle Mariners)

6. Ken Giles (26, Houston Astros)

7. Wade Davis (31, Chicago Cubs)

8. Mark Melancon (32. San Francisco Giants)

9. Roberto Osuna (22, Toronto Blue Jays)

10. Cody Allen (28, Cleveland Indians)

11. Kelvin Herrera (27, Kansas City Royals)

12. Seung-Hwan Oh (34, St. Louis Cardinals)

13. Andrew Miller (31, Cleveland Indians)

Tier 2: saves and question marks

The second tier consists relief pitchers who either cannot completely dominate batters through strikeouts like their tier 1 counterparts, are closers whose grasp on the role is somewhat shaky, or very talented middle relief pitchers/set-up men who don’t have a clear path to the closers role (yet). There are also some very talented closers with somewhat firm grasps on the closer role, but belong to teams that will not ofter be up by a run or two in the 9th, and therefore will have very few actual save chances (I’m looking at you, Cincinnati!) But most of these guys will net you a decent amount of saves, just not with tier 1 accompanying stats.

14. Jeurys Familia (27, New York Mets)

15. Alex Colome (28, Tampa Bay Rays)

16 David Robertson (31, Chicago White Sox)

17. Raisel Iglesias (27, Cincinnati Reds)

18. Cam Bedrosian (25, Los Angeles Angels)

19. Dellin Betances (29, New York Yankees)

20. Tony Watson (32, Pittsburgh Pirates)

21. Koda Glover (23, Washington Nationals)

22. Adam Ottavino (31, Colorado Rockies)

23. Corey Knebel (25, Milwaukee Brewers)

24. Brandon Maurer (26, San Diego Padres)

25. Sam Dyson (29, Texas Rangers)

26. A.J. Ramos (30, Miami Marlins)

27. Francisco Rodriguez (35, Detroit Tigers)

28. Arodys Vizcaino (26, Atlanta Braves)

29. Hector Rondon (29, Chicago Cubs)

30. Hector Neris (28, Philadelphia Phillies)

Tier 3: Congecture squad!

The final tier is a rag-tag group. Some of these pitchers will find a decent amount of saves just by being in the right place at the right time. Not necessarily overpowering, just…on the mount in the 9th. Others are extremely talented pitchers who are just blocked by a superstar closer on a gigantic contract. A lot of these guys are just stuck in a “close by committee” situation, which means the closing job changes game to game based on game circumstances and coach choice. I can guarantee that a few of these relief pitchers are going to rocket up the rankings during the season when a random domino falls in the bullpen. When that domino falls and what you do when it eventually does is where great fantasy owners separate themselves from good fantasy owners.

31. Tyler Thornburg (28, Boston Red Sox)

32. Carl Edwards Jr. (25, Chicago Cubs)

33. Carter Capps (26, San Diego Padres)

34. Nate Jones (31, Chicago White Sox)

35. Jim Johnson (34, Atlanta Braves)

36. Addison Reed (28, New York Mets)

37. Kyle Barraclough (26, Miami Marlins)

38. Trevor Rosenthal (26, St. Louis Cardinals)

39. Ryan Madson, (36 Oakland Athletics)

40. Brandon Kintzler (32, Minnesota Twins)

41. Fernando Rodney (40, Arizona Diamondbacks)

42. Sean Doolittle (30, Oakland Athletics)