He was more or less his typical self in the month of September, featuring a 17:2 K:BB ratio over 12 IP, allowing just 3 hits over that span, good for a. Obviously Chapman’s 2017 was not what fantasy owners had in mind when burning a high round draft pick on him, and while most of what we saw was discouraging, there are some positives to take away here. Aroldis Chapman ( New York Yankees) - Dellin Betances, David Robertson, Tommy Kahnle, Chad Green But if you are targeting an elite closer early in the draft, be prepared to take Kimbrel immediately after Jansen goes, as he will surely not last long after.ģ. He did have a pretty fortunate BABIP and combined with his high hard contact rate, that is just enough for me to comfortably rank him behind Jansen. His 19.8 SwStr% is just ridiculous, and his 70.3% Z-Contact to match ain’t too shabby either. Just barely a step behind Jansen, Kimbrel actually has a tick more strikeout upside. If Jansen is the Mike Trout of closers, there is certainly a case for Kimbrel to be the Jose Altuveof the group. Craig Kimbrel ( Boston Red Sox) - Matt Barnes, Tyler Thornburg, Carson Smith, Joe Kelly I don’t think I need to convince you anymore, Jansen once again is the best closer in baseball for 2018.Ģ. Among closer candidates for the 2018 season, Jansen ranked either first or second in the following categories: FIP, xFIP, SIERA, WAR, WPA, SwStr%, Whiff%, PutAway%, K/BB, Z-Contact%, Soft Contact%, and Shutdowns/Meltdowns, He’s in his prime and pitching the 9th for one of the best teams in baseball. The Mike Trout of relievers, I shouldn’t need to tell you that Jansen should be the first RP off the board in your drafts. Kenley Jansen ( Los Angeles Dodgers) - Pedro Baez, Josh Fields, Scott Alexander, Tony Cingrani Obviously Goodfellas is better than Casino).ġ. 2018 seems like it could be the year of the comeback at the position, with a lot of names mentioned below looking to right the ship after a disappointing 2017.Īnd for fun, I will be naming tiers after some Martin Scorcese movies ( disclaimer: films are not in order of personal preference. So far we’ve covered the offensive side of the ball and Nick’s put together most of his initial “Pitcher List” so without further adieu, here is a look at how I feel the top 30 closers should be ranked right now. I’m happy to be back at it this year and look forward to discussing all things relief pitcher related. With spring training fully underway as of this past weekend, it’s time to start getting on that fantasy baseball draft prep as move closer to the regular season. All images are property the copyright holder and are displayed here for informational purposes only.It’s good to finally have baseball back. Many historical player head shots courtesy of David Davis. Some high school data is courtesy David McWater.

Some defensive statistics Copyright © Sports Info Solutions, 2010-2023. Total Zone Rating and initial framework for Wins above Replacement calculations provided by Sean Smith.įull-year historical Major League statistics provided by Pete Palmer and Gary Gillette of Hidden Game Sports.

Win Expectancy, Run Expectancy, and Leverage Index calculations provided by Tom Tango of, and co-author of The Book: Playing the Percentages in Baseball. Much of the play-by-play, game results, and transaction information both shown and used to create certain data sets was obtained free of charge from and is copyrighted by RetroSheet. Use without license or authorization is expressly prohibited. The SPORTS REFERENCE and STATHEAD trademarks are owned exclusively by Sports Reference LLC. Logos were compiled by the amazing .Ĭopyright © 2000-2023 Sports Reference LLC. Our reasoning for presenting offensive logos.

We present them here for purely educational purposes. Matt Albers: Game Logs Table RkĪll logos are the trademark & property of their owners and not Sports Reference LLC. Learn More.Īlready a subscriber? Log in for full results. Go inside the Reference database and access the sports search engine that was made for fans like you. Subscribe to Stathead Baseball for full results.

Matt albers pitching repertoire