5 Pitchers To Pick Up TODAY in Fantasy Baseball (Closers)
STACKED extracted the fantasy-relevant player signal from this video and kept the full transcript here for context.
8 min
Duration
Estimated from transcript
Jun 21, 2026
Published
Sun, June 21, 2026
0
Player insights
0
Players mentioned
Player analysis
Player insights
No player insights have been extracted for this episode yet.
Full transcript
Episode Transcript
0:00The search for saves continues this
0:03week. I've got five names for you to
0:04consider adding to your team starting
0:06with a couple who I've mentioned in
0:08recent videos and ending with a setup
0:11man who could save a ton of games after
0:13the trade deadline.
0:15Starting with those repeat names,
0:17there's no reason for Alex Lange of the
0:19Royals to be available in more than
0:21three quarters of Yahoo leagues still.
0:24I'm not convinced that he's all that
0:25good, but he's very clearly the Royals
0:27closer at the moment and if you need
0:29saves, you can't be too picky about
0:31those saves coming with a 4.01 ERA and a
0:341.40 whip. The Royals finally removed a
0:37struggling Lucas Erceg from the closer
0:40role a couple weeks ago and while they
0:41suggested they'd turn to a committee,
0:44it's clearly been Lange as the team's
0:46true closer. Lange has four of the
0:49Royals five saves since Erceg was
0:51removed from the ninth inning and the
0:52only one he didn't get, he was
0:54unavailable for after saving games on
0:56three of the previous four days. Now,
0:59Lange isn't a very good pitcher and I
1:01wouldn't rely on him keeping the job all
1:03year. His 24% strikeout rate is barely
1:05better than average and his 13% walk
1:08rate is poor.
1:09There's a chance he loses the job to
1:11Daniel Lynch who's been excellent and we
1:13can't rule out Carlos Estevez getting
1:15his job back once he eventually returns
1:17from his rotator cuff strain.
1:19Both Lynch and Estevez are reasonable
1:21enough stashes in deeper leagues, but
1:24for now, if you're in a shallower
1:25format, Alex Lange is the most likely
1:28true closer to be available on your
1:30waiver wire.
1:32I'd also like to give another mention to
1:34Gregory Santos Taylor of the White Sox.
1:36He doesn't have a save since he grabbed
1:38his second of the year back on June 6th,
1:41but I'm still pretty sure that he's
1:43going to start picking up saves sometime
1:45soon. Just look at how the White Sox are
1:47using Ser Anthony Dominguez who has been
1:50the dedicated closer for most of the
1:52year.
1:53His last five appearances have seen him
1:55record one save, but also appear four
1:57times in the eighth inning, twice with
1:59the score tied, once with the Sox
2:01trailing, and once with a three-run
2:03lead. That's simply not how you use a
2:06true closer, and it seems as though the
2:08White Sox have abandoned their plans to
2:10use Dominguez in that limited dedicated
2:13closer role. They're pivoting to more of
2:15a committee approach, and while Taylor
2:17might not yet be the leader of this
2:19committee, it shouldn't take long. Grant
2:21Taylor has been incredible this season
2:23with a 2.21 ERA and a 1.04 whip backed
2:26by a 35% strikeout rate and a 6% walk
2:29rate.
2:30The preseason plan to use Dominguez as a
2:32traditional closer and presumably flip
2:34him at the trade deadline while Taylor
2:36focused on building up his workload to
2:38prepare for a return to rotation next
2:40season. That made sense if the White Sox
2:43were going to be sellers again this
2:44year, which heading into the season it
2:46looked like they probably would be, but
2:48it's now mid-June, and they're still
2:50sitting in a playoff spot, so it's time
2:52to prioritize 2026 over 2027 and 2028.
2:57And that means using one of the best
2:59relievers in baseball in the ninth
3:00inning as often as possible. Taylor
3:03still has just two saves on the year,
3:05but expect that number to start climbing
3:07very soon.
3:09Moving on to some new names, but
3:11sticking in the AL Central, how about
3:14Yennier Gómez of the Twins?
3:17Now, the Twins have had a ridiculous 11
3:19different relievers record at least one
3:21save this season, and until recently no
3:23one had more than two saves for the
3:26Twins. In recent weeks though, Gómez has
3:28been getting closer and closer to a true
3:31closer role.
3:32He's got five of the Twins' last seven
3:35saves.
3:36Gómez has seven total saves on the year,
3:39with one of those coming while he was
3:40still with the Rays, who designated him
3:42for assignment in early May.
3:45Gómez's overall numbers this year are
3:47pretty mediocre. It's a 3.86 ERA and a
3:501.34 whip backed by a 22% strikeout rate
3:53and an 11% walk rate, but those numbers
3:57are held back by his poor start to the
3:58season with Tampa Bay. Since the Twins
4:01got their hands on him, Gomez has been
4:03excellent. A 1.53 ERA and a 1.02 whip
4:07with a 29% strikeout rate more than
4:09offsetting a slightly high 10% walk
4:12rate. That improvement doesn't look like
4:14a fluke either since the Twins have made
4:16multiple adjustments to Gomez's pitch
4:18mix. With the Rays, he threw three
4:20fastballs at least 19% of the time, but
4:24the Twins have significantly reduced his
4:25cutter and sinker usage, preferring his
4:28four-seam fastball. They've also
4:30elevated his slider usage from 19% all
4:32the way up to 28%.
4:35Gomez's remade repertoire is showing
4:37very strong results so far, and I think
4:39we're at a point where we can just call
4:41him the closer in Minnesota rather than
4:43merely a committee leader.
4:45So, he should be picked up just about
4:47everywhere.
4:49Another reliever to pick up everywhere
4:51is Tony Santillan of the Reds. Now, this
4:54is only a short-term add since Emilio
4:56Pagan is working his way back from a
4:58hamstring strain, but Pagan's return
5:00still looks to be at least a few weeks
5:01away.
5:03For most of the time that Pagan has been
5:04out, no Reds reliever has pitched well
5:06enough to deserve even a temporary
5:08closer label, but Santillan has finally
5:11turned things around recently, and he
5:13has the team's last two saves.
5:15I'd expect him to get the rest of those
5:17save chances until Pagan returns.
5:20Something seems to have clicked for
5:22Santillan recently as he hasn't given up
5:24a run or even a walk in his last six
5:26outings. That newfound control is a very
5:29good sign since he had a 13% walk rate
5:31on the season prior to this recent
5:33stretch. Santillan has also regained a
5:36tick on his fastball, which is up at
5:3895.6 mph over those last six outings
5:41compared to 94.4
5:43before that. And this recent turnaround
5:46might have an explanation, which is that
5:49Santian said he watched a clip of
5:51himself pitching from 2 years ago and
5:53was able to make some adjustments to get
5:54back to his old delivery.
5:57Santian's season-long numbers are very
5:59poor still with a 5.46 ERA and a 1.50
6:02whip, but he had a 2.44 ERA and a 1.11
6:05whip as recently as last season. And if
6:07cleaning up his delivery allows him to
6:09get back to being that guy, he won't
6:11look out of place in the ninth inning.
6:14As I said, this is probably only a
6:15temporary addition. Manager Terry
6:17Francona likes to be loyal to his
6:19veterans, so Emilio Pagan should get the
6:22job back once he's healthy, but don't
6:24forget that Pagan was quite poor prior
6:27to his injury. So even if he initially
6:28reclaims the job, he could pitch his way
6:30back out of it, and Santian would be
6:33right there to claim the closer role
6:35over the final couple months of the
6:37season.
6:39And finally, let's throw out a name who
6:41almost certainly won't get any saves, or
6:44at least not more than one or two over
6:46the next month or so, but somebody who
6:49could be a big help after the trade
6:51deadline. That is Garrett Whitlock of
6:53the Red Sox. Of all the teams who look
6:56like very clear sellers at the moment,
6:58the Red Sox easily have the best closer
7:01in Aroldis Chapman, and even though he
7:02has a vesting option for next season,
7:05he'll likely get such a high return that
7:07the Red Sox will be pretty motivated to
7:09sell. Of course, if they sell Chapman,
7:11they could sell their other top
7:12relievers like Whitlock as well, but
7:14he's under team control through 2028,
7:17and the Red Sox look like a team that
7:18would rather reload and try again next
7:21year than go into a deep, long rebuild.
7:23So keeping Whitlock and having him close
7:25for the next 2 and 1/2 seasons makes a
7:27lot of sense. Whitlock is pretty clearly
7:30the next man up in Boston. He ranks
7:32second in leverage index, and his
7:34numbers wouldn't look out of place in
7:35the ninth inning at all. He has a 2.91
7:38ERA and a 1.06 whip backed by a 31%
7:42strikeout rate and a 7% walk rate.
7:45That's pretty much right in line with
7:46what he did last year as well, a 2.25
7:48ERA and 1.08 whip backed by the same 31%
7:52strikeout rate and a negligibly worse 8%
7:55walk rate.
7:56This is the level Whitlock has been at
7:59for a season and a half now, so while
8:01he's certainly not a high priority add
8:03because he won't be getting many or any
8:05saves until after Aroldis Chapman is
8:08traded, if you have the luxury of an
8:10extra bench spot and want to preempt the
8:12post-deadline rush,
8:14Garrett Whitlock is a great option to do
8:17that. That's it for this week's top
8:19reliever recommendations. Let me know in
8:21the comments who you are adding this
8:22week in search of saves.
