Speaker 1: Welcome back to Fantasy Pros Baseball podcast. Hello friends, my
Speaker 1: name it's Chris Welsh, and today we're gonna be breaking
Speaker 1: down my five high upside closers heading into the season.
Speaker 1: That can be kind of a mixed bag. What do
Speaker 1: I mean the five best closers? No? Do all these
Speaker 1: guys have to have lockdown gigs? No? Not necessarily. We're
Speaker 1: playing for the upside. So some of the guys I'm
Speaker 1: going to talk to you about don't even technically or
Speaker 1: guaranteed have a gig right now. Some might be in
Speaker 1: some platoon situations, but we're talking about the upside you
Speaker 1: can get from some of these closers in drafts. So
Speaker 1: they're not going to be inside the top ten because
Speaker 1: how much further and how much upside can you go
Speaker 1: past the top ten? Number eight to number six? Does
Speaker 1: that count? No? So I'm gonna give you five high
Speaker 1: upside closer types to be taking a look atter this season.
Speaker 1: But first, I want you to get ahead of all
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Speaker 1: some closers coming in at number five. I'm gonna give
Speaker 1: you the name, but I'm also going to acknowledge the
Speaker 1: cheating here that there might be another guy in this.
Speaker 1: But the player I'm going to tell you about at
Speaker 1: number five on the high upside closing is Arizona Diamondbacks
Speaker 1: Kevin Ginkel. I know it's an Arizona diamonback, but a
Speaker 1: sneaky team who's looking to pick up more wins this year.
Speaker 1: Tory Lavello likes a single closer. Diamondbacks GM Mike Hazen
Speaker 1: was actually asked about this recently and what they were
Speaker 1: gonna do with the situation, and he acknowledged that Tory
Speaker 1: Leavello himself just likes to pick a guy, though he
Speaker 1: would be open if Lavello wanted to go with multiple arms.
Speaker 1: Now the team has Mark Milanson, who's four hundred years old,
Speaker 1: lacks the upside and did not carry the job into
Speaker 1: last year. The best reliever on this team is actually
Speaker 1: Joe Mantiply, who made the All Star Game last year.
Speaker 1: But he's a lefty in that bullpen. Traditional Tory Levello
Speaker 1: would probably want to keep him for maybe the fire
Speaker 1: hose situation where he might come in and get some saves,
Speaker 1: but he might be a really important asset for the
Speaker 1: seventh or eighth inning for the team. And that's why
Speaker 1: I'm bringing you Kevin Ginkl on here, though they've got
Speaker 1: a couple names are going to be working through here.
Speaker 1: Ginko last year improved his fastball by two miles per
Speaker 1: hour win from ninety four to ninety six point four.
Speaker 1: Was also able to increase his slighter percentage by almost
Speaker 1: two miles per hour from eighty three point nine to
Speaker 1: eighty five point four. He had a three to three
Speaker 1: ERA but a two point nine expected era and a
Speaker 1: thirty one point three CSW would put him in line
Speaker 1: with relievers like David Bednar. The Diamondbacks are going to
Speaker 1: have to steal some wins in here. They're gonna have
Speaker 1: to find ways. But this is a relief pitch with
Speaker 1: a close to ten k per nine that made big
Speaker 1: improvements off of last year on a team that wants
Speaker 1: a singular closer. He also had a phenomenal three point
Speaker 1: eight home run flyball ratio, doesn't give up home runs
Speaker 1: a one point five to four ground ball to fly
Speaker 1: ball ratio. This is a guy that makes sense as
Speaker 1: a closer on a team that wants a single closer.
Speaker 1: Watch Joe mantiply and always watch guys like Mark mllanson.
Speaker 1: But Kevin Ginkole comes at number five. For me, coming
Speaker 1: in at number four, we are going to talk about
Speaker 1: a closer that has a job. His brother is quite good,
Speaker 1: Alexis Diaz, the younger brother of Edwin Diaz. Now this
Speaker 1: is another closer that's on a not good team. But
Speaker 1: this is a closer that looks like he is being
Speaker 1: setup to be the guy on a team. And that
Speaker 1: is a little bit few and far between right now.
Speaker 1: In our landscape of closers an almost twelve K per
Speaker 1: nine he put up last year. He had ten saves
Speaker 1: in his major league debut with a one point eight
Speaker 1: four ERA. Now, the underlying stats don't exactly lock up.
Speaker 1: Is his ex fIF was three nine seven, but if
Speaker 1: you go look at his expected ERA, it's two seven
Speaker 1: to six. The Reds are not going to win a
Speaker 1: ton of games, but we're valuing guys like David Bednar
Speaker 1: even higher. And Alexis Diaz is one of those players
Speaker 1: that might be able to sneak into thirty five saves.
Speaker 1: We've seen it happen with Daniel Bard. He's got the
Speaker 1: strikeout potential, he's got to cut the walks, does not
Speaker 1: give up home runs, which is key to why the
Speaker 1: Reds would want to keep him in this role. And
Speaker 1: if you look on Fantasy pros ADP, it's around one
Speaker 1: fifty behind some guys that don't even have lockdown situations,
Speaker 1: So we are going to talk about them. I like alexisds.
Speaker 1: I think there's a lot of upside. He's coming in
Speaker 1: at number four, number three on the high upside closers.
Speaker 1: How about a Yankees closer? Yeah, the upside is there.
Speaker 1: Because the team could provide him with thirty to forty
Speaker 1: saves if he has the gig. We're talking about Clay Holmes. Now,
Speaker 1: Clay Holmes did not light the world on fire with
Speaker 1: a just barely nine k per nine. Almost had three
Speaker 1: walks per nine as well, but he had a nice
Speaker 1: two to five four ERA that seemed very sustainable. His
Speaker 1: x FIP was two nine. He had a two two
Speaker 1: eight Sierra, which we'll take all day, and an over
Speaker 1: thirty CSW and we'd like a little bit higher on
Speaker 1: this wing you strike percentage. But here's one of the
Speaker 1: big keys and why we talk about the upside here
Speaker 1: because this is not a young, up and coming closer.
Speaker 1: This is the Yankees closer, and Bran Cashman has already
Speaker 1: said that the team is comfortable with moving forward with
Speaker 1: Clay Holmes as being the closer for the season because
Speaker 1: the market is kind of dried up. The names are
Speaker 1: gone out unless they go out and trade for someone.
Speaker 1: Clay Holmes is lockdown to be the guy. And for
Speaker 1: the simple fact for him to walk into thirty plus
Speaker 1: saves going outside the top ten of closers. Yeah, that's
Speaker 1: the big thing we talked about. Alexis Diaz. He's not
Speaker 1: that much further up. He's actually in the bottom fifteen.
Speaker 1: He's outside the top fifteen is closers according to Fantasy
Speaker 1: pros ADP. Right now. The upside there is for him
Speaker 1: to be top five. We give a guy like rysill Iglesias,
Speaker 1: you know, inside the top ten value on a good team,
Speaker 1: Clay Holmes should actually be given about the same value.
Speaker 1: This could be another Ryan Presley situation, a lot of
Speaker 1: upside or play homes moving up. That'll be number three.
Speaker 1: Number two on the list is all about stuff. Johan
Speaker 1: Duran with the Minnesota Twins an average of almost one
Speaker 1: hundred and one miles per hour on the fastball, an
Speaker 1: almost ninety mile per hour slider, and he'll also throw
Speaker 1: you up a little split finger with a curveball. The
Speaker 1: arsenal's really good. He just was not given the full
Speaker 1: gig last year and there's still no guarantees this year.
Speaker 1: Hoory Lopez last year picked up saves and only allowed
Speaker 1: Duran to get too, but with an almost twelve k
Speaker 1: per nine a sub two era, the stuff is there
Speaker 1: to curate this guy to be the closer. Now, this
Speaker 1: team may implement multiple guys, but the stuff provides you
Speaker 1: the upside of being one of the best closers in baseball.
Speaker 1: It's a Josh Haters situation. It's kind of like Devin Williams.
Speaker 1: That's other Devin Williams being given the gig. This is
Speaker 1: a team that is going to provide win opportunities. This
Speaker 1: is a high, high strikeout pitcher. These are the type
Speaker 1: of bets that I'm going to look for, especially when
Speaker 1: I'm playing this game of who are the high upside closers?
Speaker 1: And almost eighteen percent swinging strike percentage and an over
Speaker 1: thirty two percent CSW. If he has the gig, Johann
Speaker 1: Duran could become a top five closer in baseball at
Speaker 1: worst top ten, even if the era gets a little
Speaker 1: bit shaky, the strikeouts are going to be there. This
Speaker 1: is going to be big strikeouts, hopefully big saves. Early
Speaker 1: projections have him just close to the teens. If you
Speaker 1: look at atc it's at twelve he gets a gig,
Speaker 1: we could push twenty and again this is a teen's
Speaker 1: closer upside. Is there number two high upside closer Johann
Speaker 1: Duran and that takes us to number one. My favorite
Speaker 1: closer to draft. It's on the same landscape as Johann
Speaker 1: Duran Andris Munios with the Seattle Mariners over thirteen k
Speaker 1: per nine this past year a two and a half
Speaker 1: ERA with an X fIF that was lower. We don't
Speaker 1: usually see that. He had a two four nine e RA.
Speaker 1: He's expected ERA one point eight four, which is an
Speaker 1: absolutely absurd number. He had an over twenty percent swinging
Speaker 1: strike percent. It's twenty one point four and a thirty
Speaker 1: five point for CSW. You want to talk about velocity,
Speaker 1: it's over one hundred on average on the fastball. He
Speaker 1: also throws a slider that is close to eighty nine
Speaker 1: miles per hour. It's a two pitch pitcher of elite stuff.
Speaker 1: Going into camp, Paul Seawall doesn't look like he'll be
Speaker 1: ready for spring, Andres Munials was also hurt, but he's
Speaker 1: already shed his boot and looks like he's going to
Speaker 1: begin some activities. Andres Munio seems like the perfect guy
Speaker 1: to put at the back end of the bullpen. Maybe
Speaker 1: Paul Seawall get some opportunities. He could set the stage
Speaker 1: for Munas. But Munhos has the elite closer stuff to
Speaker 1: be one of the best closers in baseball on a
Speaker 1: great Mariners team. He just doesn't have the gig like Duran.
Speaker 1: But we're going for upside here, guys, and that will
Speaker 1: do it. Who do you got? I got an idea
Speaker 1: for you. Join up with the Fantasy Pros discord. You
Speaker 1: can get in the chats and you can start talking
Speaker 1: about who your upside closers are. Let us know. You
Speaker 1: can also tweet at it as well, and go to
Speaker 1: Fantasypros dot com slash Draftkit to pick up the draft
Speaker 1: kit today. It's absolutely free. Then if you want to upgrade,
Speaker 1: you'll be hanging out in the discord with us and
Speaker 1: the rest of our awesome community. That's going to do
Speaker 1: it for me. Thank you guys for hanging out, and
Speaker 1: I will talk to you on the flip side. It's
Speaker 1: Chris Welsh, It's Fantasy Pros and we are out of here. Byebye.
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