Top Fantasy Baseball Relief Pitchers for 2024: Devin Williams, Josh Hader, Edwin Diaz, Emmanuel Clase, Jhoan Duran and More

Discussing some of the top fantasy relief pitchers for the 2024 season.

The 2024 MLB season is closing in quickly, so it’s time to start putting together your rankings for every position to make sure you’re lined up for your fantasy baseball draft.

It’s time to cover the last players that take the field in every game, relief pitchers, specifically closers. We’ll discuss some of the best fantasy options in the MLB and determine if where they are ranked/going in drafts is the right spot.

We already covered some of the top starting pitchers, catchers, first basemen, second basemen, third basemen, shortstops, outfielders and designated hitters, so be sure to check those out.

Get ready for draft season! Check out our Mock Draft Simulator, Average Draft Position list and Draft Genius!

The Best of the Best

I see pretty much the same five closers being the first one off draft boards this season, although the order is rarely ever the same from one draft to the next. Those players are: Milwaukee Brewers’ Devin Williams, Houston Astros’ Josh Hader, New York Mets’ Edwin Diaz, Cleveland Guardians’ Emmanuel Clase and Minnesota Twins’ Jhoan Duran.

Williams has been an All-Star in two straight seasons for Milwaukee. He recorded 36 saves and posted a sparkling 1.53 earned run average across 61 games and 58 2/3 innings pitched last season. Williams struck out 87 batters while walking 28.

That was his first full season as the team’s No. 1 closer, and he delivered an elite season. While Milwaukee’s offense isn’t stacked, that actually works in Williams’ favor, as there will be more closing opportunities. The Brewers’ bullpen is also loaded, so it should allow Williams plenty of chances to finish off games.

Hader was the Brewers’ closer up until the trade deadline of the 2022 season. Last season with the San Diego Padres, Hader had 33 saves and a 1.28 ERA across 61 games and 56 1/3 innings pitched. He struck out 85 batters while walking 30.

He now joins an Astros’ team that had 42 saves a season ago. He’s expected to replace Ryan Pressly, who had 31 of those saves. Houston now has one of the league's best 1-2 punches at the end of games - and Pressly was 100% on board with Hader coming in.

Diaz is expected to be good to go for the season after missing all of the 2023 season after suffering a knee injury during the World Baseball Classic.

The last time we saw Diaz, he saved 32 games and had a 1.31 ERA across 61 games and 62 innings. He struck out a whopping 118 batters while walking only 18 - that’s about as dominant a season as a closer can have.

There’s obviously concerns about whether he can be the same player or not, but all reports are pointing that he absolutely can return to his past form.

Clase is also a back-to-back All-Star. Last season, Clase had 44 saves and a 3.22 ERA across 75 games and 72 2/3 innings pitched. He struck out 64 batters and walked just 16.

The big saves, games and innings pitched marks helps offset the bit higher ERA (for a reliever). He doesn’t boast the strikeout numbers some of these other closers do, but he can rack up saves with the best of them.

Duran will begin his third season in the big leagues as the Twins’ closer. He earned 27 saves across 59 games and 62 1/3 innings pitched a season ago. Duran struck out 84 batters and walked 25 while having a 2.45 ERA.

Usually once the first closer is drafted, the other four in the group go shortly after. They typically start getting picked in the 50s, and are usually all gone by pick 75 (at the latest).

I think you can make an argument for Williams, Hader, Diaz and Clase all being the top fantasy option, and I’d really have no problem taking any of them in the mid-50s. I personally like Duran in the next tier of closers, but if you can get him in the 70s, that still feels like the right place.

Other Guys Worth Mentioning

Of course, every team has a closer that could be useful for fantasy purposes, but only a select few are the most-coveted guys.

San Francisco Giants’ Camilo Doval, Atlanta Braves’ Raisel Iglesias, Toronto Blue Jays’ Jordan Romano, Pittsburgh Pirates’ David Bednar and Cincinnati Reds’ Alexis Diaz are typically the next five closers drafted, so let’s dive into each of them a bit further.

Doval had 39 saves and a 2.93 ERA across 69 games and 67 2/3 innings pitched a season ago. He struck out 87 batters and walked 26. 

Iglesias recorded 33 saves and a 2.75 ERA across 58 games and 55 2/3 innings pitched in his first full season with Atlanta last year. He struck out 68 and walked just 15.

Romano is another back-to-back All-Star. He accumulated 36 saves and a 2.90 ERA across 59 games and 59 innings last year. Romano struck out 72 and walked 24. 

Bednar, another back-to-back All-Star, had 39 saves and a 2.00 ERA across 66 games and 67 1/3 innings last season. He struck out 80 and walked 21.

Diaz had 37 saves and a 3.07 ERA across 71 games and 67 1/3 innings pitched last season. Diaz struck out 86 and walked 36.

As you can see by all these numbers, most of the closers are extremely close in value. I think that’s why I (and many others) can leave drafts without drafting too many closers. There’s obviously still a ton of great fantasy assets around when the closers start going, and if you decide to pass in the couple rounds where the closers are going, you might not end up with a single one. You can make that work depending on your league’s settings, but it’d be great to at least get two for-sure closers in every draft, and hopefully at least one of the 10 we’ve mentioned.

While these last five guys we mentioned are almost always going after the first five, they typically all are going between picks 75-100. Again, there’s arguments to be made for each guy, so I’m not really too worried about what order they go in, as long as it's these guys. 

It’s hard to correctly project what a closer’s numbers might look like for an upcoming season, so all we can do is look back on their past seasons. Closers that are used more often might have more value because they pitch more, but that also means their ERAs are likely going to be a touch higher. Some past numbers can also be deceiving because one or two terrible outings can absolutely destroy a closer’s ERA. 

I personally try not to let other fantasy owners dictate how my drafts go. If others want to draft all the closers in short order, I’m fine punting the position and instead stacking my roster with more hitters and starting pitchers. It really all comes down to personal preference, but I’ve seen championship-winning teams that have prioritized closers and others that have ignored it completely.

It’s almost like the tight end position in fantasy football. If you don’t land one of the top options, you can sometimes get by with mixing and matching throughout the season. 

Again, it’s all about your personal preference. Just make sure that if you are ignoring closers when every other league member is loading up on them to draft players that are certain to help your team out (don’t take prospects or injury-riddled players).

#2024-fantasy-baseball-draft #devin-williams #josh-hader #edwin-diaz #emmanuel-clase #jhoan-duran