Wouldn’t it be nice not to worry about finding creative ways to fill your relief pitching needs?
Are you tired of picking up random relievers, hoping they can luck their way into a save or hold?
Introducing The Hierarchy
With our Dynasty Closer Hierarchy Tool, you can be two steps ahead of your league mates, picking up future closers before they make it to the big leagues and gain notoriety. In this tool, you’ll find 120 relievers who are the most dynasty-relevant, something that, to our knowledge, hasn’t been done before. Did I mention the list will be updated twice a month? There is an extreme lack of coverage regarding relief pitching in dynasty baseball despite these players being your sole option to collect saves and holds. Elite relief pitchers can give you a huge advantage regardless of your league's format, especially since closers are rarely discussed or scouted.
This idea was the brainchild of Ross Jensen, who saw an opportunity to create an amazing tool in an underrepresented part of dynasty coverage. Along with Ross, Greg Hoogkamp, Drew Wheeler, and Rhys White were also imperative to the analysis behind player placement. All had the baseball expertise needed to create something like this out of nothing.
When creating the Closer Hierarchy, I researched each player extensively, ensuring that they were projected as future high-leverage relievers. When determining how to rank the players, decisions were made based on how much value they could provide you from 2025 until each player retires. Some teams have their current closer listed as their highest-value dynasty reliever, while others have a player in the lower minors. It depends on the organization's depth of minor league relief talent and each player's future potential. All players will be assumed to remain on their given team for the rest of their careers. While age is a significant factor in the hierarchy, contract length is not. Players would retain their same tier if they were traded or signed to a new team, as you will see in future updates. A team can have four tier-1 closers; we’re going off player value here, not their value to their current team.
The most common trait you’ll see out of players on the hierarchy is that they strike a bunch of guys out. A lot of them also walk quite a few batters, which is usually how they ended up as relievers in the first place. Minor League save numbers were a factor, but the highest potential relievers often take time to reach a closing role. Other metrics like Stuff+ and FIP were also large contributors to player rankings, alongside other numbers indicative of future MLB closer success. Ranking relievers is a volatile undertaking, probably why this hasn’t been done before. Still, I think our Dynasty Closer Hierarchy is as good as it gets for relief pitcher coverage and projection.
Before the 2025 season, the incredible Drew Wheeler released his Relief Pitcher Preview for dynasty baseball, which can be found here:
I took plenty of inspiration from Drew’s list, and nearly all of his mentioned players will be found in some respect on this tool. His sleepers and minor league reliever coverage are great, proven by how well they’ve held up as the 2025 season has begun. While some of our rankings might be slightly different now, this is another great source to check out early in the season from our dynasty team at Prospects Live!
The plan is to update this tool every 2 weeks or so, with an article accompanying all updates to let you know what’s changing in the reliever world. Watch for those before someone else in your league picks up the best new kid on the block.
Tiers
The hierarchy is determined through a 5-tier ranking system comprised of the following:
-Tier 1 Closer: An elite-level closer
-Tier 2 Closer: A high-leverage pitcher that could close for most teams
-Tier 1 Setup: A high-leverage pitcher, a closer for low-end teams, a setup for most others
-Tier 2 Setup: A medium-high leverage pitcher, can be a setup for most teams
-Middle Relief: A medium leverage pitcher, could set up for low-end teams
Without further ado, here she is! I hope you enjoy and find this helpful tool. If you have any questions or thoughts, feel free to comment on this article, and I’ll get back to you!
Director of Dynasty Content - Canadian born and raised, moved to Arkansas with my wife and two sons Ezra and Ari. Followed and played baseball my whole life; played dynasty for 25+ years.
Sophomore undergraduate student at Indiana University studying Sports Marketing & Management. Staff writer for Prospects Live covering MiLB prospects, MLB Draft, and Fantasy Baseball
As Director of Pro Scouting, I lead a talented group of evaluators as we break down future stars. You can find me at random California League games throughout the season!
A Giants fan living in San Diego, been playing fantasy baseball since 2005 and dynasty since 2021. Started the Dynasty Baseball Pickups podcast in June 2023 and joined Prospects Live in March of 2024.
