Low Owned Holds Targets
Looking for some free holds!
NEW WRITER ALERT! But it’s from a secret writer. We’ll call him “Rob”. He’s trying to lay low, and I respect that. But he’ll be contributing some weekly bullpen content. And he gets it started with a handful of cheap/free reliever picks for your holds leagues. Let’s bust into it!
Saves were adopted by MLB in 1969. On the other hand, the lowly hold took until 1980 to get its shine, yet it’s still the neglected child of the fantasy categories. I will not let that continue. Holds have value — sometimes, in our case, equally as much as the save.
I will briefly talk about some infrequently drafted relievers (<35% on Fantrax) who could bring value in the Holds category. Players with an asterisk are my favorites considering the draft threshold.
I will start out with my SUPER undrafted guys, and go from there.
Brent Headrick — NYY
1% drafted — ATC Projection: 3 holds
Who is Brent Headrick, you may ask. I do not know.
He seems to have a spot in the Yankee bullpen. In 2025 he pitched 23 innings for the Yankees, so he did not get much run on the mound, but they’re familiar with him.
Headrick’s 35.5% SwStr% on 93 sliders is nice to see. That’s just about all he’s got going for him. He’s really tall, so that must be good. I’m seeing Twitter people give him some nice praise too.
Also, the Yankees will probably win more games than they lose, so a good number of chances for holds will arise.
ATC projects 3 holds for Headrick. I don’t know if ATC is ready for Brent to be unleashed.
Erik Sabrowski — CLE
2% drafted — ATC Projection: 14 holds
Sabrowski is never passing Cade Smith for saves, and he seems locked into the bullpen.
Erik pitched 29.1 innings in 2025 and racked up 12 holds, a ratio right in line with top-end relievers.
His 34.7 K% matches up with his 18.1 SwStr%. Erik’s slider is also devastating. I’m guessing a lot of these guys just have a slider and that’s it.
ATC projects 14 holds for Sabrowski. With a projection of 60 IP, I’m going to say he outdoes that projection.
Steven Okert — HOU
10% drafted — ATC Projection: 10 holds
Okert had a nice 23.7 K-BB% on 71 IP in 2025 — a bigger and better sample than Erik and Brent.
He’s primed to regress in that department, with a career 17.8% K-BB% and a 2026 MLB Data Warehouse projection of 20.0%, which is still very good.
Josh Hader is starting the year injured, so Okert’s role should increase, though he has no shot of passing Bryan Abreu.
Okert could be in line for a lot of holds, especially early in the year.
Dylan Lee — ATL
15% drafted — ATC Projection: 17 holds
ATC projects Lee to have the most holds on the Braves, although only because they give Robert Suarez a good amount of saves behind Raisel Iglesias.
The Braves are really good. Lee had 19 holds last year, and he won his arbitration case for an extra 10% in salary, so morale is high in Dylan Lee’s head.
Pair that with great on-field performance (23.1 K-BB% career) and the holds will be coming.
Bryan Baker — TB
16% drafted — ATC Projection: 12 holds
The Rays traded a Comp Round A selection for Baker last year around the deadline.
That seems like a significant asset for a reliever, so he must be good, considering the vaunted Rays nabbed him.
The Rays bullpen isn’t exactly known for specific roles, so maybe he ends up the closer — but I doubt it.
ATC projects significant regression in holds this year compared to last.
Baker is a changeup guy (0.40 JA SIERA on 307 pitches) rather than a slider guy. His 1st percentile barrel rate in 2025 (worse than 99% of pitchers) is not inspiring, but what are the odds he’s that bad again?
I’m counting on the nasty changeup and barrel regression.
Kirby Yates — LAA
26% drafted — ATC Projection: 9 holds
Yates stunk last year.
But before that he was incredible.
But then he stunk before that.
And then once more, before that, he was incredible.
Kirby is due to be incredible. That pattern is right in front of our faces.
MLB Data Warehouse projects a 20.0 K-BB% on the back of a strong fastball.
The Angels bullpen is wide open with Kenley Jansen moving on to MY TIGERS. I’m guessing Ben Joyce slides into the closer role when healthy.
Yates could easily be the next-best guy, lining him up for holds all season.
Phil Maton — CHC
27% drafted — ATC Projection: 19 holds
Flamethrowing Daniel Palencia is the closer.
Soft-tossing Phil projects for the most holds on the team. That’s a good start.
Phil might just be the man.
His 2025 Baseball Savant page is redder than me after a long day in the sun.
The last two seasons, he has been above average in GB% — the first guy on our list to do that.
He also has four pitches, which is nice. He relies on the curveball for strikeouts.
His sinker is so slow it’s really bad. That’s probably why he’s a reliever.
A good reliever, at that.
Garrett Cleavinger — TB
28% drafted — ATC Projection: 21 holds
ATC projects Cleavinger to have 21 holds, most on the team.
Uceta, Jax, and Cleavinger are the top guys, so they’ll be mixing it up all year — as the Rays typically do.
Garrett increased his K% to 33.7% and decreased his BB% to 7.4% last year.
Those will probably regress, but I do not care.
His groundball rate also projects to regress from 47.1% to 44.3%, but I don’t care about that either.
Cleavinger has his role, and even with regression, he should be good.
Andrew Kittredge — BAL
31% drafted — ATC Projection: 17 holds
Kittredge is Phil Maton-esque.
On a supposedly good team with a clear non-closer role and great production the year prior.
He has four pitches like Maton.
He has a slow, stinky fastball like Maton.
His other pitches are good like Maton.
His K-BB% is incredible like Maton.
I’ll just leave it at that.