Under the Radar: Fantasy Baseball’s Next Dominant Closer?

Now that we’ve arrived at the MLB All-Star break, it is more difficult to identify impact fantasy baseball closers on the waiver wire. The cat is largely out of the bag on this year’s breakout stars, but we aren’t close enough to the end of the season to take advantage of late-season callups.

For this week’s edition of Under the Radar, we’ll be breaking down a rare exception to this phenomenon. The American League Central has produced some of the best closers in baseball during the last few years – between Liam Hendricks, Jhoan Duran, and Emmanuel Clase, the division has seen no lack of late-game weapons. White Sox right-hander Grant Taylor has continued the trend this season and is available in over 50% of leagues. Here are five reasons to pick up the Chicago closer before the start of the second half.

Five Reasons to Roster White Sox Closer Grant Taylor

Reason #1: Lethal Extension-Spin Combination

There are many ways to be an effective pitcher. However, it’s difficult for closers to have fantasy baseball success – meaning strikeouts and saves – without a high-octane fastball. Luckily, Taylor has one of the best fastballs in baseball. There are just two pitchers in baseball who rank in the 90th percentile or higher in Extension, Fastball Spin Rate, and Fastball Velocity. Who are they, you ask?

Grant Taylor and Jacob Misiorowski.

Given his fastball is in company with perhaps the best in the game, it’s no surprise that hitters have struggled against it.

Because of his outstanding extension, Taylor’s fastball travels less distance to the plate than most pitchers’ fastballs do. And because it has such a high spin rate and velocity, it creates a “rising” effect that, when paired with limited reaction time, makes it nearly impossible to hit. Batters have a .182 xBA (per Baseball Savant) against Taylor’s four-seam fastball, which ranks 30th out of 370 pitchers with at least 100 fastballs thrown this season.

Reason #2: Elite Expected Statistics

While he’s only thrown 16.1 innings – a very small sample size even for a closer, and not one to draw extreme conclusions from – Taylor’s underlying metrics over that span have been outstanding. He entered the All-Star break with a 2.06 xERA, .197 xBA, and 2.4% barrel rate.

For a pitcher who gets so many ground balls, Taylor also has an extremely high strikeout rate of 29.2%.. That’s helped him stay extremely efficient, which allows him to make more appearances than he would otherwise. At 15.78 pitches per inning pitched, the White Sox closer is more efficient than roughly 72% of pitchers with at least 50 batters faced this season.

Perhaps the most ridiculous part of Taylor’s first 13 big-league appearances? He’s done everything well. Just take a look at his Baseball Savant page:

Reason #3: He’s a Top Prospect for a Reason

According to MLB Pipeline, Taylor is the 6th-ranked prospect in the White Sox’s 6th-ranked farm system. With four pitches (fastball, curveball, slider, cutter) that grade as a 55 or higher on the 20-80 scouting scale, it’s easy to see why scouts are bullish on the closer.

After pitching to the tune of a 2.33 ERA in 19.1 innings across Rookie and Single-A ball last season, Taylor started 2025 at Double-A Birmingham. He was utterly dominant, striking out 37 batters in just 26.2 innings pitched. Opponents hit just .135 against the former second-round pick, and he posted a 0.86 WHIP to back up a minuscule 1.01 ERA.

Reason #4: Unique Pitch Shapes

As you can see from the Baseball Savant graphic below, all of Taylor’s pitches have similar horizontal movement and distinctly different vertical movement. That makes it harder for hitters to tell which pitch is coming because they can’t identify the pitch type based on its horizontal movement.

While this is somewhat unique among closers, Taylor utilizes his unique pitch shapes by consistently throwing each pitch type to different heights of the strike zone. Pounding the top of the strike zone with fastballs allows Taylor to make the most of the pitch’s unique “hopping” or “rising” effect, and his curveball and cutter tunnel perfectly off of it to the bottom and inside parts of the strike zone, respectively.

In addition to being easily digestible in a diagram, Taylor’s excellent command is extremely quantifiable. Location+, a metric hosted at Fangraphs, uses the count and pitch type to evaluate how well pitchers command their arsenals. Among pitchers with at least 10 IP in 2025, Taylor’s 123 Location+ ranks third behind Red Sox closer Aroldis Chapman (128) and Griffin Jax (125).

Reason #5: Closer Opportunity

As Greg Jewett of the New York Times wrote here, Grant Taylor is a rising fantasy baseball star with the potential to be one of the best closers in fantasy baseball during the second half of the season. Despite playing for the White Sox, he should get a solid number of saves and rack up the strikeouts regardless of how many chances he gets in high-leverage situations. That makes him a great addition for deep-league fantasy baseball managers as we look forward to the second half of the 2025 MLB season.