Rest of Season Fantasy Baseball Rankings: Hot as Helsley

As the game of baseball has evolved into a battle of the bullpens, relief pitchers have shown that they can be fantasy assets even if they are not deemed their team’s primary closer. In recent years, we have seen relievers like Devin Williams and Paul Sewald provide fantasy managers with plenty of value despite recording only a handful of saves. They stabilize ratios and offer a ton of strikeout upside. And because their managers trust them in big spots, they earn the potential to pick up the occasional win or save. Fantasy managers spend months in the offseason scouring the league to find the next Williams or Sewald. Well, look no further, folks. He’s here and he is this week’s biggest riser in my rest of season fantasy baseball rankings. He is Ryan Helsley of the St. Louis Cardinals.

Ryan Helsley Profile

Ryan Helsley is a hard-throwing pitcher who has been in the Majors since 2019. Over three seasons, he had accumulated a 4.03 ERA, which was nearly a full run better than his xFIP. He entered 2022 with a career WAR of 0.0. You might say that Helsley was your typical middle reliever. It should not be a surprise then to learn that Helsely was drafted in 0.19 percent of Fantrax leagues, with an average ADP of 896.1. Well, what a difference a month makes. To say that Helsley has been dominant over the first month of the season might be an insult to the word “dominant”. The fireballer has faced 31 hitters so far this year. He has allowed one hit, walked none, and struck out 20. His FIP and xFIP are below 0.00.

Helsley is averaging 99.4 miles per hour on his fastball this season, which is nearly two MPH faster than last year. He topped out at 103.1 MPH last Sunday. In contrast, the max exit velocity he has allowed this season is 99.9 MPH, and his average EV permitted is just 81.5 MPH. The backspin Helsley gets on his four-seamer (97th percentile per Statcast) makes the pitch nearly impossible to square up. He has yet to allow a hit against the fastball so far this season, and his expected stats are nearly as impressive. His xBA (expected batting average allowed) on the fastball is .040, and his xSLG (expected slugging percentage allowed) is .052. With hitters understandably gearing up for triple-digit heat, his cutter keeps hitters honest. That pitch is no picnic either. His cutter has an xBA of .075 and an xSLG of .099.

Helsley is currently available in nearly half of all Fantrax leagues. That number should be close to zero. The way he is dealing right now, he has plenty to offer even if he toils in middle relief for the next few months. He has the potential to approach (if not surpass) 100 strikeouts while lowering your ratios. Even if Helsley cannot overtake Giovanny Gallegos to become the Cardinals’ closer, he should provide plenty of positive value moving forward. At the very least, he is on the fast track to becoming this year’s Williams or Sewald. I have him as a top-30 reliever in my latest ROS rankings. I would much rather have him on my roster than a declining starter like Zack Greinke, where you are hoping against hope that he is not in your starting lineup when the bottom eventually falls out.

And the ceiling for Helsley is much higher. The 103-MPH pitch I mentioned earlier came in a two-inning save last Sunday. He followed that up with a high-leverage outing on Friday that earned him his first victory of the season. The more Oliver Marmol decides to utilize Helsley more in these high-leverage situations, the greater the potential reward. Helsley can easily become this year’s Emmanuel Clase or Jordan Romano if the Cardinals decide to install Helsley as their primary closer. In that scenario, Helsley would likely be a top-10 option for the rest of the season. Get on the Highway to Helsley before someone else in your league reaps the rewards.

Rest of Season Fantasy Baseball Rankings