2026 Fantasy Baseball: When Should You Draft a Closer?

Saves are the stolen bases of the pitching aspect of fantasy baseball. There’s always a question of when is the best time to draft players who mainly contribute to one category, since they don’t heavily provide to the rest.

Yes, offensive players who will steal bases can indeed post statistics that help in runs, BA, and OBP, but they usually don’t add to home runs or RBIs. So, do you chase the stolen base category or punt it and focus on players who can supply stats across more categories?

When to Draft a Closer in Fantasy Baseball

The same applies to the pitching categories. Do you chase saves when they won’t contribute to wins or strikeouts and don’t affect ERA and WHIP as much as starting pitchers do? Managers can also elect to punt the category. This draft strategy is more common in Roto leagues, where teams battle on a standard 5×5 category format.

If you are in a Points league, you will need to know the number of points allotted to saves to determine how long you can wait to draft a closer or two. The inning limit for pitchers is another factor to weigh. In low-inning threshold leagues, fantasy baseball managers can afford to draft a closer or two earlier than managers with high-inning limits. The higher the inning threshold, the more strategic fantasy managers need to approach the save categories.

In a 10- or 12-team league, managers can ideally wait until the fourth or fifth round to draft the star players like Mason Miller, Edwin Díaz, or Andrés Muñoz. The average depth percentage (ADP) for these guys is around the high-40 to low-50 draft picks. The reason these elite closers are so high is that they will contribute to four of the five pitching categories (wins is the exception), unlike closers further down the draft board, and play on teams expected to win many games.

When you select guys that high, there are massive risks that could pop their heads later in the season. Which means fantasy managers need to check whether the team you are selecting a closer for will be a winning one. Last season, Miller had an ADP in the mid-40s. However, he was traded at the deadline and recorded only two saves in the second half due to being moved to a setup role with the San Diego Padres.

So if you selected him, you wasted a fourth-round pick. Now, this season, Miller likely isn’t getting traded, but the Padres are a team willing to acquire or trade away anyone who can bring in players who’ll improve the team.

These three players should easily exceed 30 saves, which is the threshold you should reach for when selecting a closer in the earlier rounds of your fantasy baseball drafts. However, there are players that managers can wait on and could accrue 15 or more saves. This strategy allows managers to continue selecting offensive players who play regularly or starting pitchers.

Take into account that last season’s MLB saves leader, Carlos Estévez, had a 230 ADP because he was in a position battle with Lucas Erceg, whom many fantasy experts were predicting to win the closer role for the Kansas City Royals. However, Estévez recorded 42 saves, a 2.45 ERA, and 54 strikeouts.

Names that stand out this year as late-round closers and are on good teams are Kenley Jansen (Detroit Tigers) with a 133 ADP, Abner Uribe (Milwaukee Brewers) with a 148 ADP if he can win the role over Trevor Megill, and Ryan Walker (San Francisco Giants) with a 171 ADP. Jansen and Walker are projected to have around 25 saves. Uribe will, too, if he holds the closer role by himself all season long.

So when deciding when to draft a closer in fantasy baseball, you verify your league’s scoring format. Closers don’t have much value in long-term dynasty leagues, unlike single-season redraft leagues. An injury or one bad season could cause them to lose that role the next season and beyond.

Everyone will have their own pros and cons for selecting closers early, which is something I don’t like to do. I like to find the value in closers later in drafts. This strategy lets me select offensive players or starting pitchers who have a greater impact on my season than a ninth-inning reliever. The best way to prepare for what makes your best strategy is to utilize mock drafts. These strategic tools allow you to practice drafting orders to figure out which method yields the best team.

For more of the great fantasy baseball rankings and analysis you’ve come to expect from FantraxHQ, check out our full 2026 Fantasy Baseball Draft Kit! We’re here for you all the way up until Opening Day and then on into your championship run.