Hanrahan always had a big strikeout rate but the key for him this season is that he\u2019s throwing strikes. He\u2019s walked just five guys in 24.2 innings. That suggests his stellar start is sustainable.<\/p>\n
2. Jose Valverde, Tigers (14 for 14: 100%)<\/strong><\/p>\n Valverde is the anti-Hanrahan. He hasn\u2019t blown a save yet but he\u2019s allowed three homers and he has 12 walks in 25 innings. It\u2019s only a matter of time before he starts blowing ops.<\/p>\n 3. Ryan Madson, Phillies (12 for 12: 100%)<\/strong><\/p>\n Madson has been an effective reliever for years but always struggled when called upon for spot closer duty, so it\u2019s nice to see him finally settling in. Opponents are batting .209 off him and he hasn\u2019t allowed a homer. He may not give the closer job back when Brad Lidge returns.<\/p>\n 4. Leo Nunez, Marlins (19 for 20: 95%)<\/strong><\/p>\n Who would\u2019ve picked Nunez to be the major-league save leader at this point? He\u2019s traditionally been viewed as a stopgap, as he isn\u2019t a dominating pitcher. He probably won\u2019t be the league\u2019s top closer by season\u2019s end, as he\u2019s more hittable than most closers, but he\u2019s proven that he\u2019s mentally right for the role.<\/p>\n 5. J.J. Putz, Diamondbacks (16 for 17: 94%)<\/strong><\/p>\n Health is the only thing standing in J.J. Putz\u2019s way. He\u2019s an overpowering pitcher whenever his arm physically co-operates. He has a chance to finish the season as the majors\u2019 top closer.<\/p>\n 6. Francisco Rodriguez, Mets (16 for 17: 94%)<\/strong><\/p>\n K-Rod is past his prime but he still has the electric arsenal to blow it by guys. That said, he\u2019s due for a regression. A 2.00 ERA despite a 1.48 WHIP? Very lucky. 7. Chris Perez, Indians (14 for 15: 93%)<\/strong><\/p>\n Perez is another stopper who has impressive numbers at first glance but could get punished soon for walking too many guys. However, his low strikeout rate combined with zero homers allowed suggests he\u2019s doing a nice job pitching to contact and keeping the ball down in the zone.<\/p>\n 8. Heath Bell, Padres (14 for 15: 93%)<\/strong><\/p>\n Out of everyone on this list, Bell is the guy I give the ball to if I need three outs. He has several seasons worth of elite production, his walk rate is fairly low by closer standards, and he\u2019s unhittable (.181 opponents\u2019 average). What more could you want?<\/p>\n 9. Drew Storen, Nationals (11 for 12: 92%)<\/strong><\/p>\n Storen had the pedigree of Washington\u2019s closer of the future and he\u2019s living up to the hype. His 25:6 strikeout-to-walk ratio, 0.90 WHIP and .187 opponents\u2019 average remind me of the guy directly above him on this list.<\/p>\n 10. Jonathan Papelbon, Red Sox (10 for 11: 91%)<\/strong><\/p>\n Tied with Kyle Farnsworth (Rays) and Fernando Salas (Cardinals)<\/em><\/p>\n Papelbon, one of the game\u2019s truly elite closers a few years ago, fell on hard times last season because he started walking guys like crazy. It\u2019s very encouraging to see him with just three walks and a whopping 32 strikeouts in 23.2 innings this season. It makes his 3.42 ERA look positively unlucky.<\/p>\n Shea Matthews weighs in with another MLB handicapping article for all you MLB baseball bettors out there. Here are the top 10 closers this season according to what he believes is the most important stat: their save percentage…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":195,"featured_media":38895,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[49700,670],"tags":[28750,49603,49610,49604,24683,6684,49607,49609,22728,49606,678,49605,683,27289,49608,49611],"class_list":["post-38893","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fantasy-sports","category-mlb-baseball","tag-28750","tag-baseball-articles","tag-chris-perez","tag-closers","tag-fantasy-baseball","tag-francisco-rodriguez","tag-jj-putz","tag-joel-hanrahan","tag-jose-valverde","tag-leo-nunez","tag-mlb-betting","tag-mlb-closers","tag-mlb-handicapping","tag-mlb-pitchers","tag-ryan-madson","tag-top-closers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38893","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/195"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38893"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38893\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":39767,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38893\/revisions\/39767"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38895"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38893"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38893"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38893"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/a><\/p>\n
GRAB OUR BEST Expert MLB Picks for 2011 MLB Betting! \u2014\u2013><\/strong><\/a><\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"