Alexis Diaz should earn more save opportunities

Drew Silva looks at arguably the Cincinnati Reds' best reliever Alexis Diaz and highlights why he should continue seeing more save opportunities for his team and fantasy managers down the stretch.

Video Transcript

DREW SILVA: Mets closer Edwin Diaz has been the most valuable reliever in fantasy this year by a pretty good margin. But don't sleep on his little brother Alexis Diaz, who appears to have carved out a healthy share of the ninth inning role in Cincinnati.

Here in his rookie campaign, the younger Diaz has pitched to a 1.83 ERA, 0.95 whip, and 60 strikeouts across his first 44 and a 1/3 Major League frames. He's racked up 13 holds and 5 saves, with two of those five saves coming in the last couple of weeks. The latest was a stellar five-out performance on Sunday, August 14, against the Cubs, during which Diaz struck out four of the seven batters he faced to secure an 8-5 victory for the Reds.

Featuring very similar mechanics to Edwin and not quite as much velocity but the same fastball slider go-to arsenal, Alexis misses bats with ease and can operate well in situations that require damage control. And while the Reds are nowhere near contention after that historically awful start to the 2022 season, they have been playing 500 ball since the beginning of July. There will be more and more save opportunities for Alexis down the stretch.