Matt Marton-USA TODAY Sports
If you’re a fantasy baseball owner who’s chasing saves, Hector Rondon of the Chicago Cubs is the next guy you need to familiarize yourself with (and you should probably go pick him up before another save-chaser beats you to him). Rondon is 26 years old and he currently has a 0.63 ERA to go with a 0.91 WHIP and 15 strikeouts over 14.1 innings in his second MLB season. Rondon picked up his second save of the season Friday and he’s 2-for-2 now in save opportunities this season.
Rondon picked up his first save of the season back on April 11. The Cubs next save opportunity came on April 23 when Pedro Strop was called upon to preserve a 5-2 league against the Arizona Diamondbacks, the Cubs ended up losing that game 7-5. The Cubs didn’t get another save opportunity until Friday but what-do-ya-know, Rondon was the guy Rick Renteria called upon to get the job done, and he did. Renteria is yet to officially name Rondon as his closer — ever since demoting Jose Veras from the role the Cubs have been using a closer by committee — but he’s easily been the most reliable reliever in the Cubs bullpen and even though I’m not in Renteria’s head, my money is on Rondon getting the next save opportunity.
Saves are always a valuable commodity. If you’re in a league with at least ten people closers don’t sit too long on free agency. If/when Renteria names Rondon the Cubs official closer he’s going to be snatched up in fantasy leagues everywhere — currently he’s owned in just 12.1 percent of ESPN leagues and in 21 percent of Yahoo! leagues — pick him up now and beat the other save-chasing owners in your league to the punch.
Billy Moy is a Fantasy Sports writer at www.RantSports.com. You can follow him on Twitter @william_moy6, “like” him on Facebook or add him to your network on Google.
