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Fantasy baseball stock watch: Varland surges, Jansen stumbles

ESPN General •
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Louis Varland has grabbed the Twins closer role after Jeff Hoffman's demotion, posting a 0.65 ERA in 25 appearances with 36.7% strikeouts and zero home runs allowed. His 0.350 BABIP should normalize, and he's averaging 98.1 mph on his fastball. Varland ranks among the top five relief pitchers in fantasy points but is rostered in only 57.6% of ESPN leagues.

Gregory Soto continues his career-best season with Pittsburgh, holding a 2.13 ERA and 0.79 WHIP while collecting all five Pirates saves in May. Grant Taylor's 2.36 ERA and 35.2% K rate outpace Seranthony Dominguez despite Taylor getting deployed earlier in games. Kirby Yates just returned from injury and earned his first save, but his fastball barely hits 90 mph, raising health concerns.

Kenley Jansen's blown save Sunday, a three-run homer to Colton Cowser, pushed his ERA to 5.02. Riley O'Brien's 30-day ERA has ballooned to 6.55 after losing a pair of games. The Twins' bullpen is chaos, with nine different pitchers already logging saves, while the Dodgers' 34 wins haven't translated to saves. The real takeaway: Varland is the clearest buy in fantasy right now.