It’s only logical, as some players move up our rankings, others must move down. To help make sense of all this, our writers are taking a deeper look at some of the players climbing the ladder and some who have slipped a few rungs.

Risers

Rostering Relief Pitchers is like when you go to your grandparents’ house for dinner.  Sometimes you’re going to get exactly what you want, and other times you’re going to be begging your wife to go get Taco Bell.

Abner Uribe, Milwaukee Brewers, 7th, 2026 Rank: 7, 2025 Rank: 55

When I first saw Uribe pitch, I said, “This kid’s got the juice.” Armed with an electric fastball just a tick under 100 mph and a filthy slider, he befuddled the league as a rookie. During that season, one area of concern of mine was control. Uribe struck out 39 batters in 30 innings and walked 20 (15% walk rate).

In 2024, Uribe saw more control issues. His walk rate rose to 18.2%. He wasn’t getting by with just his stuff. Since he was pitching so poorly, he decided to try his hand at wrestling. In a game against the Tampa Bay Rays, a bench-clearing brawl occurred as he and Jose Siri got into it. That incident led to his suspension. Uribe finished the year by having knee surgery to end his season. So Watts changed in 2025?

Command and pitch usage. Uribe went undrafted in a lot of leagues in 2025 and was a favorite of mine coming into the season. I scooped him up in all leagues that I could with no issues. Fortunately for me, he went away from wrestling and focused on a couple of the issues that plagued him: command, specifically with his sinker, and next pitch usage. In 2024, he was a 65% and 35% split between sinker and slider. In 2025, his sinker usage went to 52%, slider 46%, and his fastball at 2%. His walk rate significantly dropped to 9.1%, while he maintained a 30% K rate. For 2026, he will need to maintain his gains from 2025 and continue to improve his control to become the #1 rated RP next season. If not, he certainly could fall down the list.

Fallers

Yennier Cano, Baltimore Orioles, 2026 Rank: 89, 2025 Rank: 30

Last season Cano was on his last legs as the 30th ranked relief pitcher at the Dynasty Guru.  Things have certainly taken a turn for the worse since his elite 2023 season. So “Watts the Deal”.

Cano has been hit hard by a few key issues that have shown a drastic decrease in fantasy production since 2023. Control has been his biggest issue. In 2023, he was absolutely elite, thanks to his command, velocity, and a high ground ball rate. In 2024, his command started to disappear along with his velocity. In 2025, things completely unraveled. Velocity took a major dip by almost 20%, followed by a continued decline in command to 22%. The question becomes, can Cano turn it around?

For 2026, Cano is going back to his 2023 routines in an attempt to find the magic from 2023. There are a few signs he has a shot to turn it around, starting with his Ground Ball percentage. That really hasn’t changed at all for him since 2023. His hard hit % improved tremendously. He will need to maintain both of those for 2026. If he can regain his control and velocity, we could see a much improved version of Cano in 2026.

I’ll keep an eye on him as a potential FA pickup, as the Orioles could certainly use more of the 2023 version than what he’s put forth the last two years.