Many fantasy baseball managers had already moved on to another sport by the time Chicago Cubs RHP Adbert Alzolay made his debut during Week 2 of last year's fantasy football season. Once a promising starting pitching prospect who repeatedly struggled to stay healthy, Alzolay missed most of last season with a lat strain. The Cubs slotted him in a relief role for a few weeks of action and Alzolay looked comfortable and awesome. Anyone still paying attention could see that Alzolay, if healthy, could matter both for the Cubs and fantasy managers in 2023.
Fast forward to today and the Cubs are one of the hottest teams in baseball. Alzolay, who used his electric slider to strike out 19 out of the 52 batters he faced over the final two weeks of last season, is their thriving closer. Alzolay remains available in more than 75% of ESPN standard leagues despite ranking as one of the top-10 relief pitchers on the ESPN Player Rater over the last 30 days. He has saves in seven out of eight appearances and 12 over the past two months. The way the Cubs are playing, more are coming.