Fantasy Baseball Week 11 Preview: Top 10 sleeper pitchers include Lance McCullers, Shane Smith
A pair of plush matchups make it worth doubling down on Lance McCullers' unexpected 12-strikeout effort
By
Scott White
•
1 min read
Not that you'd sit just any pitcher, of course, but if you have an opening or two and could use a streamer off the waiver wire, you've come to the right place. Scott White has 10 recommendations for the upcoming scoring period, all rostered in less than 80 percent of CBS Sports leagues.
All information is up to date as of Saturday evening.
Sleeper pitchers for Week 11 (June 2-8)
To say Lance McCullers is "back" would be to ignore that his sinker is still down about 3 mph from when we last saw him healthy, but he showed in his 12-strikeout effort against the Athletics last time out that his breaking balls may be good enough to sustain him. In a perfect world, we'd wait to see if he could do it again, but he has a pair of favorable matchups this week.
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A clunker last time out may have you rethinking the wisdom of using Shane Smith, whose outings tend to be on the shorter side and whose supporting cast does him no favors. His 2.68 ERA still earns him the benefit of the doubt in a two-start week, though.
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We're still waiting on that breakthrough start for Ryan Weathers, but he's holding his own in the meantime, flashing a better fastball than in years past. The Rays offense ranks in the bottom half of the league, and some of their best hitters are neutralized against lefties.
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Hayden Birdsong's move to the rotation has been a mixed bag as he's struggled to build up this pitch count, but the stuff is electric. The Braves offense continues to lag, ranking in the bottom third of the league.
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Betting on starting pitchers against the White Sox has been a winning strategy in recent years, and it worked for Michael Wacha on May 7, when he threw seven shutout innings against them. He's coming off another outing of seven shutout innings, too, against a superior Tigers lineup.
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The last time I recommended Luis Severino for a two-start week, he got absolutely demolished, and that's the danger in entrusting a lineup spot to a pitcher whose stuff is marginal at best. But Severino has delivered three straight quality starts since that disastrous double-dip, and his matchups for this one (Twins and Orioles) are more favorable.
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After looking like he'd be one of this year's big breakouts at starting pitcher through his first five turns, Max Meyer has shied away from his slider over the last month-plus and fallen on hard times as a result. Still, two of his past three starts were decent enough that you could consider using him for two favorable matchups this week (including the most favorable of all: the Rockies on the road).
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The lack of strikeouts remains a huge problem for Tomoyuki Sugano, but the contact quality has at least trended the right direction in recent starts, making it easier to squint and see a low-to-mid-threes ERA. His matchups this week are a little scary, but he hasn't truly been blown out yet, making him at least usable in Head-to-Head points leagues.
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The hype for Landen Roupp's curveball has died down in recent weeks, but he's actually done some of his best work during that time, delivering six shutout innings in back-to-back starts before a misstep last time out. His matchups against the Braves and Padres this week are actually pretty good, and his relief pitcher eligibility makes him all the more viable in Head-to-Head points leagues.
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Jeffrey Springs had some ugly outings in April and ended May on a down note as well, but his previous five outings amounted to a 2.05 ERA. He's still not missing enough bats to trust him entirely, but he might against the Twins this week, who have the fifth-highest strikeout rate against lefties.
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