Fantasy Baseball Week 18 Preview: Top 10 sleeper pitchers include Noah Cameron, Trevor Rogers
The top two choices far outclass the others
By
Scott White
•
1 min read
Wait, didn't lineups just lock Friday? We're already talking about setting them again?
We are if your league opted to treat the first weekend after the All-Star break as its own scoring period. Another lineup lock is coming up Monday, and you need to be prepared for it.
There was another option, though. Your league instead may have combined the first weekend after the All-Star break with the first full week for a massive 10-day scoring period. If that's the case, then these sleepers don't apply to you -- like, at all. Your lineup will remain locked for the period of time in question.
So ... know your league's schedule and act accordingly.
As always, the only pitchers considered for these sleeper picks were those rostered in less than 80 percent of CBS Sports leagues. All information is up to date as of Sunday afternoon.
Sleeper pitchers for Week 2 (July 21-27)
Turns out the new sidearm delivery that revitalized Sean Manaea down the stretch last year is here to stay, and he profiles as a big bat-misser going forward. It just so happens that his opponent in Week 18, the Angels, is the most strikeout-prone team against lefties.
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It's one good matchup and one bad for Noah Cameron, but the soft-tossing rookie has been reliable enough to trust in such a scenario, most recently shutting down a tough Mets lineup just before the All-Star break.
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Ryne Nelson made the mistake of throwing his fastball less than 60 percent of the time in his final start before the break but reverted back to his usual foolproof plan in his first start back from the break, with better results. He now has a 2.29 ERA in his past seven starts and is set to face the league's bottom-ranked offense.
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Trevor Rogers has regained his fastball this year and is missing bats at his highest rate since his breakout 2021 season. He's not as good as his ERA, but he's liable to convince you otherwise with the most favorable matchup of all, the Rockies away from Coors Field.
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Jacob Lopez hasn't been quite as sharp lately, but his final start before the break was good enough to suggest the pixie dust hasn't completely worn off yet. He has a pair of favorable matchups in the state of Texas and still boasts an outstanding K/9 rate of 11.2.
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Max Scherzer seems to have moved past his chronic thumb issue for the time being and looked plenty effective in his final turn before the break, striking out eight in what was a quality start. He gets two bites at the apple this week, but with tough enough matchups that he's a gamble better left for points leagues.
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Matthew Liberatore wasn't nearly as sharp to end the first half as he was to begin it, but even so, he's allowed two earned runs or fewer in four of his past five starts. I'd prefer if the Rockies matchup was in St. Louis, but they're so bad offensively that I'd argue it's a favorable one even at Coors Field. Meanwhile, the Padres rank near the bottom of the league offensively as well.
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Michael Wacha hasn't been his reliable self for about a month, but he's kept the ERA respectable at 3.62. The Guardians offense ranks in the bottom five now, which I'd say makes Wacha's chances of a quality start better than not.
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The tradeoff of fewer whiffs for weaker contact hasn't been favorable for Taj Bradley, but he does have 11 quality starts so far. I'd rarely advise using him, but with the White Sox on the schedule, it's something to consider.
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If you're feeling really lucky, you can hope for two quality efforts from Tomoyuki Sugano against the Guardians and Rockies, who both rank in the bottom five in runs scored (with the Rockies being even worse than that away from Coors Field). I should warn you, though, that he has a 7.94 ERA and 1.94 WHIP over his past six starts. Does it sound more like I'm trying to talk you out of him than into him? Yup, streamer pitchers do be like that sometimes.
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