Fantasy Baseball Week 24 Preview: Top 10 sleeper pitchers include Kyle Bradish, Parker Messick
The top two are probably just must-start at this point
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 Sunday evening.
Sleeper pitchers for Week 24 (Sept. 1-7)
You should be embarrassed that Kyle Bradish is available enough to qualify for this list, given how good he was in his first start back from Tommy John surgery and also prior to that, like when he placed fourth in AL Cy Young voting during his last healthy season. He's in line for only one start with Tyler Wells returning from his own UCL injury mid-week, but he's an advisable play regardless.
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Nolan McLean is at least closing in on the 80 percent roster threshold that disqualifies him from this list, but his situation is similar to Bradish's in that he's probably just must-start at this point. He's allowed a combined two earned runs across his first three big league starts, working seven-plus innings in two of them and maintaining a near 70 percent ground ball rate.
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When Ryne Nelson throws his fastball 60-70 percent of the time, good things happen. He didn't for a three-start stretch in August and hit the skids a little bit, but he got back on track with a 62 percent usage rate in his last turn at Milwaukee. His reliability makes him automatic in a two-start week.
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Luis Morales' performance so far speaks for itself -- he's allowed just two hits in each of his past two starts and three earned runs overall -- but he's highly reliant on a fastball that doesn't have great secondary characteristics. It's a minor gripe in a week when he's scheduled to start twice -- against vulnerable lineups, no less.
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Granted, it's only a two-start sample, but Parker Messick has yet to miss as a major leaguer, riding a funky left-handed delivery to back-to-back gems. His minor league track record suggests his control will slip at some point, but he's earned the benefit of the doubt in a two-start week, even with the matchups being iffy.
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Bailey Ober's return from a hip issue that had plagued him since the start of the season has been a mixed bag, complete with fluctuations in velocity and whiff rate that don't totally correspond to one another. It's hard to know what you're getting with him, in other words, but the results have been acceptable enough for you to give him a try with two favorable matchups.
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Now in the throes of decline, Clayton Kershaw has been one of the league's worst strikeout pitchers this year, but he's maintained a low ERA and piled up wins for the Dodgers. I'd be reluctant to trust him most weeks, but he should come through against the worst offense in baseball.
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Jose Soriano has become the free space in this sleeper pitchers article every week, showing many strong qualities but misfiring often enough to keep his overall stat line modest. One such misfire came the last time he faced the Athletics, but that three-homer outing was so out of character for the league's best ground ball pitcher that I'd bet on him coming closer to his previous turn against the Athletics, when he struck out 12 over seven one-run innings.
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If you like Jacob Lopez, then you should also like Ian Seymour, another strike-throwing lefty who has consistently put up huge strikeout numbers despite modest velocities. He's had back-to-back starts with eight strikeouts over five innings and now has the good fortune of facing the league's third-worst offense.
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Emmet Sheehan is coming off the best start of his career, and his past two are his longest of the season. His stuff has more opportunity to shine over six-plus innings, but it's not entirely clear when his next turn is coming up, given the current makeup of the Dodgers rotation. Presuming it's against the Orioles, they still rank in the bottom half of the league in runs scored.
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