Fantasy Baseball Week 26 Preview: Top 10 sleeper pitchers include Connelly Early, Tyler Wells
Some pitchers are becoming fixtures in this space at this late point in the season
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 no more than 75 percent of CBS Sports leagues.
All information is up to date as of Sunday evening.
Sleeper pitchers for Week 25 (Sept. 8-14)
Somehow, Kyle Bradish remains eligible for this list even though he's been every bit as good in three starts back from Tommy John surgery as he was before it. Only one of his matchups is a favorable one, but a two-start Bradish is a must-start regardless.
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Curiously enough, the top two this week are the same as last week. Luis Morales is in line for only one start this time, but since it's the most favorable matchup of all, you can probably look past the two clunky ones he had in Week 25.
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Four of Parker Messick's five starts since joining the rotation have been excellent, all six innings or more, which makes him an advisable play for the week ahead. The Twins lineup doesn't have much going for it and loses some of its bite against left-handers because of Matt Wallner and Trevor Larnach.
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After being so reliable during the middle stretch of the season, Jeffrey Springs has been hit or miss lately. He gets two bites at the apple this week, though, including the most favorable matchup of all, which should be enough to roll the dice on him in points leagues at least.
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These two matchups don't come off as favorable, but the Cardinals rank in the bottom half of the league in runs scored while the Cubs have been sinking like a rock since the start of August. Zack Littell doesn't offer enough strikeout upside to justify the ERA risk in categories leagues, but he's a quality start machine for Head-to-Head points.
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The Red Sox haven't confirmed when Connelly Early will make his next start, but he seems like the only logical choice Tuesday, lining him up for two starts coming off an 11-strikeout debut. These matchups are rough for such an untested pitcher, but that 11-strikeout game also came against the Athletics. Fortune favors the bold, right?
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Tyler Wells does two things: throws strikes and puts the ball in the air a ton. As long as those fly balls aren't going over the fence, the outcome should be quite favorable. It was true against the worst offense in baseball last time out and should be just as true against the fifth-worst offense.
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Jameson Taillon just returned from a brief absence for a groin injury after missing a lengthier stretch with a calf injury, but he's basically seemed like himself throughout. There are limits to his upside, of course, but when he's keeping damage to a minimum, he generally goes six or seven innings, which seems likely to happen in at least his first start at Pittsburgh.
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Joey Cantillo has returned from the minors to deliver two straight excellent starts, the last one seeing him throw eight shutout innings. He doesn't get as many strikeouts in a starting role and sometimes struggles with control, but this two-start week comes at a good time for him.
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Only one of Bryce Miller's first five turns back from an elbow injury was a quality start, but the game log looks better than his 5.33 ERA during that stretch. He just struck out 11 in his latest outing -- which, notably, wasn't the quality start -- so gambling on him against the third-worst offense isn't a terrible idea.
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