Fantasy Baseball Week 27 Preview: Top 10 sleeper pitchers feature Justin Verlander and Emmet Sheehan
Most are one-start options, given how little you can trust a pitcher's two-start status in the season's final week
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 late Sunday.
Sleeper pitchers for Week 27 (Sept. 22-28)
Justin Verlander has been lights out in his past five starts, putting together a 0.87 ERA, and it couldn't have come at a better time. He has one of the most favorable two-start slates in the season's final week, facing a Cardinals lineup that's barely holding together as well as the Rockies away from Coors Field.
| ||
Emmet Sheehan has turned a corner in his past six outings, delivering the sort of swinging-strike rate (19 percent) that Paul Skenes could only dream of while going six innings or more four times. He'll start the final game of the regular season, when the Dodgers probably won't want to dip into their bullpen too much.
| ||
After putting himself on the map in August, Hurston Waldrep began to have some control problems in September but seemed to right the ship in his latest outing at the Nationals, striking out eight and walking none over five innings. He'll again face the Nationals in Week 27 -- a team whose lineup has been dismal in the second half.
| ||
Connelly Early's latest start Sunday at the Rays wasn't as good as the first two, but he overcame a rocky first inning to throw three scoreless thereafter, collecting whiffs at a nice rate. Seeing as he has a 1.88 ERA, 1.12 WHIP and 13.8 K/9 across his three starts, I'd still trust him against a badly slumping Tigers team.
| ||
Another rookie left-hander who I'm recommending against the Tigers, it's less about the matchup than the level of trust Parker Messick has earned by only once failing to deliver a quality start in his six turns (twice, technically, but one fell just two outs short). He got back to missing bats in his last start, too, with nine strikeouts.
| ||
Trey Yesavage had a poor follow-up to his electric debut Sunday, mostly because his control lapsed like it sometimes did in the minors, but he still got a bunch of whiffs on his splitter, which looks like one of the best of its kind. The Rays are the team he ambushed for nine strikeouts in his debut, and he'll face them again in the season's final week.
| ||
Tyler Wells' next matchup against the Rays isn't as favorable as his last two against the White Sox and Pirates, but he's been so clutch that I'd be reluctant to shy away from him, particularly if WHIP was a high priority for me. He's such a good strike-thrower and has such extreme fly ball tendencies that baserunners are a rarity for him. It's mainly just the long ball that could bring him down.
| ||
Luis Morales was clearly playing over his head when he had a 1.59 ERA after six appearances, but he's still a talented pitcher capable of delivering a quality outing against a Royals offense that ranks third-to-the-bottom in runs scored. He proved it by coming through against the bottom-ranked Pirates offense over the weekend.
| ||
The Athletics matchup is kind of dangerous, particularly in Sacramento, but Noah Cameron is on a nice run right now, going at least 6 2/3 innings in each of his past three starts for a 2.18 ERA, 0.77 WHIP and 8.7 K/9. He's almost like a wily vet with his deep five-pitch mix, so you could do worse than to roll the dice on him.
| ||
Stephen Kolek has tapped into something in his four starts with the Royals, namely by upping the usage of a changeup that has a .056 batting average against. While he's more of a ground ball specialist, he did strike out eight against the Mariners last time out and is scheduled to face an Angels lineup that's made every pitcher look like Nolan Ryan in recent weeks.
|
