Fantasy Baseball Week 16 Preview: Top 10 sleeper pitchers feature Eury Perez, Lucas Giolito
It's a good week to take advantage of the Rockies on the road
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 late Sunday.
Sleeper pitchers for Week 16 (July 7-13)
Jose Soriano bounced back in terms of both performance and velocity readings Thursday against the Braves, giving him four dominant starts in his past five. The league's best ground-ball pitcher should deliver a strong outing against a 25th-ranked Rangers lineup, and you'll roll the dice on him against the Diamondbacks as well with the kind of run he's on right now.
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Eury Perez's fifth turn back from Tommy John surgery Thursday may have been the one that set him on the right path. He allowed one hit in six scoreless against the Twins, registering seven strikeouts and 20 swinging strikes. Seeing as he lines up for two starts in Week 16, what else is there to think about?
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Brady Singer is nothing to write home about, but he generally works deep into games when he's going well, making him a serviceable play with the right matchups. He has two such matchups in Week 16, facing a Marlins lineup that ranks in the bottom third of the league and a Rockies lineup that's probably the worst in baseball away from their hitter-friendly home.
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Nick Martinez also lines up for two starts with those same matchups -- the Marlins and the road Rockies -- though my trust in him isn't quite as high as it is in Singer. The matchups would encourage me to see the glass half full, though, particularly in points leagues where you can take advantage of Martinez's relief pitcher eligibility.
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Have we picked on the road Rockies enough yet? I don't so much buy into Lucas Giolito's recent run of success given that he's allowing harder contact and missing fewer bats than ever before, but the fact is he's allowed a combined three runs in his past five outings, all quality starts.
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Mitch Keller has pitched much better than his 3-10 record this season and would be getting far more attention in Fantasy if he pitched for some other team. Still, he's coming off his best start of the season and will be facing a Royals lineup that ranks dead last in runs scored.
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Ryne Nelson cracks this list for a second straight week given that he had a 3.05 ERA in his final 14 appearances last year (when he was used more or less like a starter) and has a 2.44 ERA in nine appearances since rejoining the Diamondbacks rotation this year. The Padres are a surprisingly good matchup, too, ranking 23rd in runs scored.
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Edward Cabrera's 1.64 ERA in eights starts was hard for me to take seriously at first because the outings were so short and the walks so high, but that's changed in his last two, both lasting seven innings. Here's betting he'll keep it going against an Orioles offense that ranks in the bottom third in runs scored.
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Brayan Bello has a 2.25 ERA in four starts since making a cutter a prominent part of his arsenal, giving him a method of attack against left-handers. He's yet another pitcher who should feast on the Rockies away from Coors Field, though his second matchup against the Rays isn't so hot.
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For as much as we've picked on the road Rockies here, the home Rockies are another matter, and Brandon Walter struggled to get the typical movement on his pitches in that thin-air environment Thursday. He still has great ground-ball rate and great control, though, so I'd bet on him bouncing back against a Guardians lineup that has been getting shut out with regularity of late.
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