Wait, didn't Week 1 just start? How are we talking about Week 2 already?
It's because the season begins on a Thursday, which makes for an awkward half-week that can be treated as its own week or combined with the first full week for an 11-day scoring period. You can set up your own league however you want (and have hopefully committed to either one or the other by now), but the CBS standard is to treat it as its own week. And that's what informs the numbering scheme for this weekly sleepers series the rest of the way.
- Week 2: Two-start pitchers | Sleeper hitters
So if your league has opted for the 11-day scoring period (no judgment here!), you can sit out the sleeper pitchers and hitters this time around. Your lineup is already locked, after all. Just understand that when the Week 3 picks come out next week, they're actually for your Week 2. And so on, and so forth.
Here are my recommended pitchers to stream for the scoring period that spans April 1-7, whatever you want to call it. I've limited my selections to those rostered in less than 75 percent of CBS Sports leagues, so if your pitching is strong, you shouldn't feel like you have to use any of them.
All information is up to date as of Sunday evening.
As thoroughly as Garrett Crochet dominated in his first career start on opening day, I don't see how anyone could justify sitting him for a two-start week, even if the first of those matchups is against the Braves.
| ||
Another Tigers pitcher whose fastball was clocking higher this spring, Jack Flaherty carried over that success to his season debut Sunday against the White Sox. His matchup against the Athletics this week is perhaps even more favorable.
| ||
Reese Olson is sort of the forgotten man in the Tigers rotation amid all the breakthrough performers this spring, but he was already beginning to make a name for himself last season and really turned it on in September. His 2024 begins with two inviting matchups against the Mets and Athletics.
| ||
Michael Wacha has established himself as the sort of rotation stabilizer that's always worth using when he's in line for two starts. The White Sox matchup is of course a favorable one, but even the Orioles one isn't so bad given that it's at a power-suppressing ballpark.
| ||
Cristopher Sanchez is coming off a rough spring in which he was experimenting with his velocity, but there's a reason he was a popular sleeper pick coming into the year. You didn't draft him to sit him in a two-start week, especially when one is against the Nationals.
| ||
Back from Tommy John surgery, Luis Gil showed big strikeout upside this spring, pairing a new changeup with his electric fastball. He'll get two chances to try it out this week, though the matchups are merely so-so.
| ||
Dean Kremer is about as firmly in The Glob as a pitcher can be, delivering a high number of quality starts last year but with enough crooked stat lines to give him an ERA over 4.00. If there was ever a time to trust in him, though, it's when he's set to face the Royals and Pirates in the same week.
| ||
A high swinging-strike rate last year (12.9 percent) offers reason for hope with Tanner Houck, who's firmly in the rotation now and has two favorable matchups (Athletics and Angels) to begin the year.
| ||
Chase Silseth looked like he was beginning to figure things out with a couple double-digit strikeout efforts early in the second half, but getting beaned in the head basically put a stop to that. He was good this spring, though, and will look to pile up whiffs with his sweeper and splitter in his two starts this week.
| ||
Kyle Gibson is far from an ace, but he works deep into games and will occasionally surprise with a big strikeout effort. He gets two bites at the apple this week, including one against a suspect Marlins lineup.
|
