Thursday, November 7, 2024

Fantasy Baseball Week 5 Preview: Top 10 sleeper pitchers include Drew Rasmussen, Dakota Hudson

Fantasy Baseball Week 5 Preview: Top 10 sleeper pitchers include Drew Rasmussen, Dakota Hudson

Fantasy Baseball Week 5 Preview: Top 10 sleeper pitchers include Drew Rasmussen, Dakota Hudson

The sleepers are stretched pretty thin this week.

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If you’re into streaming pitchers or simply have a hole to fill in your lineup, Scott White has 10 recommendations for the upcoming scoring period, all rostered in less than 80 percent of CBS Sports leagues. They’re no substitute for some of the universally rostered pitchers, of course, but they’re the best you’ll be able to do off the waiver wire.

All information is up to date as of Sunday evening.

Sleeper pitchers for Week 5 (May 2-8)

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TB Tampa Bay • #57 • Age: 26

He fed the Mariners a healthy diet of cutters and sliders en route to 19 swinging strikes and nine strikeouts last time out, and if he can maintain that approach this week, the rewards will be twice over.

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NYY N.Y. Yankees • #47 • Age: 29

These matchups aren’t doing him any favors, but he’s reliable enough that you’ll generally want to use him whenever he’s in line for two starts.

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STL St. Louis • #43 • Age: 27

He’s allowed a combined three hits and no runs in his past two starts. His strikeout-to-walk ratio during that time is 1-to-1, but the ground-ball specialist is a proven run suppressor who gets two cracks at it this week.

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MIN Minnesota • #20 • Age: 26

The numbers underlying his strong start this year don’t look so different from the past two years, but the same is true for his impressive 2019. Even if it’s smoke and mirrors, the matchups this week make it worth it.

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DET Detroit • #29 • Age: 25

The left-hander took a step back in his latest start but looks more in control in his sophomore season and has a particularly favorable matchup this time around.

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LAA L.A. Angels • #25 • Age: 30

The converted reliever is still figuring out the best way to deploy all six of his pitches, but the results have been decent enough so far, with three quality starts already. You can tell I’m already straining for recommendations, though.

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COL Colorado • #48 • Age: 27

Yeah, he’s been mostly terrible so far, but it’s totally his MO to vacillate between brilliant and bad, making him still a worthy two-start gamble in points leagues. We’re eight names into this list at this point, so what do you want?

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BAL Baltimore • #50 • Age: 27

OK, we’re really stretching now. To be honest, it’s probably a mistake to start this guy, but he does have a 0.93 ERA with more than a strikeout per inning so far.

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TB Tampa Bay • #28 • Age: 36

His stuff clearly isn’t what it once was, and it’s not clear that he’s doing anything different from a year ago. But he one-hit the Brewers over six innings last time out and has an even better matchup this time.

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PIT Pittsburgh • #23 • Age: 26

It feels like a troll job recommending him again, but he was decent in his last outing, getting back to throwing his fastball more than 60 percent of the time. Clearly, I’m running out of pitchers to recommend, though.

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