Fantasy baseball: Sleeper pitchers to take late in drafts

Fantasy baseball draft season is in full swing now, so it’s a good idea to start preparing yourself for later-round targets that can help you make a run. Every fantasy baseball season, there is a handful of starting pitchers who exceed expectations and drafting them will give you an advantage over your peers.

Let’s focus on some of these that have the potential to make a big jump from the season before.

Fantasy baseball pitchers who could impact your draft

• Hunter Brown had a taste of the majors last season and, in that small sample, he flashed some upside. He’s only 24 years old and has the last spot in Houston’s rotation on lock with the departure of Justin Verlander and an injury to Lance McCullers Jr. The sky is the limit for him and pitching on a great team will only help with wins as well.
• Garrett Whitlock had success in multiple roles for Boston last season. He is currently recovering from an injury, but the Red Sox plan on stretching him out and putting him in the rotation. He had a phenomenal 1.02 WHIP across 78 innings last season.
• Eric Lauer was brilliant for the Brewers last season. He averaged a strikeout per inning and had an ERA of 3.69. He also finished the season very strong, allowing no more than one run in his final five starts.
• Justin Steele had six starts last season with at least nine strikeouts. He also had a superb ERA of 3.18. His WHIP was a little high at 1.35, but his control got better down the stretch so I expect that number to go down. He is slotted in as the third starter in the Chicago Cubs rotation.
• Hayden Wesneski is another Cubs pitcher that I like going into the season. He came over in the Scott Effross trade and was fantastic in the 33 innings he pitched with a 2.12 ERA and a 0.91 Whip. He also had a strikeout per inning. He should get a few starts at the beginning of the season while Kyle Hendricks is rehabbing. Setbacks can happen or if there is another injury to a different rotation piece that could open things up as well for a more permanent spot.
• Grayson Rodriguez is one of the top prospects in all of baseball. He is expected to be in the Orioles’ Opening Day rotation. He pitched two hitless innings in his spring debut. Baltimore will have to be careful with his innings though, so he will probably have his spot occasionally skipped. He may even be sent down for short stints. However, while he is up, you can expect great numbers. He has ace potential for sure.
• Trevor Rogers seemed poised for a breakout season in 2022 after a stellar 2021, but it was just the opposite as he struggled to a 5.47 ERA. The strikeouts were still there and he’s been working on some things this spring that seems promising. He had four strikeouts over two scoreless innings in his spring debut. There are a couple of other Miami pitchers I like as well but they don’t have a rotation spot already locked up as does Rogers. I would expect numbers closer to his 2021 season where he posted a 2.64 ERA.

All of these pitchers are between the ages of 24 and 27 and have an average draft position after 194. Making these a priority will give you an edge over the competition in your fantasy baseball drafts.