Fantasy baseball: 5 options to replace Justin Verlander or Max Fried

The baseball season began and Opening Day brought with it two major injuries to top starters in the league (and fantasy baseball), Justin Verlander and Max Fried. Verlander went on the disabled list with a low-grade strain in the teres major muscle area before the first game of the season began for the New York Mets.

Max Fried, on the other hand, came off his start on Thursday due to a hamstring strain. Both pitchers were high picks in the draft and their departure significantly impacts any team that drafted them. Given this situation, an immediate replacement is needed.

5 starting pitchers sleepers to cover the injury of these aces in your fantasy baseball team

• Trevor Rogers. Rogers comes from a season below his potential. However, this spring training, he was dominant by retiring 17 batters via strikeout, generating just three walks in 18 innings.
• Tylor Megill. One choice is Justin Verlander’s replacement in the Mets’ rotation. Megill pitched for the Queens team last year in the absence of Jacob deGrom and showed great stuff, especially on his fastball that hit 99 mph in the first start.
• Taijuan Walker. Walker is coming off a breakout year with the Mets, pitching 157 innings with an ERA under 3.50 and a WHIP under 1.19. Now with the Phillies, Walker can generate a lot of quality starts and wins.
• Roansy Contreras. A pitcher with great stuff and potential is the Pirates’ young prospect, Contreras. The top prospect from the Pittsburgh organization has a great ability to generate swings and misses.
• MacKenzie Gore. This is a high-risk but possibly high-reward pick. Not so many years ago, Gore was the #1 pitching prospect in all of MLB. His control issues took him off the radar but last year he showed some great stuff in his brief time in MLB. He may not offer many wins with the Nationals but his ability to generate a lot of strikeouts makes him an interesting pick.