Not that you'd sit just any pitcher, of course, but if you're looking to stream with a spot or two, 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. Most likely, they're the best you'll find off the waiver wire.
All information is up to date as of Sunday afternoon.
(Note that a two-start Yu Darvish (vs. HOU, vs. CHW) and a one-start Jacob deGrom (vs. SEA) are both right at 80 percent roster threshold, disqualifying them for this list. If they qualified, they'd be among the top 3-4.)
Sleeper pitchers for Week 26 (Sept. 16-22)
Reid Detmers needed a couple months down at Triple-A to get his slider back up to speed, but he's returned with two excellent starts against tough opponents, the Dodgers and Twins. It should give you all the confidence you need to use him in a two-start week, particularly with one of those starts being against the White Sox.
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Matthew Boyd's latest start against the White Sox didn't quite live up to our expectations, but he still struck out nine and, of course, had an excellent start against the Dodgers just one turn before. History has shown him to have a volatile profile overall, but the upside is enough to use him in a two-start week, particularly with one of those starts coming against a weak Cardinals lineup.
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Albert Suarez's entire profile is a head-scratcher, but after a strong outing at the Red Sox last time, he now has a 2.43 ERA in seven starts since rejoining the rotation in early August. That's good enough to give him the benefit of the doubt with two middling matchups this week.
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Andrew Heaney's outings have tended to be on the shorter side, but he hasn't been lacking in strikeouts of late, recording exactly eight in four of his past five appearances. The trend should continue against a Mariners team with the worst strikeout rate in the league.
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Kumar Rocker just had a scintillating debut in which his one-of-a-kind slider proved to be just as baffling for major-league hitters as it was in the minors. He has yet to throw even 80 pitches in a start this season, which gives him little margin for error in Fantasy, but the strikeout upside is so enticing that he's worth a roll of the dice against a suspect Blue Jays lineup.
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Max Scherzer has spent most of this season battling his shoulder and has even had to tweak his mechanics to compensate. He returned over the weekend with a respectable start against the Mariners and will line up to face that same strikeout-prone offense in Week 26 (Sept. 16-22).
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Cody Bradford's fly-ball tendencies got the better of him against a tough Diamondbacks last time out, but he'll be facing a Blue Jays team with the fourth-lowest OPS against lefties this week. He remains an excellent strike-thrower with a knack for hit prevention and working deep into games.
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Jameson Taillon's ceiling is nothing to get excited about, but he's an efficient pitcher who's liable to give you 6-7 innings when he's going well, which he appears to be now. The Nationals aren't as favorable of a matchup as they once were, but they still rank in the bottom third in runs scored.
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Landon Knack's two starts back from the minors couldn't have gone any differently, but overall, he still has a respectable 3.70 ERA. The near-50 percent fly-ball rate that makes him vulnerable to the long ball also helps him to limit damage when the balls stays in the park, which is more likely to happen at Miami this week. And, of course, he'll have the Dodgers lineup backing him.
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Martin Perez has found some success by working in more of his secondary arsenal with the Padres, but he's still pretty vulnerable overall. With the White Sox lineup being what it is, though, he feels like a relatively safe bet for a quality start this week.
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