Previewing the fantasy baseball landscape and highlighting the top 5 sleeper pitchers for the 2020 MLB season.
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Fantasy baseball managers will need to act quickly in the shortened 2020 MLB season. The 60-game campaign will mean smaller sample sizes of both successes and struggles will carry more weight, and fantasy owners will need to be ready to pounce on the waiver wire and cut ties sooner than usual. Below, we’ll help you get a head start on the 2020 fantasy baseball season with a look at the top-five sleeper pitchers to target in drafts.
Fantasy baseball: Top 5 sleeper pitchers
Kenta Maeda, SP, Minnesota Twins
Average Draft Position (ADP): 171
Acquired from the Los Angeles Dodgers this offseason, Maeda joins Jose Berrios and Jake Odorizzi at the front of the Twins’ rotation. Maeda went 10-8 over 37 games (26 starts) and 153 2/3 innings last year while pitching to a 4.04 ERA and 1.07 WHIP with 169 strikeouts against just 51 walks.
Maeda will benefit greatly from the change of scenery. He’ll no longer need to pitch in the hitter-friendly confines of Coors Field and Chase Field, and will instead get to feast on the expected cellar-dwelling Kansas City Royals and Detroit Tigers.
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Steven Matz, SP, New York Mets
ADP: 277
Matz went 11-10 in 32 games (30 starts) while throwing a career-high 160 1/3 innings in 2019. He posted a lackluster 4.21 ERA and 1.34 WHIP, but both those figures improved greatly in the second half of the season, as did his K-BB percentage. The Mets lineup should be much stronger this season and can help provide more win opportunities with improved run support.
Andrew Heaney, SP, Los Angeles Angels
ADP: 198
Heaney was limited to 18 starts and 95 1/3 innings in 2019. He averaged more than 11 strikeouts per nine innings for the second time in his career and walked fewer than three batters per nine for the second straight year. The 29-year-old has been named the Angels’ Opening Day starter and will front a new-look rotation.
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Kyle Hendricks, SP, Chicago Cubs
ADP: 144
Hendricks hasn’t been able to replicate his breakout 2016 campaign in which he pitched to a 2.13 ERA, while going 16-8, but a regression to a 3.44 ERA in 2018 and a 3.46 ERA in 2019 are being viewed too unfavorably. He won’t steal matchups with strikeout totals, but his reliability and consistency will pay off nicely in an otherwise unpredictable season.
Ken Giles, RP, Toronto Blue Jays
ADP: 128
Giles recorded just 23 saves over 53 games last season, but pitched to a sparkling 1.87 ERA with a career-best 14.09 strikeouts per nine innings. He may still struggle to get save opportunities while backing the middling Blue Jays, but should get into games more regularly with teams expected to limit the usage of their top starters in 2020.
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