Fantasy Baseball Week 23 Preview: Top 10 sleeper pitchers include Jameson Taillon, Andrew Heaney

Jeffrey Springs didn’t come through in his one matchup against the Athletics in Week 22 (Aug. 19-25), but it was more because of a control glitch than a slippage in stuff. He should bounce back in a big way against the most strikeout-prone team in baseball, the Mariners.

An overachiever for most of the season, Jameson Taillon has fallen on hard times over his past five starts, but he’s still an elite strike-thrower who regularly works deep into games. His matchups this week (Pirates and Nationals) are good enough that the reward exceeds the risk, especially in points leagues.

Andrew Heaney has been missing bats at a higher rate since upping his slider velocity in June, but it hasn’t amounted to more success. This week’s matchups are so favorable, though — two bottom-six offenses when just the White Sox would be enticing enough — that it’s hard not to dream big.

Tobias Myers has been a little shaky of late — inevitably, perhaps, given that his expected stats are all worse than his actual ones — but he still boasts an ERA below 3.00. With two cracks against mid-range offenses this week, he remains an advisable play in points leagues, at least.

An excellent strikeout-to-walk ratio has made Cody Bradford a moderate success so far, and he’s been working deep enough into games that he’s worth considering even with just one start. The Athletics are occasionally dangerous, but overall, they still rank in the bottom six in runs scored.

David Peterson isn’t much of a bat-misser and is certainly no control artist, but his elite ground-ball rate has propelled him to a 247 ERA over his past 10 starts. With a matchup as favorable as the White Sox, it’s reasonable to hope for more of the same.

After an excellent seven-start stretch in which he compiled a 1.98 ERA, Jose Quintana has gotten throttled here in August, but he showed signs of coming around in his latest start and now faces a White Sox lineup that’s a distant last in runs scored. Starting Quintana is a gamble still, but not as much as his recent work would have you believe.

Martin Perez has been a little shaky in his past couple starts but has generally fared well since coming over to the Padres, having faded his sinker in favor of more curveballs and changeups. He should bounce back against a Rays offense that ranks third-to-last in runs scored.

Kyle Harrison was the top sleeper pitcher for Week 22 (Aug. 19-25) but didn’t end up getting a second start and won’t be a two-start pitcher in Week 23 (Aug. 26-Sept. 1) either. He’s been pitching well lately, though — putting together a 3.47 ERA, 1.13 WHIP and 9.4 K/9 in his past seven starts — and will be facing a mid-tier Brewers lineup that’s not quite as formidable without Christian Yelich.

Brayan Bello has had a tough season overall, but three of his past five starts have been quite strong. Between his high ground-ball rate and respectable swinging-strike rate, it’s reasonable to think he could fare well again against a suspect Blue Jays lineup.