20 ERA and WHIP Fantasy Baseball Sleepers

0:00Water usually wins. It rots wood and tears docks apart, unless you build with trecks. Trek's marine grade decking is 100% submersible, built to resist rod and solid and fresh water. Water has met its match. Trek's decking. Visit trecks.com slash docks. We are completing our category sleepers series here on Rotawire with ERA and WIP. What makes a good ERA and WIP sleeper will have the answer for you right after this. On the Rotawire Fantasy Baseball Podcast. Hello and welcome everybody to the Rotawire Fantasy Baseball Podcast brought to you by fan tracks. ERA Coltman here. Very happy to be back with Ryan Boyer for the conclusion of our category sleepers series. Thank you to all my colleagues who filled in for me the last few weeks on the last three editions of this series. Ryan, it's pretty fun time as a baseball fan if you're into the world baseball classic otherwise you're just stuck

1:05watching spring training games and hoping your fantasy players don't get hurt. I feel like most baseball fans are either very into this tournament or they don't care at all at which of those two camps are you in on. I um well I guess I probably fall a little more in between only because I love the actual tournament but it's a as you know very busy time of year between work with Rotawire and multiple slow drafts, keeper decisions and all that so sometimes I feel like you need to unplug a little bit so I don't get to watch as much as I'd like. I've definitely seen basically all the highlights which I think we'll get into here. We've got some sons of very famous baseball players doing some fun things. Yeah including 17-year-old Joseph Contreras son of Jose Contreras who

2:08broke Aaron Judges bat on a double play ground out to get out of an inning for Brazil. Brazil did of course go and to lose that game yesterday 15-5 against the US but to me the fun of the world baseball classic is just seeing these individual moments from the big underdogs can make the entire tournament worthwhile. I'm sure I've grounded into a double play against the 17-year-old before but it was you know a good 15 years ago at this point. Yeah and who else do we have? Manie Ramirez's kid too hit a couple home runs. Yeah I saw today he threw a runner out on the bases as well so just keeping that going. Manie Ramirez's kid is in the angels organization is that right? Yes Lucas Ramirez was a 17th round pick by the angels in 2024 not a big prospect but seemingly the biggest prospect on team Brazil. He is their lead off man and he launched a

3:09Homer against Logan Webb and also a lefty lefty Homer off of Gabe Spire not bad for somebody who has only played 11 games at high A so enjoying those moments. Boba Schett's brother was also on that team. Don't take the shed junior although he went over three with a walk so not quite as fun of a moment for him. I saw Manie's kid also said after quote after the game saying it was this is basically the best day of my life so that's that's pretty cool. I mean you get those stories covering the WBC obviously the I mean the atmosphere at those games is so much fun especially with the when the Latin American countries get into it. I mean you see those highlights from winter league. I mean those those fans get really into those games so that's that's good for baseball. Yes in those Dominican and Puerto Rican and Venezuelan crowds in our stadiums here in the US is pretty fun. The crowds over in Asia as well get into it in a way that American fans do not

4:13so it's a really fun atmosphere throughout the tournament. Don't think we need to care too much about individual performances but there were a couple of notable players who Homer in recent games that I did want to mention their names just to see if it's got you thinking about them a little bit more. First Owen Casey had a Homer today in Canada's victory over Columbia. Owen Casey now has a much clearer path to playing time. Oh sorry I said victory over Columbia that one's actually not quite over but it is eight two through eight innings so hopefully I have not just cursed my former home up in Canada there. Homer for Owen Casey somebody we know has power has some contact concerns and he's not going to get to face team Columbia throughout his time in the majors but good to see him with one good performance are you at all an Owen Casey guy late in drafts this year Ryan? Yeah a little bit especially since he hasn't he's also gotten up to I think a slow start this spring so nice to see him go deep that's I mean that's what you're buying into if you

5:16want Owen Casey you're you're buying into the power I think there could be some contact issues don't know if he's going to play much against left-handed pitching but he's not going super early so I think he's he's a perfectly perfectly nice fourth fifth outfielder option with where he's going in drafts. Yeah some real downside he might just not be able to hit and might just not carve out regular playing time but they're going to try to do to him what they did to Kyle Stowers last year one other notable Homer I want to mention here that was Harry Ford in an eight-two loss for his team great Britain Harry Ford a potentially interesting catcher two option Ryan now that he has moved another guy who actually has moved to a new organization in a much better path to playing time I would certainly prefer to be stuck behind keeper Ruiz rather than stuck behind Cal Raleigh I would you particularly like Harry Ford as a catcher two target or is he more of a wait and see still for you yeah they they've talked up that there's like a real competition between those two

6:23to to start I don't know if I really buy that k bear Ruiz is hasn't been very good the last couple years he's also had a bunch of concussion issues that's really unfortunate but he's still got a pretty sizable contract I think that's going to be as long as he's healthy that's going to be his job to lose but yeah Harry Ford they we have heard often because he's such a good athlete and not at least not previously known for his defense at catcher maybe he's going to go to a different position but all reports seem to be that he's turned into a competent defensive catcher and that they're committed to that so could very easily see him get significant run with the nationals this season I'm not super interested in redrafts but I mean if the league is is deep enough you can talk me into catcher two yeah I think that sounds about right it's too much uncertainty to go into the draft planning to get Harry Ford the one time I got him in Glarf what happened

7:29was I missed out on all the catcher twos that I actually like so I'd rather take Harry Ford and hope he wins the job and if he doesn't win the job I'll drop him for Patrick Bailey or somebody who's not very good but at least has a job I'd rather use that pick on Ford hope it works out and dump him for Bailey rather than just drafting Bailey in the first place as we talk about a little bit of injury news because that is of course the main topic throughout March but positive injury news in this case Brandon Woodruff making his cactus league debut today for the brewers as he works his way back from a lat stream I have not actually checked the box square yet not sure if he's thrown many innings there so far but Brandon Woodruff somebody who's incredibly hard to value in fantasy this year because he's just been so hurt with various shoulder issues mostly and other minor setbacks he only threw 11 starts in 2023 0 starts in 2024 and 12 last year but with most pictures who are now

8:3533 years old and are hurt a lot their numbers are also going way down and that's just not the case with Brandon Woodruff he still looks like himself is this a picture you can draft this year it's not that expensive but it's going around 120 ish that's still a real price yeah I'm off of Brandon Woodruff I mean I feel like him pitching in a game today is actually pleasantly surprising I had kind of written them off for being ready for opening day but it seems like he actually has a shot to be ready now but it's just I mean even with the the good numbers the peripherals were really good velocity was down I just I just can't get over the fact that I think he's kind of a ticking time bomb with the injury history I mean the the brewers have obviously better access to his metaphors than anyone else and they gave him a qualifying offer I don't know if they necessarily expected him to

9:39take it but that maybe could give you some heart in you a little bit that he is healthy that they're willing to do that because you know as I mentioned they have the best feel of anyone that regards to his health but you know even at that price I'm sure he's going to be good when he's on the mound but I mean I'm taking the under on 20 starts I just don't think it's ultimately going to going to pay off yeah it's a tough click to make I think maybe in a particularly shallow league I'm more interested but even in a 12-teamer little pricey and certainly in a 15 I just want my pictures in that range of the draft to be guys I can trust a little bit more one more injury news to talk about here Ivan Herrera scratched from the lineup for today's grapefruit league game against the Mets speak of which the brewers game has not yet started that will start right after the end of the show so you can check out Brandon Woodress results there

10:43Ivan Herrera scratched today undisclosed reasons as of right now but he's another player who's confusing to know what to do with because is he going to gain catch eligibility in April or is he going to gain it at August or is he not going to gain it at all if this is an injury set back which keeps him off the field or at least keeps him from fielding that's not great how are you playing this one yeah I keep an eye out for what they what they say about the why he was scratched me he has been I think maybe each of his last like three starts have been at catcher he seems certainly very committed to just sticking it out at catcher showing he can prove proving he can stay there and be good enough defensively that he's got the elbow repaired hopefully he can at least be competent from throwing runners out um Derek Gould wrote he's kind of hinted at at this previously but he wrote explicitly this week that I mean Pedro Paz is viewed internally

11:49as the starting catcher right now um I expect Herrera to get most of his at bats at DH initially so how fast is that going to we're going to get in season eligibility I would think it's still probably going to be sometime in April um but maybe not a given especially if this injury is any kind of real setback so keep an eye out for news I'm still optimistic that he is going to do enough to convince them to catch at least a couple times per week um and you should actually get at least a benefit from playing time wise if he does spend more time in the DH spot so it's kind of a catch 22 you want him to catch enough to get that eligibility but you also want him to if you could DH more he's going to pile up more counting stats um yeah with honor era guy I really like hopefully this uh whatever this injury issue is uh not a big deal

12:51something to keep an eye on though for sure let's just throw in one question from the chat here because we didn't have a ton of headlines last 24 hours uh Jeff is wondering about keeping two of Shohei Otani the pitcher Yuri Perez and Chase Burns one of those in there because Shohei Otani the pitcher doesn't get talked about too much because most leagues I think at this point are using one Otani which means you're mostly using the hitter Otani but Shohei Otani the pitcher versus Yuri Perez or Chase Burns at a similar price who's the worst of those three gosh I mean if you're going to force me to cut one of them in a redraft it's probably Chase Burns um I don't love that but you're you got three really good options there um I I think he's the biggest health risk of the three simply because he just throws incredibly hard um but yeah he also has

13:52maybe the biggest upside of those three as well especially from a strikeouts perspective uh yeah it forced to choose I think he would be the one out of the at the bottom of those three for me yeah I think I probably lean the same way although just don't really know how many starts we're ever gonna get from Shohei Otani in a given season because he's such a good hitter and the Dodgers really will want to keep him healthy yeah the question marks there and if you're thinking of keeping this guy for you know the next decade which you could in some leagues depending on your settings then maybe the younger Chase burns us the way to go but I think I agree with you there we are now going to move on to our main topic of today's show which is ERA and whip sleepers right after this message from our sponsor fan tracks who I keep getting notifications from in my ear as I'm recording this should probably close that tab I do indeed draft on fan tracks which is the most customizable fantasy platform in the industry offering the greatest fantasy experience

14:54for your dynasty keep a redraft and bestball leagues coming from another service fan tracks makes it easy fan tracks can import any of your current leagues and customize if needed fan tracks offers the most in-depth player pool in the industry including minor league players do you need a customizable commissioner service for your fantasy league fan tracks offers more customization than any other platform waivers categories scoring system schedule fan tracks offers custom solutions for all that and more and it's all free sign up for free today simply go to fan tracks dot com slash rotawire and sign up today that's F-A-N-T-R-A-X dot com slash rotawire fan tracks the home of fantasy sports big thanks to our sponsor better help for partnering with us for this important conversation about mental health just Steve Smith here former NFL Y receiver and host of the 89 show on YouTube so having a counselor and working with better health that gives you an opportunity to really start to unpack but people don't understand when you unpack things you also open up a box

15:59you're not always sure what's inside so I think that's why seeing a professional is extremely important if you need someone to open up to visit better help that's better H-E-L-P dot com slash 89 to get started water usually wins it warps in rots wood it pulls it apart bored by bored unless you build with tracks tracks marine grade decking is 100% submersible for docs built to last it resists rot warping and decay and salt and fresh water for homeowners that means carefree days on the water not constant maintenance for builders it means trusted performance that minimizes callbacks water has met its match tracks decking performance engineered for your life outdoors visit trex dot com slash docs there's nothing like your first Mac here's what people online are sharing at doctor rain says everything is just so smooth and fast I still can't get over it sinking stuff between my phone and this is just chef's kiss at mr. incredible 488 says

16:59apple silicon basically cures low battery trauma that's how they felt with their first Mac how will you introducing the all new MacBook Neo an amazing Mac at a surprising price find out more on apple dot com slash Mac and welcome back everybody to the saturday edition of the road away our fantasy baseball podcast air cult been here with Ryan Boyer completing our category sleepers series and the two categories that we will be discussing today are ERA and whip so we'll start with ERA Ryan and as always let's start with the big question what do you look for to find ERA sleepers and I'm really curious what your answer for this one will be because I think my answer is pretty boring yeah I mean I suspect maybe you'll just say the ERA indicators keep an eye on the disparity between your ERA indicators and the actual ERA that's certainly viable to do that I would also

18:01say that something that can get overlooked is pictures that have really good defenses behind them they can more easily outperform those ERA indicators so if you're getting a picture on the cubs for instance spoiler alert they're gonna I'm gonna have a couple of those guys on my list it's not actually I expect them to probably outperform those ERA indicators even if you look at their numbers from last you're saying they didn't totally earn that ERA but when you have a great defense behind you you can do that pretty regularly and finally also it would say volume can matter as well I mean you look at a picture that maybe isn't a super high ceiling guy but if your company's gonna give you a lot of volume and a solid ERA that can be even more valuable

19:01and that's a good answer better than what I was gonna give especially like those last couple variables on a most basic level though this is the one that is just pictures who I think are good if you have a generic picture sleeper usually that also means you think they're gonna have a better ERA than other people think they're gonna have and now often that's due to some of the factors you mentioned or due to their ERA estimators being a lot better than their ERA last year but just in general if you have a late round picture that you like I mean if you didn't think they were gonna have a good ERA you probably wouldn't like them right I mean I guess you could have somebody who's all in for strikeouts and you don't trust the ratios those guys certainly do exist but in general I guess I well rounded picture that I like who ideally plays in a good park and ideally has a good defense volume certainly nicer so that ERA does carry further but just in general I think this is the most generic set of ERA sleepers for me do you think that's true

20:01yeah totally and I see a Uncle Ted also mentioning the ballpark factor as well that's definitely something to consider but yeah it's you want good pictures it's like you mentioned it's kind of a boring answer but if you like the picture on the whole chances are they're probably gonna have a good ERA for you all right so who is your first good picture who's going way too late in the draft my first good picture of Braxton Ashcraft of the Pittsburgh pirates rookie season pitch very well very promising two seven one that ERA over 69 and two thirds innings ERA indicator is a little higher but still good three four five from a XERA perspective three six one from a Sierra perspective he spent time mostly in the bullpen initially is a long reliever but then down the stretch basically moved into a full-time starting role as last nine appearances

21:05seven of them of them were starts a couple of other three inning relief outings and he really hit his stride down the stretch two two three ERA one one three whip strike out to walk rate of 43 to 12 over 36 and a third innings and even as he got stretched out maintain that velocity sat right at 97 miles per hour at the fastball also a really high ground ball rate and the 85th percentile slider gets whiff also posted a 257 expected well with that slider some more numbers on the curve ball also suppresses heart contact 80th percentile average exit velocity 94th percentile and barrel rate I feel like Braxton Ashcraft gets a little overlooked maybe in the pirates rotation because everybody's got their eyes on Paul skeens obviously and a lot of bubble above a Chandler fans as well myself included but he can be somewhat overlooked but he's got plenty

22:09of upside himself yeah I really like what we saw from Braxton Ashcraft last year and this is somebody who had prospect pedigree as well now he's finally gonna be given the chance it seems to just settle into a regular rotation spot pretty intrigued to see what he can do I guess the only thing he doesn't have maybe is the volume just because he did spend some time as a reliever last year so it's really gonna push much past 150 innings and you can get there but certainly for the bulk of the season I'm gonna want to have Braxton Ashcraft I am guessing somebody who I wasn't sure I'd be able to have for the bulk of the season is Chris Bubich now I will note that he might be slightly cheating to include him here we're using guys we're going after pick 200 over the last month but Bubich has crept up over last month he's 212 but he's often going in the 180s or so in the last couple weeks because he's back on the mound I just think we have to mention him here

23:12though because Chris Bubich was one of our favorite sleepers last year coming off encouraging performance as a reliever in his return from elbow surgery the year prior he dominant in that brief stint as a reliever 32% strikeout rate to go the 4% walk rate the numbers were more normal across 20 starts last year but they were quite encouraging a 255 ERA outpaced most of his ERA estimators by a little more than a run but still that means at least a mid-3s kind of guy who has a slightly above average strikeout rate around 24 24 and a half percent league average walk rate and above average ground ball rate as well a well-rounded arm real questions about its ability to stay healthy though because he missed the last two months of last season or two months plus really with a rotator cuff strain so somebody who's dealt with elbow and shoulder issues in the last few years I understand if you're just off this guy but the main variable for me is a guy

24:16healthy now I was not willing to draft Chris Bubich in the early oxies and drafts because we hadn't seen get back on the mound but he's already returned to cactus league action and he was pretty fine I think you'll have to run on four hits no walks across two innings struck out three it's really the strikeouts and walks that I mostly care about if I'm looking at a box score in spring training and even then don't care a ton but I like to see that if Chris Bubich is healthy now I definitely want him on my team I think he's a much better pitcher on a per start basis than a lot of the guys going around him I just don't fully trust the durability still if I have a team that isn't full of injury risk pitchers already I think he's a good addition are you still in on Chris Bubich this year? somewhat yeah it's I mean it's obviously scary when you missed the the last couple of months with the shoulder injury the year prior but looks healthy so far

25:18this spring I know he mentioned that he's altered his mechanics a little bit to kind of try to take stress off the off the shoulder but yeah it also worries me that the ballpark changes at Kaufman could be a little more hitter friendly this year but he is he does lean more ground ball heavy Chris Bubich does so that maybe that won't affect him quite as much but yeah it's really all about about health with him I'm about super competent in the health but you can still get him late enough to where I don't mind taking that plunge all right your names here are in general much later than mine so we kind of jumping back and forth between the middle and the end of the draft but who is your next guy up on the list? yeah alluded to have a couple cubs on my list and my first one is Jamison Tyone as you mentioned 80p's a little later it's at 350 over the last month in NFPC drafts 345 ERA 110 Whip over the last two seasons for the cubs the AR indicators are a little higher

26:27395 XERA 433 Sierra but as I mentioned that cubs defense can really kind of taper over any issues that the pitcher might have and I think they should be maybe even better this year they got Alex Breggman taken over at third base they are replacing Kyle Tucker with say is Zuki in right field but Tucker's also not as good of a defender as he used to be so I think overall that might still be a net gain for them either way they're going to be really really good defensively they kept Niko Horner at second base that's big for their defense Tyone the strikeouts have gone their own direction he was never a big strikeout guy anyway but the control is really really good among the elite in the game he's also really good at inducing weak contact not a super high upside play but if you're taking a chance on a maybe high strikeout whip risk type of guy if you

27:35have a few of those guys in your team you can kind of stabilize things with a James and Tyone yet Tyones the type of starter that I almost never draft so I'm glad you mentioned him because I need to learn to draft guys like this it's guys with underwhelming strikeout stuff I just see that and I say I don't want any part of that in the ERA estimators are higher than the ERA but as you mentioned that might not be a fluke that's related to the defense also related to the park rigley field has played very picture friendly the last couple years so you don't need to miss a ton of bats if you've got all of the other factors in your favor I might even say Tyone would fit better as a whip sleeper though because the one part of his profile that is reliably quite strong is a low walk rate so wherever you want to put Tyone I think he is a ratio stabilizer in some sense whether that is specifically whip or ERA not sure but I do need to learn to actually draft players like James and Tyone maybe I need to learn to draft fewer players like the next guy

28:40on my list but I'm going to go back to Jack Flaherty who was somebody I drafted way too much of last year if you look at the results which had a 64 ERA but that was a full run higher than the ERA estimators x-fip was at 369 Sierra at 367 Jack Flaherty still had a high strikeout rate it came down from 30 to 28 percent now the walks did jump back up and that was the main thing that I was betting on not happening when I was big Jack Flaherty fan last year because in 2024 it was the 6 percent walk rate back up to just try of 9 percent last year and so that means I would be a little worried about the whip if that continues especially because also he was been he has been getting hit a little hard which maybe means he's not going to meet his ERA estimators but in general when a guy has a strikeout rate this good in this region of the draft he's been going 222 over the last month

29:44and when the ERA estimators tell us he should be a lot better than the ERA was last year it just wouldn't surprise me at all if Jack Flaherty had a 364 ERA this year instead of a 464 last year decent park to pitch in as well somebody who also has been reliable the last few years not something I would have guessed about Jack Flaherty but there actually aren't that many pictures who have made at least 27 starts in three consecutive years that counts as reliable at this point he's at 27 28 and 31 so somebody who's gonna be out there and gonna throw a lot of strikeouts I think the ERA should be a lot better than it was last season do you buy that or am I just doing it again I like Flaherty with where he's going in drafts I don't know that I necessarily trust the ERA specifically but I like the the strikeout upside with where he's going I like that

30:46he's back in Detroit in that park on a good team he's looked really good so far this spring so I think your Jack Flaherty investment has a chance to pay off well if only it paid off last year would have been a lot better of a season for me but who is your next ERA sleeper yeah digging deeper again Simeon Woods Richardson a guy for most of his career I'm not haven't really been all that interested in but he did something interesting down the stretch last year he started using a splitter heavily kind of dabbled it with it early on in the season but his last six starts he really leaned into it a lot and in those six starts 352 ERA 0.95 whip 38 to 11 strikeout to walk rate over 32 thirds innings he started missing bats for basically the only time in his career at least at the major league level and if you focus on specific starts down the stretch he had

31:49a couple really good ones against good teams had one against the Yankees when he went six straight at innings struck out a career high 11 also had one against your fillies six straight at innings just one base runner allowed and nine strikeouts the splitters are really tough pitch it can be a huge difference maker for pitchers but it also is a pitch that's notoriously difficult to command some pitchers can do it really well most of them really can't so I don't know that this is going to be a difference maker for sure for Woods Richardson but still just 25 years old former top 100-ish prospect and really seem to find something down the stretch and given how late he's going in the draft and again that's like 443 of the last month and NFBC drafts he's not going to be taken in most 12 teamers but in your deeper drafts I like roll in the dice and see if that splitter usage can carry over into 2026 yeah he is younger than I thought he was his breakout

32:56last year felt like it came after a few years of him not being the pitcher he was so I assume he was at least you know 27 or so but only 25 so there still could be more development ahead we had a comment here in the chat from Birch saying do you ever take the division into consideration which is something I should have mentioned when making the case for Jack Flaherty weakest division in baseball and Flaherty gets to face all of the weaker offenses there Simium Woods Richardson of course doesn't get to face the twins so it is something you have to be careful about you can't look at the whole division you have to look at the other four teams but I think for Tiger Spitchers definitely helped and even you know the twins they do get to face the Guardians and White Sox should remember that the schedule is more balanced than it used to be so this is less of a factor than it was a decade ago but it is still a factor and I think it's a factor for the next guy on my list who is Logan Henderson who gets to pitch in the other week division in baseball the NL Central I say he gets to pitch there I'm pretty sure Logan Henderson

34:00will get to pitch for the brewers that the main question here is volume certainly and we talked about how preferably your ERA sleepers are also providing volume so that 350 ERA or whatever it is carries over 180 innings instead of just a hundred fully recognized that Logan Henderson is not a good bet for that but assuming he breaks camp in the rotation which he looks favored to do I certainly want to draft him and I'll hold on to him as long as he's in the active roster for the brewers because when Logan Henderson pitches he is very good in five starts last year he struck out a third of opposing batters combined that with league average 8% walk rate led to a 178 ERA 099 whip in five starts and then he didn't get any more cards in the minors it was 359 ERA 28% strikeout rate the year before a 332 ERA a 33% strikeout rate to go with it the year before that

35:02275 ERA a 35% strikeout rate now his 103 innings last year between the majors and minors are his career high so again that is the real question here but Henderson is pitching this spring after ending last year with what was called a flexor stream so you got to be pretty worried that often turns into a Tommy John but again he's pitching this spring this was not one of the case of injury that cost him the end of last season and it carried over into this year and unless we hear news of a setback for him I'm gonna assume he's gonna be good to go at the start of the year it's weird that he strikes out so many batters because he's actually a change up first guy without a lot of velocity you would think that he's some overpowering fastball slider guy who throws way too hard and his arm doesn't work his stats don't actually line up with his repertoire but there's a lot of stats

36:02here and I'm gonna trust them especially because again we have seen it at the big league level it was only five starts but if you were worried that a pitcher who was again a 93 mile power fastball and a good change up you were worried that that is a trick that works in the minors and not the majors we have just over 25 innings worth of it working excellently at the highest level so I'm pretty big on Logan Henderson and I really hope that he's not just on my roster in April but also August you buy him I can get on board at that at that cost I am worried about the health as you mentioned the flexor strain down the stretch last season hasn't been super durable in the minors either but as you mentioned healthy now certainly looks like he's gonna get a chance in that bruise rotation even with Brandon Woodruff maybe looking like he'll be ready now Quinn Priester looking like he's gonna get a late start to the season that wrist issue so yeah like I like love the upside of Logan Henderson I'm gonna stick with another cub

37:10and he's not gonna give you a ton of volume because he's coming back from injury but Justin Steele very late draft pick after ADP 450 and NFBC leagues over the last month and looking like he could be back in May from UCL surgery pretty easy to look at that track record and be a pretty bullish on him last three full seasons he did a 3-1 zero ERA strikeout rate at 24 and a half percent walk rate at just 6.9 percent ERA indicators pretty good with them a little little up over the ERA but 3-31 XERA 371 this Sierra awesome control for look for Justin Steele and he's really been a master at inducing that weak contact there was all those those cutters and gets those weekly hit crown balls to that elite cubs defense behind him and as you

38:10mentioned regularly field also playing more preacher friendly the last couple years so it kept it's a little lead dependent do you have IEL spots to stash them on for a month or six weeks and how deep is your league also so it kind of depends on what your situation is but if that situation dictates you being able to take a shot on an injured pitcher I like Justin Steele from a ERA perspective especially yes steals another one just like his teammate you mentioned James and Tyon where he could have just as easily fit in as a whip sleeper because the most notable part of his profile is his walk rate has been pretty good the last few years a little bit worried about control coming back from elbow surgery that isn't always ready to go right away but with a price you're paying I'd much rather pay mid four hundred's price for Justin Steele coming off elbow surgery and potentially returning in May then mid two hundred's price for Garrett Cole

39:12returning from elbow surgery and not returning until June would you feel the same way there yep absolutely it's not like the price is crazy on coal so you can consider it in the right league certainly but given the uncertainty that surrounds anybody in their first year back from elbow surgery I really cares a lot about paying the lowest possible price to fill those IL spots and Steele's a great bet there I have Mike Burroughs as my next name on the list somebody who was mostly a starter 19 starts for relief appearances for the pirates last season should be a steady part of the astros rotation this year after they acquired him in a trade Mike Burroughs under the hood 24% strikeout rate to go with a walk rate just under 8% ground ball rate around 42% so basically league average ground balls than a hair better than league average in both strikeouts and walks

40:13that's not anything too remarkable in any one area but he fits into what I've said at the start of this segment I think he's just pretty good I think if you're just better than average at missing bats and avoiding walks you're a pretty good pitcher and if I can get you at an average price of 278 over the last month I think this is a pretty interesting arm somebody who could even develop a little more I do think anytime a pitcher changes organizations it's a potential buying opportunity just because hey what if this new set of pitching coaches tweak something or adds a pitch or adjust the grip or something there's always the possibility for a guy to take a jump when a new set of coaches get their hands on him I fully buy his at least high threes ERA which isn't amazing but I don't think many of these ERA sleepers are going to be a shoe in for 350 or below they're just not gonna be in the sleeper range at that point so really for an ERA sleeper

41:13I want someone who was pretty good last year according to all the underlying numbers and is going late in the draft I think Mike Burrows fits that perfectly he's more of an all around sleeper I suppose than just ERA but I want him on my team nonetheless are you drafting Mike Burrows? I am yeah I'll also add with him the Astros I feel like they're gonna need his innings I mean they lost the rampart Val does and beyond Hunter Brown they really don't have much workload assurances in that rotation so think Burrows could easily get up to 150 plus innings this season so that's pretty substantial workload and if he continues especially that that late season surge it he'll put payoff pretty handsomely there another guy going really late this guy's going after pick 500 last I checked the ADP but Dustin May now I'll be St. Louis Cardinals showing

42:15a Velo spike this spring average 97.8 miles per hour in his first spring training start topped out at 99.3 miles per hour last year he was average in just 95.4 with that four seamer that was related to a lost quite a bit of weight after the softest hair was unable to keep the weight on but he gained it back this winter put on about 20 pounds the velocity is back and he's never even with the just awesome stuff he's had he's never been a huge strikeout guy but you look at that ERA his first five seasons not much in the workload perspective but when he did pitch 312 ERA 1.04 whip so when he was on the mound for the Dodgers he was generally very good still just 28 kind of one year prove it type contract he's gonna be in a great pitcher's park he's gonna have a good

43:19defense behind him might get traded at the trade deadline if he pitches really well the first four months I suspect he probably will but at least for the first four months it's gonna be in a favorable pitcher's park and then a good defense behind him and who knows that might still be the case if he goes to a contender as well so not wild about the you know potential workload for Dustin May obviously the track record says we should not trust that but he's on a one year prove it contract and looking for that big payday next winter maybe that'll motivate him even more to to stay on the bump and pretty favorable situation and still fairly young for a guy who's going this late draft so if you're in your deeper league post 500 pick I like rolling the dice on Dustin May yeah you do have to look all the way back to 2023 to find a good stat line for Dustin May and

44:20that's not a comfortable position to be in when clicking on a guy's name but that's why you can get him so cheap somebody who's still on the right side of 30 is now one year further removed from all those injuries there's certainly a world where it works out for him I appreciate people throwing names out in the chat feel free to continue doing so some of the names in there are going too early for our cutoff here which is again outside pick 200 over the last month so camera slitler and image sheen who were mentioned there like those guys but they don't count asleepers I do you want to throw out make able here I don't think that I would put make able on today's list in fact I didn't neither did you he was quite poor last year in basically every start except for his big league debut and in that big league debut he was throwing harder because of adrenaline this is a thing that happens to a lot of guys he looked entirely ordinary but did see a note in his spring debut that he did get up to 97 miles per hour so if the velocity were to tech back up there's a world in which

45:26make able the sleeper I don't trust that he's not a priority sleeper for me in any way but I have drafted him in the 28th round or something like that so I can understand it would you do the same yeah I'm good with him as a a late round flyer I think he probably fits a little better as like a strikeout sleeper but yeah I don't know that I would it would trust that eore I think it might fluctuate as much as he's struggled with his control at times yeah his eore could come down a run and a half from last season and it would still be 473 and actually that's not too far from where a lot of the projections have him nobody's more confident than oopsies 426 but a name to at least consider at the very end of your draft our final eore sleeper though is going to be me getting a little bit overly creative here perhaps I'm going with Grant Taylor who is not a starting pitcher now we talked about how volume is important and I am just ignoring that with this pick because I want

46:31to talk about not just Grant Taylor but the idea of using a non closing reliever as a ratio stabilizer both the eore and whip but Taylor in particular looks like somebody who should have a very good eore in the 36 and 2 thirds innings last year he did not it was 491 but eore estimators were pristine his fit was 142 his x fit was 235 the 0 was 265 Grant Taylor struck out 34 percent of opposing batters also had a strong 48 percent ground ball rate walk rate of about 9.5 percent means I don't know how much I trust the whip but I think Grant Taylor is a very good pitcher and the reason why I'm willing to put him down here is he's not just going to be a 50 to 60 inning reliever assuming he stays healthy this is a guy that the white socks want to eventually be in their rotation he was a starter in the minors in the early part of his career

47:36I think that Grant Taylor if he throws 100 innings which is the team's goal that means he's often going to be pitching you know the fourth fifth and sixth of some games and stealing a win or sometimes he might actually pitch the 8th and 9th and steal a save I think you could get you know seven wins six saves and a very promising eore and whip it's a little bit awkward for roster build purposes because you're committing to using either only one genuine closer in a given week or one fewer starter than most other people are using so it's a little tricky but do you find yourself to be open to the grant tailors of the world and other similar relievers who seem to be really talented they're just not a starter or a closer yeah I think it's kind of league dependent they're going to be some formats where you just can't afford to roster a non starter and non-closer but in other leagues you're almost always better off getting an elite

48:41middle reliever than you are a streaming these journeymen type starters who have two starts that particular week and as you mentioned he's going to be a middle reliever but it doesn't have the stuff as a middle reliever he's it's all about stretching him back out to hopefully put him in the rotation next year do worry about the health history he's got had a lot of arm issues so not counting on him to be able to hold up but I'm definitely a believer in the stuff that the upside in that arm is pretty huge yeah so in a deep enough league go for grant tailor and assume he's going to give you value somehow as long as he stays on the mound let's move to the final category in our category sleepers series which is whip and of course we have to start with a big question what do you look forward to find whip sleepers and I think there are probably some more specific things here than there are with the RA yeah that's a lot a lot of the similar things

49:43but I would just note that I mean you look at the controls really the biggest differentiator I mean if you're looking at stabilizing that whip late in your draft if you've drafted maybe a Mackenzie Gore type who's gonna get you a bunch of strikeouts but it's kind of a risky from a whip perspective maybe you can balance it out with the guys just got elite control and even if he gives up as has some bad bad bad bad at ball look and gives up his fair share of hits can still keep that whip down at a reasonable rate because he's just doesn't walk anybody and Uncle Ted mentions show to eminaga is a he's a little being drafted too high for our exercise but yes I mean I feel like the reputation is that eminaga had a bad season he still had a sub one whip last year so yeah that's the type of guys that are just so good from a control perspective that can really help balance off those ratios yep and that's pretty much it for me to walk rate tends to be

50:48pretty stable from year to year so somebody who's had a walk rate that's you know around 6% for a few years probably is going to continue to have a mark in that range and that is much more stable component of a guy's whip than his batting average against of course because Babip can do things to pitchers that are either good or bad in a given season obviously if somebody has a persistently high bad Babip and you're going to assume they're going to give up enough hits to offset a good walk rate probably but in general it is the walk rate also a high fly ball rate compared to ground ball rate is good because fly balls have a low Babip and therefore give up fewer hits your trade off is you'll allow more homers but you'll allow fewer hits and so that's a good way to help your whip compared to ground ball specialist who's going to give up a lot of weak singles I think that this is a correction I've tried to make I had previously been pretty interested in pitchers with

51:49good strikeout stuff and good ground ball rates and if you're going to get somebody who has both of those late in drafts he almost certainly has a bad walk rate otherwise he'd be going way earlier and that means a lot of walks a lot of grounders that find holes I find myself drafting too many of the Jose Torianos of the world and really blowing up my whip so this is a category I'm trying to get better at in recent seasons let's go with your first name here Ryan who do you think is a great late round whip pick yeah a bit of a mystery box here with Cody Pants but the the Blue J is certainly bought into the reigning KBO MVP 189 ERA whip below one in the KBO strikeout to walk rate was amazing 36.3% strikeout rate just a 5.9% walk rate those numbers were accompanied by better velocity average 95 and a half miles per hour with his four seamer that's up significantly

52:54from his days with the pirates back before he went overseas also developed a splitter last year that turned into a really really good pitch for him he sat in the same velocity range this spring so that is carried over he's always had really good control as well even back before going overseas with the pirates his displayed great control both in the majors and minors has not walked a battery at the spring blue jays have a pretty good defense behind him should help out as well as I mentioned I think it's a bit of a mystery box what we can expect from Cody Pants and he's not super cheap but I mean he's not being really drafted in your like 12 team leagues or at least some of your 12 team leagues 286 with the ADP I think Cody Pants is getting a lot of buzz this spring I know he rated well as well from you know Sarah's stuff plus perspective coming over

53:55I know he likes him a lot so yeah but don't know for sure we're gonna get from Cody Pants but I'd like him at that price yeah and I think whip sleeper is the correct spot to put Cody Pants because sometimes strikeout rates do come way down when guys come back from Korea I remember watching Chris Flexin for was it the doose on bears back in 2020 when we were all following the KBO and by we all I mean at least me Chris Flexin had a 28% strikeout rate to go the 6% walk rate in his one season in Korea when he came back that strikeout rate fell all the way back down to 17% so we lost 11 points there but the walk rate stayed the same actually got a percentage point better if you assume something similar happens with Pants actually his strikeout rate could still be above average he could lose 11 ticks there and it would be 25% even if his strikeout rate collapses all the way to league average though that's probably gonna be enough if he's walking 67% of opposing batters

54:58I have mentioned before that I am not convinced the blue jays will just shove Jose Boreos to the bullpen to make room for Pants blue jays do have too many starters but nobody else seems to be concerned about this so I should probably stop saying it I think they acquired Pants for a reason I think it's likely that he's going to be there I do just have a little worry about the crowd in that blue jays rotation but I certainly want Cody Pants on some teams anyway my first whip sleeper is somebody who was mentioned earlier in the chat in the ERA section and you could maybe throw him there but I trust the whip much more for Andrew Abbott who has been going to pick 227 on average over the last month he does occasionally go in the top 200 but generally you can get him in sleeper range Andrew Abbott is somebody who I have needed to talk myself into being in on so I'm mentioning him here in an effort to do that strikeout rates not impressive but he did get it

56:03up to basically reach 22% last year the walk rate was pretty good 6% the weird thing about Andrew Abbott is he's an extreme fly ball guy and at great American ballpark in Cincinnati you'd think that'd be really bad it's a place that's very easy to home or in because the outfield is small but the reds keep acquiring fly ball pictures and the more they do that you can either double down and say I know far better than the reds they are idiots they should build their pitching staff the way I want them to or you could say hmm they've actually hired some analysts there who are actually getting paid by real major league baseball teams and I just play fantasy baseball they probably know something and I think what they know is that if the outfield is small then the Babip on a fly ball is going to be even lower right Babip on fly balls is already pretty low but when your outfielders don't have to cover that much territory anything that stays in the park is going to be caught so if

57:04you can reliably be a soft fly ball guy which Andrew Abbott has been you're going to have an ERA that way outpaces your peripherals and that was the case last year 287 ERA 0 the way up at 420 X-FIT 431 it's a profile that I normally in the past have not liked at all but I think I at the very least trust the whip here and I think there's a chance you just keeps doing what he's doing with ERA it's now been three nearly full seasons and Andrew Abbott's ERA is 342 while his CERA is 442 a full run better do I trust the gap to keeping that big I don't think so but at a certain point don't we just have to agree that Andrew Abbott might actually be good yeah I'm with you I it took me a while to talk myself into him yeah it's a little spooky because he's at great American ballpark as a fly ball pitcher but the weak contact I mean the Babip and not necessarily sticky year

58:16over year but if you've done it multiple years on end probably start time to start believing that you're just good at having a low bat of and thus a good whip most likely and you fall into that category all right who is your next guy is he a little bit more conventionally reliable or no I got another lefty I don't I don't know if I would say conventionally reliable with Sean Manaya but peripherals were still great in 2025 even with that bloated ERA had a 75 to 12 strike out to walk rate over 60 and 2 thirds innings you look back to 2024 when he very famously just basically just tried to copy Chris sales throwing motion and during that stretch he had a 0.85 whip and last season he mentioned that he kind of got carried away with the arm slot he could let it get a little bit too low so he's been focusing on getting it back to that same arm angle that he had

59:22during that stretch run in 2024 career 6.7 percent walk rate for Manaya and the the career has been up and down I think it's fair to say but when he's been good his whip has been really good at the Mets should have a better defense behind him they really talked up improving their defense and then I'm I'm not so positive that he they've necessarily made the moves to do that but should be better than it was last year anyway I am a little worried I saw that Manaya's velocity his last time out was not great that's something to keep an eye on because I believe he's still pitching with a bone spur bone chips one of those things in in his elbow he's confident that it's not going to be an issue moving forward but yeah it's famous last words often yeah when Manaya has been good his whip has been very good and if he's on the mound peripherals were good last season I think if he stays healthy he's going to

1:00:27be pretty good in that category yeah and you're not paying a very expensive price late 200s I think you could afford for some of your picks in that range to not end up being healthy so I think it's probably a risk worth taking I'm going to continue the theme of lefties I don't know if that's intentional here but I think I have four lefties in my five whip sleepers and you have a couple as well I don't know if lefties have better whips or lefties have to do something that leads to a good whip if they're to make it in a world with a lot of writing batters I don't really know what the dynamics are there who would be curious if any listeners have an idea but my next whip sleeper lefty is Matthew Boyd and I have no idea why you can still get Matthew Boyd in a range of the draft which qualifies him for this series he's been at pick 231 over the course of the last month coming off an outstanding season where he stayed healthy for the first time in a long time made 31 starts 321 ERA but even more importantly for today a 109 whip so even if the ERA rises to meet the ERA

1:01:35estimators like a Sierra that was just north of four or an X-Fift that was a bit above that I think the whip is going to be quite good for Matthew Boyd because his control was quite good last year a 5.8% walk rate was at 7.8% the year before this is a guy who doesn't walk batters and he's a fly ball guy not a ground ball guy which leads to a lower babbub and therefore a lower whip the thing that I trust most of all about Matthew Boyd is that whip although I think was he also one of your wind sleepers last week I think Matthew Boyd just in general is a late you know mid rotation stabilizer depending on who you've picked with your early pictures I think Matt Matthew Boyd is going to fit into a lot of teams why is he going this late Ryan? I guess because the I mean he's not super young and he's been injured and inconsistent but sometimes

1:02:35it just takes a bit for the market to correct on those types of guys but as you mentioned great situation that he's in with the Cubs he could have easily fit into either of the ERA or whip sleepers and as you mentioned also wind sleepers well so yeah like that Matthew Boyd call you got another lefty up next I was very jealous that you had already put this guy's name on here before I could add it myself yeah Braxton Garrett another Braxton on my list after Braxton Ashcraft earlier in the ERA section Braxton Garrett's lone full major league season he had a 4.4% walk rate that year 1.15 whip you look back from 22 to 24 had a 118 whip and of course coming back from injury but he's full go this spring velocity has been up this spring he's a guy who doesn't normally have a great fastball in terms of velocity it sits right around 90 but

1:03:38reportedly touching 95 regularly so far the spring with the with the marlins marlins have a good favorable home park should have a pretty good defense behind him what's the workload gonna look like it should be monitored certainly but I think given where he's going in drafts which is super duper late over last month 480 and in FBC drafts I like Braxton Ashcraft and sounds like you do as well or I'm pretty sure he's he's my yeah Braxton Garrett sorry I like all Braxton I think there was a Braxton Lee a couple years ago and a Braxton Fullford maybe not them wow there's a lot of Braxton's in the minors too I'm not sure what's going on there but I guess I would be into any of them once they eventually arrive given the track record of Ashcraft and Garrett but Braxton Garrett my favorite sleeper I think on this entire episode obviously you got to be worried about anybody in their first year coming back from surgery and there are more than enough interesting pictures in Miami that if it isn't working

1:04:45out for Garrett in April he might be gone by May when say Robbie snelling and Thomas White if they're not ready to push for an opening day spot they could be ready to push for one pretty early there are enough arms that the Marlins don't need Garrett but when we last saw him he had a slightly above average strikeout rate combined with a great walk rate and a high ground ball rate as well I think this is a really interesting really underrated picture and if he stays on the field he's going to be quite a good pick going after pick 450 you know a lot of drafts I've got another lefty here and I'm not totally sold on this guy this year because he certainly outpitched his peripherals by quite a lot last season but that is Noah Cameron to the extent that I'm in on Noah Cameron I think it's as a whip stabilizer the walk rate was an amazing but 7.7 percent is pretty good it's better than his strikeout rate which was a little bit below average

1:05:48at 20.5 percent battle league average ground ball rate as well so maybe more well rounded not sure exactly what kind of sleeper he fits into but if he continues to have a better than average ground ball rate hopefully that or sorry better than average walk rate hopefully that keeps the whip down even with the fences coming in at Kaufman's stadium it's a minor worry for all royals pictures so I don't love having both him and Chris Boobitch on my list today but the main reason I think I like Noah Cameron is that the price did not at all reflect his actual ERA last year which was $2.99 he's not going to repeat that mark that was a good deal better than the ERA estimators which were all just a bit over four but if you don't have to pay much for a price for Noah Cameron I think he's going to be a stable part of this rotation he made 31 starts last year I think he's a reliable arm who's going to be out there every five games and isn't going to walk too many guys he'll have maybe an average ERA and a little bit better than

1:06:50average whip over a large number of innings I have paired him in a couple leagues with Roki Sasaki who I don't trust in any way but I kind of see them as very opposite pictures Sasaki has a floor of me cutting him on April 2nd when he goes to long relief or the minors and he has a ceiling of suddenly remembering the picture he was back in Japan Cameron I think his floor and his ceiling are pretty close together I think he's fine and that's pretty useful if you're a little bit short on guys who are just boring but reliable it's weird to be boring but reliable at age 26 but I'm pretty sure Noah Cameron already is right yeah if you mold those two pictures together you've got you might have something on your hands Noah Cameron and Roki Sasaki especially if they can throw both right-handed and left-handed that'd be that'd be nice with an ambidextrous picture Slade Shakone my next guy going at 524 on average over the

1:07:53last month BC drafts elite control it's becoming a theme 5.3% walk rate at the major league level 6.7% walk rate at the minor league level you look at the whip in 2025 was at 1 1 9 over the last three months it was even better with the guardians 1 1 3 blessed from July on and again Cleveland's defense should be pretty good I am a little worried about what they're going to do in their outfield they've been trying Steven Kwan in center field and I know George Valera is not known for his defense so the outfield defense could be a little sketchy but I do like that he's in that organization they generally have a pretty good pretty good idea how to get the best out of their pictures and the controls great with Slade Shakone don't know about the strikeout upside he might need another picture too before you can miss more bats but from

1:08:56a whip perspective I like him at that late price yeah I'm gonna pair him with another Cleveland guardian that is Parker Messick now there's no guarantee that Messick is in the rotation suppose there's no guarantee Shakone is either there's room for three of the four of Logan Allen Joey Cantillo Slade Shakone and Parker Messick I think Logan Allen should be the odd one out and I think Messick looks like one of Cleveland's five best pictures he's going late enough that if you pick him and he doesn't end up in the rotation you can drop him in your okay he's going outside the top 300 but again I think Parker Messick should be part of the Cleveland opening day rotation he also should have a whip much better than the 131 he had last year because he had a 3.6% walk rate he was somebody who had a league average strikeout rate slightly above average ground ball rate but excellent control that should be somebody with a you know a DRA maybe up near four but a whip

1:10:02that's pretty good he was the opposite last year over seven starts I don't think that will continue to be the case I think that 359 Babip will come way down might be a slightly worse than average since he's slightly a ground ball guy but nothing too extreme there and if you keep showing this kind of command and I'll note that it's not just the walk rate you can look at location plus which is not the most trustworthy of all the plus stats even its creators will tell you that but it's still worth looking at when a picture hasn't given us a large sample of results based stats and Parker Messick was at 109 in his location plus if you look at all qualified starters last year there were only five guys with a location plus better than that location plus is pretty concentrated around 100 same with stuff plus as well it's not like WRC plus WRC guys at 50 and you'll see guys at 200 generally the range on these is you know 85 to 115 or so so 109 location plus a walk rate in the

1:11:06three and a half percent range for Parker Messick that to me is somebody who should have a good whip yet another lefty here without amazing dominant stuff but who knows where his pitches are going I think Parker Messick is gonna win a job and I think he's gonna help your whip and the fact that we don't know either of those things is the only reason he's going outside pick 300 you have somebody going well outside pick 500 though to end your set here I do and it's a guy who is currently still unemployed um I'm quite certain we had Zach Latel as a whip sleeper in our episode last year and he sounds about right he wound up with a 110 whip so you're welcome everyone and now he's going even later because as I mentioned he remains a free agent but in a very durable since he moved into the rotation on a on a permanent basis and he's got amazing control

1:12:064.2 percent walk rate since 2023 he's got a 117 whip since 2023 and as I mentioned with that bigger workload in 2025 that whip is all the way down to 110 so obviously we don't know where he's gonna land land yet I mean he could sign with the Rockies and you just go ahead and take him off your board um and we don't know if he's gonna be able to get that if he signs this weekend is he gonna be ready in time for opening day probably not so there's a reason why he's been being taken this late but if you're in a DC or one of those other super late draft and holds like taking a shot on on Zach Latel especially if we may whip perspective yeah it's tough to draft a guy who isn't exciting and also isn't currently employed so you know you're not going to be able to use him for the first couple weeks of the season but certainly in any drafting holds that are still out there I would expect Latel's price is only

1:13:07gonna keep dropping as he remains unemployed and that's only gonna make him more and more attractive as your seventh starter to fill in there for most of the last four or five months of the season I'm gonna finish our category sleeper series with Zach Eflin who statistically looks kind of like Zach Latel in recent season Zach Eflin sat a couple years in his career where he's had a strong strikeout rate out of nowhere he has never had a strikeout rate between 22 and a half and 26 and a half weirdly yes two seasons in the high 20s and the rest of his are in the low 20s or even the high teens barely even say what the high teens last year was not a good year for Zach Eflin 16% strikeout an ERA all the way up to 593 but it was not a very healthy year for Zach Eflin who was dealing with back issues he is healthy now he's back with the Orioles and he's pitching in spring already

1:14:09and has seen his velocity rise his fastball topped out at 94 miles per hour in a recent spring appearance at average just under 92 the last couple seasons so if Zach Eflin is healthy don't know how many guys he's gonna strike out and if he doesn't miss a ton of bats maybe the ERA is gonna be at best in the low fours but Zach Eflin never walks guys he has never had a walk rate of even 7% and in the last five years he's never had a walk rate of even 5% when we're talking about consistent low walk rates being the most key component of a whip Zach Eflin has that as much as anybody out there again it's kind of all he has but if you need a whip stabilizer if you are trailing in that category and you've gotten this late in your draft Zach Eflin is a great choice hope he stays healthy for more than 14 starts this year he's he's a persistent minor nagging injury kind of guy more than somebody who's dealt with major elbow or shoulder asheries

1:15:12is always something for Zach Eflin but while he's out there the whip at the very least should be pretty helpful you buying it as our final sleeper in this series this year yeah so we got are you team Zach with a K or team Zach with an H with our last two last two picks here I'm actually on team Zach with an H if I had to pick one of the two which is Eflin for anybody who is not currently you know I barely even tell you which one Zach Wheeler is and he's been a star for a decade and also I mean Eflin noted that he had dealt with back injury issues I think for multiple years he said and he just put off having surgery but he finally had it and it's healthy and throwing hard this spring so I mean it's a risk that he's going to stay healthy but he's healthy now and he's pretty underrated the last few years when he has been healthy so I like that call all right well that's going to do it for today's show and therefore for our category sleepers

1:16:16series this year let us know which of these sleepers you are big fans of and the Rotawire fantasy baseball podcast which is brought to you by fan tracks we'll be back tomorrow with Jeff and Scott water usually wins it warps in rots wood it pulls it apart bored by bored unless you build with tracks tracks marine grade decking is 100% submersible for docs built to last it resists rot warping and decay and salt and fresh water for homeowners that means care free days on the water not constant maintenance for builders it means trusted performance that minimizes callbacks water has met its match tracks decking performance engineered for your life outdoors visit trex.com slash docs