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Fantasy baseball owners are constantly on the prowl for sleepers and the next big waiver wire pickup to help improve their teams. Every year there are starting pitchers who come out of nowhere to make a big splash. In this article series, I will be discussing pitchers who may still be available on your league’s waiver wire, depending on the league format, including NL-Only and AL-Only leagues. Based on ownership percentages, the SPs listed here today are viable in deep leagues, but probably should be left as streamers or waiver wire fodder in shallow leagues. If they are still available on your waiver wire, go ahead and add them while you still can in deep leagues.
Jeff Locke, PIT
16% Owned in Yahoo!, 11% Owned in FleaFlicker
The Pirates have surged to within 4.5 games of first place after their early struggles and it is partially because of starting pitcher Jeff Locke. Locke has fixed his control issues and has been dominant since rejoining the rotation on June 8th. In his past 6 starts, Locke has gone 44.1 innings and only given up 11 earned runs (2.24 ERA).
During this stretch, Locke has also had an incredible 6: 25 BB/K ration. Although the Pirates haven’t given him much run support, all six of his outings have been quality starts. This streak continued on Sunday as Locke went 8 innings, gave up just 3 hits and 1 earned run to move to 2-1 on the season.
Odrisamer Despaigne, SD
10% Owned in Yahoo!, 7% Owned in FleaFlicker
The rookie starting pitchers for the San Diego Padres have been excellent lately and that includes Odrisamer Despaigne. He has not stuck many batters out at the major league level, but Despaigne did show filthy strike out stuff in the minors this year, racking up 41 Ks in 41.3 IP, so the K's should come around. He does hold a 0.92 ERA after his first three career starts.
He began his career on the road in a tough environment against the San Francisco Giants, but he was nothing but dominant that night and every start since. In his debut, Despaigne pitched 7 shutout innings and got the win. The only cause for concern fantasy owners should have with him is his BB/K ratio, which as mentioned doesn't look pretty, but also has room to improve. His 52% ground ball rate and his homepark are reasons enough to own Despaigne in deep leagues.
Edinson Volquez
9% Owned in Yahoo!, 8% Owned in FleaFlicker
Another reason the Pirates have reemerged into the playoff picture is because of the turnaround of Edinson Volquez. With the exception of one rough outing on June 18th, Volquez has been very effective since May 22nd. He has given up more than 3 earned runs just once since then and has learned to keep his pitch counts low, which has resulted in deeper outings.
Over his last 3 starts, Volquez has gone 21 innings while only given up 2 earned runs (0.85 ERA). Pitching on the road has been where he has improved most, as he has not allowed more than 2 earned runs in a road start since May 17th. The number of strikeouts have been rather inconsistent, but Volquez is a great pickup for those who need another starter on their staff in deep leagues for the right matchups.
