Fantasy Baseball Week 12 Preview: Top 10 sleeper pitchers feature Luis Severino, Erick Fedde (2024)

Luis Severino seems to have shelved his old bat-missing ways for a more ground-ball-heavy approach, but it's working. He's coming off an eight-inning gem against the Nationals and will face an even worse Marlins lineup this time around.

Reese Olson is kind of a fixture at this point, having few misses on the game log thanks to his two swing-and-miss secondaries. He'll face a Nationals lineup that ranks in the bottom third of the league in runs scored.

Erick Fedde hasn't been as sharp lately but is still a threat for a quality start every time out. He gets two bites at the apple this week, the first coming against a bad Mariners lineup.

Brandon Pfaadt has pitched better than his 4.32 ERA, all the underlying numbers say, and has gone six-plus innings in seven straight starts. He'll be facing an Angels team that has only a .660 OPS against right-handers, fifth-worst in baseball.

A new slider seemed like it might be the key to recapturing Chris Paddack's long-lost dominance, but it hasn't worked out so well in his past couple turns. Still, if you're the sort who values matchups above all else, then you can't ask for better than Paddack's two turns against the Rockies and Athletics.

Tylor Megill has been up and down in three turns back from a strained shoulder but is a reasonable bet to light up a bad Marlins lineup this week. His second matchup against the Padres is more worrisome, but generally speaking, two is better than one.

Matt Waldron enters his weekend start against the Diamondbacks with a 1.84 ERA, 0.92 WHIP, and 10.7 K/9 over his past five. Presuming he navigates that one OK, he'll be a fine play against a middle-of-the-road Mets lineup in Week 12. The novelty of the knuckleball makes him sort of immune to matchups anyway.

Jake Irvin's top two pitches, the fastball and curveball, have yielded low batting averages even dating back to last year, and now that he's a control artist to boot, the results have been great. No reason to think it'll change against the Tigers this week.

Like his teammate Jake Irvin, Mitchell Parker has been a surprise success due in part to his elite control, though Parker also excels at keeping the ball on the ground. The Tigers are especially bad vs. left-handers, having the sixth-lowest OPS against them.

Ben Brown had a rocky outing against the Reds last time, but if he bounces back in a rematch over the weekend, then he'll be an attractive play against a bad Cardinals lineup in Week 12. His outings have been on the shorter side, but there's big strikeout upside with his high-octane fastball and wipeout curveball.