Here are our Week 5 Fantasy Baseball Sleepers: 2-Start Pitchers, Spot Starters, & Hitter Picks. After you identify your favorite Week 5 MLB Sleepers, follow along with our full fantasy baseball tips page all MLB season.
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Week 5 Fantasy Baseball Sleepers
Week 5 Fantasy Baseball 2-Start Pitchers To Add From Waiver Wire
Anthony DeSclafani, San Francisco Giants (40% rostered on Yahoo!)
- Start 1: vs. Colorado Rockies
- Start 2: @ San Diego Padres
Anthony DeSclafani’s first year with the San Francisco Giants is a smashing success through four starts spanning 21.0 innings thus far. According to FanGraphs, he’s rocking a 2.14 ERA, 3.60 SIERA, 1.19 WHIP, 6.7 BB%, 23.6 K%, 25.7 CSW%, and 57.4 GB%.
He has a plum draw to open the week and keep his heater cooking. The Colorado Rockies are the worst offense in baseball against righties (68 wRC+) and on the road (51 wRC+). They’re also exceptionally strikeout-prone on the road, striking out at the fifth-highest rate in road games at 28.8%.
The San Diego Padres are a more challenging matchup in his second turn, but he fared well against them in his first start of the year, holding them to just one run on four hits, three walks, and four strikeouts in five innings. The Friars’ offense is talented enough to create risk using DeSclafani, so gamers in leagues with daily changes can play using the righty hurler in that game by ear. The risk is worth accepting in fantasy baseball leagues with weekly changes, so fire him up in those leagues.
- I’ll confidently suggest using DeSclafani in leagues as shallow as 12-team mixers.
Adam Wainwright, St. Louis Cardinals (27%)
- Start 1: vs. Philadelphia Phillies
- Start 2: @ Pittsburgh Pirates
Adam Wainwright’s 5.03 ERA would seem to suggest the 39-year-old pitcher is toast. His underlying stats tell a different story. A .382 BABIP has undone his 6.7 BB% and 26.7 K%.
The strikeout rate is significantly higher than anything Waino’s posted in his career, so skepticism is understandable. However, while he doesn’t have enough innings pitched to be a qualified pitcher this year, his 31.0 CSW% is a carbon copy of the career-high mark he set last year and would tie Max Scherzer’s mark for 21st among qualified pitchers this year.
The Philadelphia Phillies are tied for 11th in wRC+ (101) against righties this year. However, the risk of facing them should be lessened by catching them on the heels of a Coors Field series. The Pittsburgh Pirates have a middle-of-the-pack offense against righties.
- Like DeSclafani, Wainwright’s a viable option in 12-team mixers.
Week 5 Fantasy Baseball Spot Starters
Aaron Sanchez, San Francisco Giants vs. Colorado Rockies (10%)
Aaron Sanchez is another piece of exposure to the Rockies in a road tilt. DeSclafani isn’t the only righty thriving in his debut season with the Giants; Sanchez is proving to be a successful reclamation project in the early going.
Sanchez has pitched 19.2 innings to a sterling 1.83 ERA, 3.86 SIERA, and 1.02 WHIP. Control’s been a problem throughout his career, but he’s demonstrating previously unseen strike-throwing ability with a 5.0 BB%. Sanchez’s 17.5 K% leaves something to be desired, but it could get a pick-me-up from Colorado’s road strikeout woes.
- I trust him as a streamer among my Week 5 MLB sleepers in leagues as shallow as 12-team mixers.
Deivi Garcia, New York Yankees @ Baltimore Orioles (9%)
Deivi Garcia lost out on the fifth-starter spot in the New York Yankees’ rotation, but he’ll make his season debut on Monday in a plus matchup. MLB Pipeline ranks Garcia 91st on their Top-100 Prospect list, and FanGraphs is even more bullish on Garcia’s outlook, ranking him 60th on their top prospects list.
Garcia recorded a 4.98 ERA in six starts spanning 34.1 innings last year. Having said that, his 4.21 SIERA paints a prettier picture of his first taste of big-league coffee. The Baltimore Orioles rank 27th in wRC+ (77) against righties this year with a robust 27.2 K%.
- Garcia’s skills and the plus matchup make him worthy of streaming in 14-team mixers or deeper leagues.
Week 5 Fantasy Baseball Sleeper Hitters
Brandon Nimmo, OF, New York Mets (49%)
- 2 Games vs. Boston Red Sox
- 3 Games @ Philadelphia Phillies
Brandon Nimmo barely qualifies for inclusion in this space, falling only one percent short of my self-imposed cut line of 50%. The New York Mets’ leadoff hitter plays only five games this week, but all are against right-handed pitchers.
The left-handed-hitting outfielder is great with the platoon advantage. In 802 plate appearances against righties since 2018, he has smacked 27 homers with a .266/.409/.478 slash. He’s raking this year with a .370/.477/.500 line and swiped two bases in three attempts.
- Nimmo’s more than a sleeper hitter, and he should be rostered in 12-team mixers.
Rougned Odor, New York Yankees (3%)
- 4 Games @ Baltimore Orioles
- 3 Games vs. Detroit Tigers
Rougned Odor’s surprisingly been a mainstay in the New York Yankees’ lineup. He’s started four straight games, notably slotting cleanup on Sunday. I’m not counting on that regularly being his lineup spot, but he should continue to see his name on the lineup card.
The Bronx Bombers have a seven-game week on the docket. The pitching matchups are predominantly right-handed, providing Odor the platoon advantage. Further, the collection of probable starters are an underwhelming lot.
Odor’s .175 batting average is ugly, but it’s unlucky. According to Baseball Savant, among players with a minimum of 25 batted-ball events, Odor’s -0.094 difference between his actual batting average (.175) and expected batting average (.269) is the 16th-largest negative discrepancy.
Odor’s power has resulted in three homers, and he’s pared his strikeout rate down from 31.8% in 2020 to 13.6% this year.
- He’s a viable deep-league option for gamers in need of help at second base or middle infield.
Week 5 MLB Sleepers are just one important part of our weekly fantasy baseball and MLB betting content. Stick around and check out the rest of our baseball picks and predictions.
