Sport: MLB

Anyone in a 12-team to 15-team fantasy baseball league understands the difficulty in finding quality pitching late in drafts. Here are a few of my favorite deep league starting pitching sleepers for 2026 drafts.

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Deep League Starting Pitching Sleepers
CHC SP Jameson Taillon (350 ADP)

Jameson Taillon finished 2025 with a 3.68 ERA, striking out 6.8 batters per nine innings and walking 1.8. He also stranded 80% of baserunners, which helped mitigate a decline in his GB%. Even with a slightly mixed bag of surface stats, Taillon is worth targeting late in drafts.

Taillon induced his best chase rate since 2022, relying on a filthy sweeper and changeup combination to induce whiffs. Both pitches feature whiff rates over 30%. He made some adjustments to his changeup in 2025, leading to some major improvements. Take a look:

Jameson Taillon picked up a kick-change in 2025, increased his usage of the pitch, and got legit results:

.161 AVG
.258 SLG
.194 wOBA
83.3 EV
36.6% whiff rate

It was huge against LHHs who he had historically struggled with.

Stats below ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/kGOoWQYhhx

— Carson Wolf (@TheWrigleyWire) January 2, 2026

Additionally, Taillon was one of two pitchers to have an Out Rate above league average on all of his pitches (for pitchers that throw at least four pitch types). That means that all of his pitches induced outs at a higher rate than league average. Only Bryan Woo can claim the same, and he goes about 300 picks earlier.

Taillon has been undervalued in previous seasons because of the low strikeout rate. His pitch quality suggests you are getting a great deal drafting him late. He is an excellent choice as a deep league starting pitching sleeper this season.

KC SP Michael Wacha (457 ADP)

Michael Wacha has quietly posted four straight seasons of sub-4 ERA pitching. His ERA each of the last four seasons has ranged between 3.22 and 3.86, and he very likely could replicate those results in 2026.

Much like Taillon, Wacha’s strikeout rate leaves much to be desired, but he still continues to produce. Not only that, but he has improved in many aspects as well. Wacha lowered his walk rate for the third season in a row. He has also maintained a barrel and HardHit rate better than league average for pitchers in each of the last three seasons.

The risk in drafting Wacha is if his HR/FB rate regresses; however, he features four pitches with groundball rates over 40%, and three pitches with 25% whiff rates or higher. Wacha also possesses three pitches with above-average Out%, including his sinker and cutter, as well as a wicked changeup, as seen here:

KC RHP Michael Wacha Changeup
2025 Changeup metrics:
16 Run Value
27% Usage%
80 MPH
8 IVB
13 HB
31% Whiff%
25% K%
.150 BA against
.197 wOBA against pic.twitter.com/gp1eYnamZw

— Jackson Scudder (@jscud23) July 20, 2025

It is rare to find sub-4 ERA potential this late in drafts, making Wacha an obvious deep league pitching sleeper this season.

LAA Jose Soriano (459 ADP)

Jose Soriano made some strides in 2025, throwing more innings than in 2024. He also increased his K/9 rate to 8.0 and his groundball rate to a league-leading 65%. He finished the season with a 4.26 ERA, but a 3.54 xFIP and a 3.93 SIERA.

Soriano should see some continued improvement in 2026, especially considering this:

José Soriano was the #1 groundballer in baseball with the worst infield defense in baseball. pic.twitter.com/MIsjVSqrYC

— Nick Pollack (@PitcherList) January 27, 2026

Groundballs tend to result in outs more than any other type of pitch, but Soriano could not keep baserunners from scoring. His 67% LOB rate was among the 10 worst for qualified pitchers and was clearly a result of poor defense. He also had the league’s lowest flyball rate at 16%, so he has an incredible ability to limit homers.

Soriano is not just a groundball pitcher, but he can get swings and misses as well. His knuckle curve has a 43% whiff rate and a 27% putaway rate. Soriano’s splitter, slider, and changeup each have 30% whiff rates or better as well.

Soriano is a must-draft pitcher past pick 400 and a major deep league pitching sleeper.

ATH Luis Morales (533 ADP)

Luis Morales looked great in limited time last season, his debut in the majors. He tossed 48 innings, posting a 3.14 ERA. He stranded 85% of runners (likely to regress in 2026), with a 7.9 K/9 rate and a 3.3 BB/9 rate.

Morales was a high strikeout pitcher across the minors, but it is common to see a slight drop-off in strikeouts in the majors. As he continues to adjust to big league pitching, he could very well improve his strikeout rate this season.

Morales was primarily a fastball, changeup, and sweeper pitcher last season, but also featured a slider. All of his pitches except his fastball had a batting average against of .172 or lower, and whiff rates ranging from 25-38%. His three most-used pitches also all feature above-average Out Rates.

Morales should be able to lock down a spot in the Athletics’ rotation, which could lead to similar stretches as this one from last season where he posted elite numbers:

Luis Morales through five big league appearances:

🟢 1.19 ERA
🟡 0.97 WHIP
🟢 .156 BAA

The @Athletics‘ No. 4 prospect fans seven — six with his fastball — over seven scoreless innings in his best start in the bigs so far. pic.twitter.com/HwVEann0f4

— MLB Pipeline (@MLBPipeline) August 28, 2025

Morales should be on the radar for anyone looking for deep league pitching sleepers this season.

STL Michael McGreevy (587 ADP)

Similar to Soriano, Michael McGreevy pitched well in 2025, but suffered thanks to a lackluster defense behind him. He had a BB/9 rate under two with a 47% GB rate, meaning he limited walks and induced a solid amount of grounders. His BABIP and HR/FB rates were about normal. All of that does not equate to a 4.42 ERA, especially considering his pitch quality.

No, McGreevy will not strike out batters at a high rate. His 5.6 K/9 rate would have been the worst in baseball if he qualified. McGreevy’s stuff suggests his strikeout rate should improve, though.

Last season, McGreevy featured four pitches with whiff rates over 25%. Four of his pitches also had single-digit launch angles, with two going into the negatives. Additionally, his sinker and sweeper each had Out Rates above league average. If he can maintain or improve these numbers and get some better defensive results, his ERA could end up around his projections of 3.90 or better this season.

In many leagues, McGreevy will be a top streaming choice, but he makes for a great deep league pitching streamer, especially in 15-teamers.

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