Fantasy Baseball: 5 Starting Pitcher Sleepers to Target in 2017

LHP Daniel Norris, Detroit Tigers

ESPN End of Season Ownership: 25.5%

Daniel Norris’ overall numbers are very impressive, but the issue is it's an incredibly small sample size. He threw just under 70 innings for the season, but he fanned 9.2 batters per nine, walked just 2.9 per nine and carried an ERA of 3.38. He also picked up the pace considerably in 56.1 second-half innings, posting a 3.04 ERA with increases in ground-ball rate (up to 40.2 percent) and in home run rate (1.3 for the season, but just 1.1 after the break).

The walks (3.0 per nine) and batting average against (.259) in the second half leave his WHIP still a bit higher than one might be comfortable with (1.37), but it’s still hard to look at the total package here and not see a pitcher trending in the right direction.

Norris comes from the left side with a four-seamer that’ll reach the upper 90s and sit around 93, and for a primary offering, it still misses plenty of bats (9.3 percent whiff rate). His changeup (12.2 percent) and slider (15.9 percent) are both above average, and not only do they miss bats, but they also induce grounders in excess of 50 percent. Even if his development stagnates a bit, the sheer number of innings difference in the big leagues between 2016 and 2017 should make him a late-round value pick this spring.