Fantasy Baseball: 5 Starting Pitcher Sleepers to Target in 2017
LHP Sean Manaea, Oakland Athletics
ESPN End of Season Ownership: 67.1%
Sean Manaea toiled in relative obscurity for a bad Oakland Athletics team last year, but he did reach a career-high in innings pitched. Not only did he throw 144.2 frames, but he also managed to throw 21.2 more innings in the minors, giving him a nearly full workload and calming any worries that he might not get up to 180 innings in 2017. Things can always crop up with pitchers, but after throwing more than 160 innings across three levels, the ball is in Manaea’s court, so to speak.
He’s right around league average in terms of ground-ball rate (44.2 percent), with fairly good strikeout rates (7.7 K/9), good command (2.3 BB/9) and a more than respectable 3.86 ERA that’s backed by a 4.08 FIP. In other words, outside of a few more home runs than one might like (1.2 HR/9), he put together a solid performance.
Break it down by halves, and it only gets better for the soon-to-be 25-year-old lefty.
Following a rough first half -- a 5.24 ERA in 67 innings -- Manaea pitched like his luscious locks were on fire after the break, posting a 2.67 ERA in 77.2 second-half frames. After opposing batters slashed .271/.330/.464 against him, he returned the favor with a .218/.268/.369 line following the midsummer classic. His impressive peripherals tightened up even more in the second half with 8.0 K/9 and a 4-to-1 strikeouts-to-walk ratio. He decreased his home-run rate, cut his WHIP to 1.02 (from 1.39) and also saw his ground-ball rate jump to 48.3 percent.
Manaea pitched like an ace through a significant stretch of time. He’s not likely to be drafted like an ace, but there’s a decent shot he’ll pitch like one. His repertoire is a bit more simple than Norris, but he still hits the mid-90s with his four-seamer while mixing in a changeup and slider. Both those secondary pitches had elite whiff rates, as well -- in the vicinity of 20 percent -- while also inducing grounders in excess of 54 percent.
