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In this piece, RotoBaller will highlight a selection of starting pitchers owned in less than 50% of both CBS and Yahoo leagues that have favorable matchups in the upcoming week. Whether you’re suffering from injuries, poor performance, or your league’s fantasy baseball waiver wire is barren, these undervalued pitchers could prove useful in the days ahead.
4/16: Felix Doubront (BOS) @ Cleveland Indians (Ubaldo Jimenez)
CBS Ownership: 45%
Yahoo Ownership: 15%
A RotoBaller pick versus Baltimore last week, Doubront’s start got bumped to Friday against Tampa Bay and then was ultimately rained out. On Tuesday he is scheduled to face the Indians, whose current batters he’s held to a .631 OPS with no home runs in 47 plate appearances. Opposing Doubront will be Ubaldo Jimenez, a pitcher Red Sox hitters have absolutely owned at a .355/.429/.591 rate with fourteen extra-base hits in 105 PA.
4/16: Jake Westbrook (STL) @ Pittsburgh Pirates (Jonathan Sanchez)
CBS Ownership: 33%
Yahoo Ownership: 8%
Like most sinkerballers, there tends to be stretches of good, bad and ugly with Westbrook. His talent lies in minimizing the ugly, as he’s been dependable enough to steadily occupy a major league rotation spot for eight of the past ten seasons. Westbrook's peripherals are wholly unimpressive this season, but the Cardinals righty is nonetheless riding a hot streak, as he’s fresh off a shutout of the Reds and boasts a 0.00 ERA through 15.2 IP this season. A market correction is surely coming, but he could be worth riding against a terrible Jonathan Sanchez on Tuesday.
4/17: Ross Detwiler (WAS) @ Miami Marlins (Ricky Nolasco)
CBS Ownership: 48%
Yahoo Ownership: 30%
Relying almost exclusively on a fastball/sinker repertoire, Detwiler has been outstanding in his first two starts of 2013, posting a 0.69 ERA and 1.00 WHIP over 13 innings. The sixth overall selection in the 2007 draft, Detwiler has been knocked around a bit in his career (.914 OPS in 40 PA) by Marlins batters, but his lights-out start and waiver-wire availability make him a solid gamble if you need the help in Week 3.
4/17: Bartolo Colon (OAK) vs. Houston Astros (Bud Norris)
CBS Ownership: 14%
Yahoo Ownership: 4%
Legitimate questions surrounded Colon after last season's 50-game PED suspension tainted his late-career resurgence, but the big Dominican has been solid through two starts in 2013, posting a 4.15 ERA and 7/0 K/BB ratio in 13 IP. Facing an Astros squad that has struck out 113 times in eleven games, Colon will be backed by baseball’s highest-scoring offense and a patient lineup with the ability to exploit Bud Norris’ oft-times spotty command.
