Over the last two weeks, I provided you guys with two fantasy sleepers, outfielder Bryan De La Cruz and corner infielder Yander Diaz. If you haven’t checked out those articles, make sure to do so before your drafts so that you can gain an edge over your competition. This week, I decided that I would share two of my favorite fantasy sleeper starting pitchers this season. Both of them are veterans who put together strong 2022 seasons to re-establish themselves as some of the craftier veterans in the game. This week’s two fantasy sleeper starting pitchers are Martin Perez of the Texas Rangers and Jose Quintana of the New York Mets.

Martin Perez

Martin Perez was a spectacle in 2022. He signed a one-year, $4 million deal with the rangers and solidified a spot in their rotation, but who knew he would end up being the ace? The Rangers expected to get similar production to what his career had suggested, averaging a 4.71 ERA, 1.48 WHIP, and 96 ERA+ across his career. What they got instead was the best version of Martin Perez, who threw for a near career-high 196.1 innings in 32 starts, sporting career highs with a 2.89 ERA, 169 strike-outs, 1.258 WHIP, and 136 ERA+. At 31, it was his first All-Star appearance and he deserved it.

That being said, fantasy owners aren’t trusting Perez to continue pitching in 2023 with as much success as he had in 2022. They are letting him slide down deep on draft boards this season. As of March 2nd, the FantasyPros Fantasy Baseball Average Draft Position list shows Martin Perez is being drafted around the 290th pick, as the 85th Starting Pitcher. Take advantage of this in your drafts because there are two main reasons why I believe Martin Perez will continue to pitch at an efficient level and yet again become one of the top fantasy sleeper starting pitchers this season. Here they are:

A Change in Pitch Mix

Perez has gone through many changes with the use of his arsenal throughout his career. Over the last three years before the 2022 season, Perez mainly worked with his cutter, sinker, and change-up. His cutter always led the way in usage, but he couldn’t find the right secondary pitches to complement it. In 2022, Perez decided to make his cutter a secondary offering and it worked magnificently. Perez threw his sinker the most with his change-up working off of that as his primary two pitches. He was able to find tremendous success, having a career-high in sinker strikeouts, and his change-up having his lowest WOBA allowed since 2016. His cutter, now a complementary pitch and having the lowest usage rate of his career, racked up a career-high 58 strikeouts. Goes to show how much pitch-mix can make a difference.

Staying Off Home Plate

In fantasy baseball, we know how important it is to keep the ball in the park and keep runners from reaching home plate. Those are some of the main goals for pitchers today and Martin Perez is one of the best at doing it. In 2022, Martin Perez allowed a minuscule 0.5 Home Runs through nine, which was third in the MLB, tied for first in the American League with All-Star Framber Valdez, and was higher than some of the best in the league like All-Star Carlos Rodon, 2022 National League Cy Young runner up Max Fried, and 2022 National League Cy Young winner Sandy Alcantara.

Perez also finished 23rd in Left On-Base Percentage at 77.8 Percent, being above names like All-Star Gerrit Cole, Luis Castillo, and All-Star and former 2021 NL Cy Young winner Corbin Burnes. It’s good to know that Martin Perez is one of the best at keeping the opponents off of home plate.

Why Are Owners Sleeping on Perez?

Perez had a career year last year, and it was by far his best season. That is something to be wary of, but I promise you it was not a fluke. Obviously, this year teams will have a better idea of what Perez will be attacking hitters with this season, but the reason I believe in Martin Perez as a sleeper is because of the signs showing that if he faces some regression, he will still be able to pitch innings, put up good fantasy numbers, and keep the ball out of the stands if he stays healthy.

Another variable this year is the shift ban, which might affect ground ball pitchers. Martin Perez had a shift on for 64.7 percent of his lefty at-bats and 16.2 percent of his righty at-bats last season, so we would have to hope that his ground balls can stay within range of his infielders who combined for negative three runs saved in 2022.

Jose Quintana

At 34 years old, the veteran put together one of the best seasons of his career, proving that he still has some gas left in the tank. In the 2022 season, Jose Quintana threw 165.2 innings, his most since 2019. If you take any of the seasons in his career where he threw at or above that amount of innings, he had his lowest ERA at 2.93, second lowest WHIP at 1.213, lowest earned runs at 54, and highest ERA+ at 137. After he got traded to the St. Louis Cardinals at the 2022 trade deadline, Quintana finished out the season in St. Louis pitching to a 2.01 ERA, 1.117 WHIP, and 191 ERA+, while allowing just one homerun through 62.2 innings across 12 starts. He finished out the season on a dominant note.

But yet again, fantasy owners are taking his success last year for granted. As of March 2nd, Fantasy Pros 2023 Average Draft Position List has Quintana going past the 330th pick in drafts as the 99th overall starting pitcher. Quintana obviously shouldn’t be considered a top option in your fantasy rotations, but with his value being so low right now you can capitalize on it to have a strong rotation from top to bottom in 2023. Although some may doubt his successes last year, here’s why he should continue pitching successfully, and solidify himself as one of 2023’s fantasy sleeper starting pitchers:

Change in Barrel Percentage

Jose Quintana finished the 2022 season top-46 in barrel percentage out of all starting/relief pitchers, with a 5.5 barrel percentage. It was a -6.4 percent change from his 2021 number, which brought it back to his yearly averages from earlier in his prime. This shows us that he found a way to be effective again with his pitches, leading to insignificant contact. Especially with his four-seam fastball and curveball, which combined for a -27 run value, by far his highest mark in the past five years.

Fielding Independent Pitching

Fielding Independent Pitching (FIP) is a statistic for pitchers that has been catching popularity over the past few years. FIP does a great job showing how a pitcher performs related to the only outcomes he, himself, can control. These would be strikeouts, unintentional walks, hit-by-pitches, and home runs. In 2022, Quintana finished tenth overall in the MLB, placing above big names like Shane McClanahan, Zac Gallen, Dylan Cease, Logan Webb, and yet again the 2022 NL Cy Young Sandy Alcantara. When Quintana is on the mound, you know he is going to do his job.

Why Sleep on Quintana?

After seeing where Quintana is landing in drafts, it is obvious that fantasy owners think Quintana is a risk not worth taking this season. I beg to differ, but there are a few reasons why I can understand where they are coming from. To start, Quintana is 34 years old and that is nothing to be excited about, he is in the back half of his career, so his body is going to have to keep up.

Quintana is now pitching with the New York Mets in the NL East, which is more challenging than the NL Central last year, as the NL Central had 36 fewer wins last year than the NL East. The Phillies and Braves are gearing up for another run at the World Series, so it will be tough to start Quintana against those teams down the road.

Lastly, Quintana also has only worked with a four-pitch mix throughout his career, and if he loses any velocity this season and the efficiency of his fastball goes down, who knows how bad the outcomes can be? But don’t let that power over all the good about Quintana, he is an established veteran at his position, and the fact that he put together an amazing season last year, and got better as it went on, should show you he can bring that success into 2023.

Spring training is well on its way! I will be putting out more sleeper picks in the coming weeks and helping y’all win your leagues this season. Make sure to check out other articles on BellyUpFantasy, or check out our main page BellyUpSports. Also please check out and give us a follow on our BellyUpSports and BellyUpFantasy Twitter, as well as my own! Thank You!