Sneaky Fantasy Baseball Waiver Wire Pickups, Buys: Week 17 - Hot Pitchers To Sustain Success?

July 21, 2026

Joey looks at three sneaky fantasy baseball waiver wire pickups for starting pitchers in Week 17 (2026) on hot streaks, and sees if they can sustain their success.

Welcome, RotoBallers, to another edition of our Sneaky Starting Pitcher Waiver Wire Column for Week 17 of the fantasy baseball season. Each week of the fantasy baseball season, we look at three pitchers who are firing on all cylinders and determine whether these pitchers can sustain their recent success.

For this week, we will look at three pitchers who fit that mold. All three of these pitchers are rostered in under 45% of Yahoo! leagues and have thrown the ball well recently. This list includes a pitcher slowly returning to form, a young right-hander who is throwing the ball harder, and a rookie who could be here to stay.

Let's dive into three pitchers and determine what to do with them in Week 17 of the fantasy baseball season.

Landen Roupp, San Francisco Giants

43% Rostered (Yahoo)

San Francisco Giants starting pitcher Landen Roupp made a strong impression to begin the 2026 season. He had a 2.55 ERA and a 27% strikeout rate in his first six outings. This stretch included Roupp throwing six shutout innings with seven strikeouts in his first start of the year and five innings of one-run ball with seven strikeouts against the Dodgers on April 21.

Then, the calendar flipped to May, and Roupp looked like a completely different pitcher. The 27-year-old had a whopping 5.87 ERA and a 25.4% strikeout rate across 11 starts from May 1 to June 30. He went 0-7 and allowed at least four runs in six of those 11 outings. This rough stretch saw his rostership drop to under 40% in Yahoo! leagues.

But Roupp is starting to come back into form again. He has thrown the ball well in his two starts in July and is now in a massive groove on the mound. The Giants right-hander threw eight innings of one-run ball with five strikeouts against the Blue Jays on July 6 and threw seven shutout innings with two strikeouts against the Mariners in his most recent outing on July 17.

Although these two outings came against two bottom-5 offenses in the Blue Jays and Mariners, it shouldn't take away from how impressive Roupp was in these two starts. He attacked the strike zone, went deep in both games, and was in pure control. Allowing just one run in his last 15 innings of work shows that he could be turning a corner on the mound.

The biggest difference for Roupp during this two-start stretch has been the decrease in his fastball usage and the increase in his cutter usage. After throwing his fastball 7.6% of the time in June, his fastball usage is down to 4% in July. He has basically replaced that fastball usage with more cutters, as his cutter usage is up 4.5% this month.

The Giants are obviously trying to play with Roupp's arsenal a bit. His cutter is being thrown to both righties and lefties, which is giving him a third pitch against righties and a fourth pitch to lefties. That cutter has also been his best swing-and-miss stuff through two July starts, as opposing hitters have a 26.3% whiff rate.

Outside of that slight change, there really isn't any other difference. Roupp is still leaning on his sinker the most at 34.3%, and both his changeup (22.4%) and curveball (20.4%) continue to be his best two pitches. Opposing hitters are batting .186 with a .244 slugging percentage against his changeup and batting .194 with a .269 slugging percentage against his curveball.

Given that both his Breaking Run Value and Offspeed Run Value rank in the top 20% of the league, Roupp has the stuff to continue this hot stretch on the mound. He also gets another nice matchup against a Royals offense on Wednesday that ranks in the bottom 12 in runs scored per game. That's enough reason to scoop him off waivers.

Roki Sasaki, Los Angeles Dodgers

33% Rostered (Yahoo)

Earlier in the year, it looked like Los Angeles Dodgers starting pitcher Roki Sasaki was poised to break out. He had a solid 2.55 ERA and a 27.3% strikeout rate across six starts from May 2 to June 5. Some of his best outings during this stretch included throwing seven innings of one-run ball with eight strikeouts against the Angels on May 17 and seven shutout innings with 10 strikeouts against the Angels again on June 5.

However, Sasaki reverted to his old self soon after. The Japanese right-hander allowed seven runs on seven hits across 4 1/3 innings against the White Sox on June 12 and allowed six runs across three innings against the Padres on July 2. His 10.07 ERA across four starts from June 12 to July 2 confirmed that his breakout wasn't real.

That breakout, though, could be happening now. Sasaki has thrown the ball really well over his last two outings. He threw a quality start (three earned runs across six innings) against the Padres on July 8 and didn't allow an earned run across 5 2/3 innings against the Yankees in his most recent outing on July 17.

The reason this breakout could be happening now is due to Sasaki's increased fastball velocity. In that start against the Yankees last week, the 24-year-old averaged 100.1 mph on his four-seam fastball. He threw 21 pitches of at least 100+ mph (most by a Dodgers starter in the Statcast era) and induced 17 total whiffs in that outing.

For context, Sasaki's average fastball velocity is 97.7 mph this season. He only threw 16 pitches of at least 100+ mph in his first 16 starts before unleashing 21 pitches of at least 100+ mph last Friday. The Dodgers right-hander topped out at 101.8 mph in that start, and the Yankees couldn't touch him with that increased fastball velocity.

Rōki Sasaki with back-to-back 102mph Heaters...and ending the at-bat with a disgusting 89mph Slider. 😳 pic.twitter.com/LWk0GUhEap

— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) July 17, 2026

If this new-look Sasaki is consistently throwing harder moving forward, there is a real chance he breaks out in the second half. He regularly threw 98 to 100 mph back in Japan, and this increased velocity will make his splitter and slider that much more dangerous. Both his splitter and slider have whiff rates over 28% so far in the month of July.

While Sasaki isn't quite a must-add yet, he is someone fantasy managers should be keeping an eye on right now. Grabbing him and stashing him on your bench before his next start could be a smart move.

Zach Thornton, New York Mets

15% Rostered (Yahoo)

It has taken New York Mets starting pitcher Zach Thornton just three starts to be discussed as a potential waiver wire pickup. After allowing four earned runs across 4 1/3 innings against the Nationals in his MLB debut on May 20, Thornton has been lights out on the mound in his two Major League starts since then.

The southpaw was called up for a spot start on May 26 and threw six innings of one-run ball with seven strikeouts. He then spent the next few weeks at Triple-A before being summoned to pitch the first-half finale against the Red Sox on July 12. In that outing, Thornton threw seven scoreless innings with two hits allowed, two walks issued, and five strikeouts.

Zach Thornton was stellar in his third big league start 🤩

7.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 5 K pic.twitter.com/xTz06jzJYw

— Mets Player Development (@MetsPlayerDev) July 13, 2026

At this point, Thornton appears to have a spot in the rotation for the foreseeable future. He has allowed just one earned run in his last 13 innings pitched in the big leagues, and the Mets are expected to be big-time sellers at this year's trade deadline. That should keep the rookie in the rotation for the entire second half, considering both Freddy Peralta and Clay Holmes are potential trade candidates.

Unlike the other two pitchers on this list, it's hard to get a good read on Thornton's pitch mix because it has been all over the place in his three career starts. However, the potential is there for him to be a valuable fantasy pitcher down the stretch.

He primarily leans on his cutter and four-seam fastball to get ahead in the count. He'll then mix in a solid amount of sweepers as his primary offspeed pitch. Thornton will also occasionally throw his changeup to righties and throw a few sinkers to both left-handed and right-handed batters. The 24-year-old really thrives on his fastball-heavy usage.

Thornton might have the biggest upside of the three pitchers featured on this list. He has two pitches with over a 24% whiff rate (cutter and sweeper) and has five different pitchers with at least a 20% putaway rate (cutter, sweeper, four-seam fastball, sinker, and changeup). Having five different pitchers to go to in two-strike counts has kept hitters off balance at the plate.

Now, there are obviously some concerns about Thornton moving forward. He doesn't throw very hard (92.1 mph fastball velocity), has an 8.5% barrel rate, and is allowing a lot of contact in the air on the pullside (23.4%). His numbers at Triple-A this season also haven't been great. The Mets left-hander had a 4.30 ERA, a 48.1% hard-hit rate, and a 10.4% barrel rate.

Despite all that, Thornton is still worth a look in some 15+ team leagues. He continues to attack the strike zone, has around a league-average swinging strike rate (11.3%), an above-average 7.5% walk rate, and a strong 34.1% chase rate. The stuff is there for the Mets southpaw to be a consistent fantasy option in the final two months.

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