Fantasy Baseball 2021: Best Sleepers to Pick Up for MLB Week 9

The bottom of the Major League Baseball standings is a gold mine for fantasy baseball sleepers. 

Not many people are paying attention to the last-place Detroit Tigers and Pittsburgh Pirates, so a few streaking players may not be on the radar of people in your fantasy baseball leagues. 

Detroit's Eric Haase and Pittsburgh's Bryan Reynolds have swung the bat well in the last week, and their consistency is enough to warrant an addition off the waiver wire. 

The Colorado Rockies are not in last place, but they are one of six teams with fewer than 20 wins entering Wednesday.

The low win total and fourth-place position in the National League West may lead you away from the Colorado pitching staff, but one young arm could be worth an add. 

We can't blame you if you have not heard of Eric Haase, so let us introduce you to a potential waiver-wire steal. 

The Detroit catcher reached base safely in six of his last eight games, and he scored on three occasions during that streak.

Haase is not going to bring a ton of power to the catcher position, but if he continues to get on base, he could be a good second option, or a fill-in for J.T. Realmuto while he is on the 10-day injured list. 

Even though the power is not there, Haase is putting the ball in play and avoiding a massive run-up of strikeouts. 

Since arriving in the Detroit lineup on May 13, Haase struck out on 12 occasions in 38 at-bats, and he only fanned multiple times in three contests. 

If anything, Haase could be used as a streaming option until his bat goes cold, or injured catchers, like Realmuto, get back to full strength. 

Reynolds has had one of the better bats in the majors in the last week.

The Pittsburgh outfielder put up a pair of multi-hit games, scored twice and produced 11 total bases since May 19. 

In May, Reynolds has a .307 batting average, .381 on-base percentage and a .520 slugging percentage, all of which are above his season splits. 

Reynolds has better splits against left-handed pitchers, but the difference between those stats and the ones versus right-handed hurlers is not drastic. 

The 26-year-old has a .373 average, .429 on-base percentage, .667 on-base percentage and 1.095 OPS versus lefties. He owns a .254/.361/.368/.729 slash line versus righties over 63 more at-bats. 

Reynolds has two favorable matchups ahead with the Chicago Cubs against Trevor Williams and Kyle Hendricks, who both have ERAs over 4.50.

Pittsburgh then has a weekend slate at home with the Colorado Rockies, who have a 4.78 staff ERA—0.11 better than the Pirates. 

With two below-average pitching staffs on the diamond, Reynolds and the other hitters in that matchup could thrive over three days.

Austin Gomber has done his best to improve Colorado's poor staff ERA.

The left-handed starter conceded three earned runs in his last three starts. He gave up two earned runs on four hits in Monday's win over the New York Mets. 

In addition to the low run concession, Gomber has been consistent with his strikeout power. He has at least six punchouts in his last four appearances. 

Gomber should make his second straight start away from Coors Field on Saturday against Pittsburgh, which ranks 25th in team batting average. 

While the Pirates have some nice pieces in Reynolds and Adam Frazier, they have not been strong as a team at the dish.

If Gomber is lucky, his start after Pittsburgh could come against the Texas Rangers, who have the fifth-highest strikeout total in the majors. 

If anything, Gomber is worth adding as a streaming option to end the week if you need help in ERA and strikeouts. 

Follow Joe on Twitter, @JTansey90

Statistics obtained from MLB.com