Fantasy Baseball Sleepers 2012: Undervalued Pitchers You Must Target Late

Every season there are a handful of starting pitchers who go undrafted only to become hot waiver-wire commodities after one or two strong starts. Fantasy baseball owners that get ahead of the curve and select those sleepers in the late rounds give themselves a massive advantage.

Here are three underrated starting pitchers to target late on draft day. They could very well turn out to be key pieces of a championship squad.

Jair Jurrjens

It's easy to forget Jurrjens had a strong case to start last season's All-Star Game because his season went downhill shortly thereafter. He posted a sparkling 1.87 ERA before the break and, while that number wasn't sustainable, he isn't nearly as bad as his second half would suggest.

He enters Spring Training healthy after various injuries derailed his momentum, including a bothersome knee that acted up. Maintaining that clean bill of health will be the most important thing for him in 2012. When he's fit to pitch, he's pretty darn good.

Jurrjens is never going to be a huge strikeout pitcher, but he should help in the other fantasy categories. If the Atlanta Braves offense produces more consistently than last season, he'll have a terrific season.

Jake Peavy

Peavy was one of the most unlucky pitchers in all of baseball last season. The difference between his ERA and FIP, which is an ERA estimator that takes defense out of play, was 1.7 runs. That's an extremely high number.

It means his stats should be a lot more reasonable this season assuming lady luck starts treating him better. His strikeout numbers continue to be solid despite improving his control to a career-low walk rate below two per nine.

Various ailments have held Peavy back in the back, but he's feeling good during the early going of camp and has the potential to be a fantasy stud this season.

Wandy Rodriguez

Rodriguez is constantly undervalued by fantasy outlets because he plays for the Houston Astros, which obviously limits his win potential. He produces such good numbers in the other areas, however, that he's still worth picking in the late rounds.

His ERA hasn't been higher than 3.60 in any of the past four seasons, and the only reason it wasn't better last season (3.49) was due to an inflated home run rate. He was a late bloomer, which makes him somewhat of a young 33, so owners don't have to worry about age-related regression quite yet.

Ignore the name of the front of his jersey and take him based purely on his stats. He'll provide much better value than where he's being drafted in most early leagues, which is the 16th round in ESPN standard leagues.