Fantasy baseball: 4 SP sleepers to draft late after Gerrit Cole, Lucas Giolito and Justin Verlander injuries

No 1: Cole Ragans, Kansas City Royals

When the Kansas City Royals acquired Cole Ragans in mid-June from the Rangers in the Aroldis Chapman trade, it wasn't more than a blip across the majors. He'd made 17 relief appearances for Texas with an unsightly 5.92 ERA. So what, right?

The Royals sent him to the minors to stretch him back into starting pitcher form. They brought back up in mid-July for one start then sent him back down until early August. From that point on he was lights out.

In his 12 starts for KC, he accumulated an ERA of 2.64 and a WHIP of 1.074. He struck out 89 in 71.2 innings. He pitched like an ace down the stretch, but it went fairly unnoticed because the Royals were on their way to a 106-loss season.

Kansas City added veterans Seth Lugo and Michael Wacha to their rotation, so it won't be up to Ragans to carry the whole load for the rotation. Because he plays for the Royals, and because of the bigger name veterans added, he might fly under the radar in a lot of drafts, but he could pay off big in the end.