Top fantasy baseball starting pitcher waiver pickups for Week 8

Another week, two more top-100 prospects making their debuts on a Major League mound. This time it was all-world righty Eury Perez as well as top Pirates farmhand Luis Ortiz, both of whom showed off some serious velocity and strikeout potential. The starting pitching picture seems to shift every day, so here are four waiver wire targets to help you stay on top of things.

Fantasy baseball waiver wire: Week 8 starting pitcher targets

Eury Perez, SP, Miami Marlins

Roster percentage: 25.2%

Sure, Perez’s first MLB start against the Cincinnati Reds didn’t go exactly as planned — with two runs allowed on four hits and two walks in 4.2 innings pitched — but don’t despair. The righty also fanned seven, and his stuff looked every bit as electric as advertised. He was a top-10 prospect for a reason, and he has as much upside as anyone feasibly on the waiver wire right now. He should be snatched up in every league.

Reid Detmers, SP, Los Angeles Angels

Roster percentage: 31.5%

Detmers’ season-long numbers don’t jump off the page, with a 4.89 ERA and 1.51 WHIP so far this season. But the lefty’s expected ERA is nearly a full run lower, and his K rate and whiff rate are both well above average. The 23-year-old’s slider has emerged as a legit out pitch, and he’s already begun to deemphasize his fastball in favor of that slider and curve — which should allow him to take off this summer. Bet on his first-round talent.

Ranger Suarez, SP, Philadelphia Phillies

Roster percentage: 26.9%

Throw out Suarez’s rough start from Saturday — it was his season debut after an elbow injury sidetracked his spring, and it was at Coors Field. The lefty as great in 13 starts down the stretch last year, and is just a couple years removed from a 1.36 over 106 innings. His sinker remains a ground-ball machine, and once he knocks off the rust, he should be able to chew up innings and pick up wins for a solid Phillies team.

Luis Ortiz, SP, Pittsburgh Pirates

Roster percentage: 1.5%

Yes, somehow there’s yet another top prospect who made his MLB debut this year. Ortiz boasts a fastball that can touch triple-digits, and with Vince Velasquez out he should get every shot at locking down a spot in Pittsburgh’s starting rotation. He used that fastball to post a 4.50 ERA and 17 strikeouts in 16 innings in his first taste of the Majors last year, and while there are concerns about his command and his lack of a real third pitch, heaters like this don’t come around very often: