Starts: July 23rd at New York Mets, July 29th vs. Arizona Diamondbacks
ESPN ownership: 5.3%

San Diego Padres southpaw Eric Lauer is seemingly one of the very few rookie pitchers who hasn't taken the MLB by storm over the season's first half. Considering the young lefty's 4.87 ERA and 4.53 FIP over his first 77.2 MLB frames, the lack of enthusiasm is understandable.

Still, Lauer's wide availability makes him a decent fallback option for deep leaguers in a pinch this week. The 23-year-old takes the bump against two offenses that rank bottom eight in the MLB in terms of group ISO against lefties over the last month. The Mets matchup seems particularly juicy: New York sports a hair-raising 28.1% team strikeout rate against southpaws in the last 30 days. Perhaps Lauer, who carries a modest 18.6% strikeout rate into Week 17's action, can reclaim some of the strikeout upside that distinguished him in the low minors.