We’re right in the middle of spring training, and although there are a lot more games to play in Arizona and Florida, it’s officially fantasy baseball prep season.
Let’s start with some sleepers you can get at a discount in your draft, specifically among pitchers (we already gave you some names of sleeper hitters).
It appears that quality starting pitching has become a premium in fantasy. Between innings limits on young arms, increased use of bullpens and some teams using “openers” to pitch, you’ll see some big names in the first two rounds of drafts … and that might not be the worst strategy.
That said, there are still values to be had in the later part of your draft. Here are a few (all ADPs courtesy of FantasyPros)
1. SP Adrian Houser, Milwaukee Brewers
ADP: 265
The key stat you should look for late is strikeouts, and Houser had 116 in 111 innings last year while putting up a respectable 3.72 ERA.
2. SP Josh James, Houston Astros
ADP: 317
Remember what I just said? Dude whiffed 100 batters in just 61.1 innings last year. The hope is the ERA and WHIP will drop, and at this price, that’s not too risky.
3. SP Brendan McKay, Tampa Bay Rays
ADP: 305
One of the top prospects in baseball wasn’t great in his debut last year. But that just means you should draft him late in the hopes he’ll start living up to the hype.
4. SP Mitch Keller, Pittsburgh Pirates
ADP: 266
Another former big-name prospect who had a really rough debut (7.13 ERA in 2019).
5. SP Mike Fiers, Oakland A’s
ADP: 273
When you run out of high-strikeout options, how about a guy who has totaled a sub-4.00 ERA in each of his last two seasons? That seems useful!
6. SP Aaron Civale, Cleveland Indians
With Mike Clevinger out to start the year, there’s room in the rotation for the pitcher who ended up with a 2.34 ERA and 1.04 WHIP in 10 games last season.
7. SP Dylan Cease, Chicago White Sox
ADP: 379
Ignore the first-year numbers. The team around him could be better and the home runs he gave up could come down.
8. RP Giovanny Gallegos, St. Louis Cardinals
ADP: 195
You’ll notice I don’t have a lot of relievers listed here, but because I tend to take the ones no one else wants late. And the hard-throwing Gallegos might not even start off as the closer with the Cards. But you could end up with one of the best finishers in baseball if he repeats what he did last year (93 Ks, 2.31 ERA, 0.81 WHIP) and gets the role by the All-Star break.
9. SP Dylan Bundy, Los Angeles Angels
ADP: 237
Is he fantasy kryptonite because of all those years in Baltimore? Understandable. But he gets a new start in Los Angeles, and that could be worth a lot, especially when you’re taking him late.
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