When digging deep into preparation for upcoming drafts, late-round pitchers can have some of the best upside in regards to return on value. With that said, lets return to the mound to find riches as we inch closer to Opening Day

Just like in the kitchen, preparation is key to successfully mastering your fantasy draft, with one of the main ingredients being finding value in the later rounds. In most cases we call these players "sleepers," but not all of these players are fresh faces that we have never seen before. In fact, the majority of the players we find in the later rounds we fine aging veterans on the decline, players returning from injury or players who have been up and down between the minor and majors still trying to find a permanent home. Whatever the case may be, these are the players that could be the difference in bringing home the trophy come September. 

Since the term "deep sleeper" can mean a lot of different things, all players discussed in this series will hold an average draft position (ADP) of 250 or higher based off the most recent mock draft results of Fantasy Alarm's own Howard Bender and the Mock Draft Army. If you haven't checked out the Mock Draft Arm series,, be sure to give it a look as Howard continues to assemble some really good ADP information based on a series of mock drafts featuring experts from throughout the industry and fans alike. Now that we laid out the ground rules let's get cookin'...

Wily Peralta, SP (MIL)

Mock Draft Army ADP: 276.8

Fresh off a breakout 17-win season, Peralta has now solidified himself as a legitimate big league pitcher at the age of 25. Despite his solid 2014 campaign the Brewers' hard-throwing righty isn't receiving much love from the mock draft community as he sits as a late-round flier come draft day, which could give fantasy owners a significant return on investment if he is able to duplicate last year's performance, 

Through 198.2 innings in 2014, Peralta finished 17-11 with a 3.53 ERA, 1.30 WHIP and a 6.98 K/9, but his 4.11 FIP suggested that the Brewers hurler may not have pitched as good as you think. For starters, he gave up a lot of fly balls, as he induced 53.6 percent grounds balls when on the mound. When facing big league hitters, fly balls turn into home runs and Peralta certainly gave up his far share a season ago.

Playing in hitter-friendly ballparks on most occasions certainly didn't favor this fly ball pitcher, as Peralta finished among the league-leaders in home runs allowed, giving up 23 round-trippers a season ago. He was one of three Brewers starting pitchers that allowed more than 20 home runs to the opposition. His inability to keep the ball down, led to a 1.0 HR/9 and a 9.6 home run to fly ball percentage which was also among the league's worst.

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Clearly there are some issues in Peralta's approach on the mound, but the fact that he seemed to always find a way to win says something about him. He was able to shake off a lot of misfortunes and keep himself and the Brewers in games on most occasions. With that said, even at his worst he is still worth a look in the later rounds knowing that his deficiencies a season ago can also be attributed to a string of bad luck. If he is able to find a way to increase his ground ball rate in 2015, he will be able to take his fantasy game to the next level, but until we see that on the field his benchmark for next season is what he gave us in his breakout campaign and nothing more. 

For now, Peralta is a solid pitcher to round out a staff in all but the shallowest of league formats and considering his current ADP, it doesn't appear like anyone will have to pay top dollar for him. As long as the long ball doesn't come back and haunt him like a season ago, there is certainly some value to be had in the middle of the Brewers starting rotation.