Spring training injuries can severely alter draft day preparations, but are often taken too far in regards to players who are not facing season-ending stints on the disabled list. Although players like this may not help you right away, in a season in which there are 162 games played, it is sometimes wise to stash through who are being overlooked based on an injury or current playing time issues. 

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'...


Mike Minor, SP (ATL)

Mock Draft Army ADP: 268.0 ADP

The Braves received bad news once camp broke in February as their most seasoned starting pitcher when down with shoulder soreness. However, the injury was evaluated by Dr. James Andrews, who determined that there wasn't any further structural damage which would have been enough to put a fork in him for the 2015 season if there had been. Since going down with the injury, Minor has been able to begin a rehab assignment which has him throwing from 50 feet, which puts him on track for a return at some point in May, but is he worth stashing come draft day?

Depending on your league format, there are reasons to think Minor could be worthy of a roster spot where there are designated disabled list slots, which would not eat up an active roster spot until he returned to action. As far as his production is concerned, there is reason to believe that he will be able to bounce back from his career-worst 2014 season in which he posted a 6-12 record with a 4.77 ERA and 1.44 WHIP over 145.1 innings (25 starts). The biggest issue between starting a bounce back season is clearly his health, but there are a few things that will need to be fixed before deeming him fantasy relevant once again. 

Minor has always been a fly ball pitcher, owning a 0.63 ground ball-to-fly ball rate which was at its worst a season ago when he posted a career-high 0.75 in that category. If he is unable to keep the ball down in the zone, which could be the case coming off of a shoulder injury, we can expect to see similar results in both home runs allowed and a rising walk rate which have plagued him two of the last three seasons. Despite the lack of production a season ago, we can't forget that he is just two seasons removed from posting a 13-9 record with a 3.21 ERA and 1.09 WHIP while owning a 7.96 K/9 making him one of the rising young pitchers in all of baseball. 

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On the plus-side, Minor will enter the 2015 season at the age of 27, which is a make or break point in some pitchers careers as they start to enter their prime. If he wants to take that next step he will certainly have to work on those key areas, although even if his season ends up like 2014 his current ADP is still rather low for what this southpaw could bring to the table if he can turn things around once back from injury. Although I am suggesting targeting Minor in the later rounds this season, by no means do I think he will be a top of the rotation-type player like he appeared to be molding into before his derailment. Take him for what he is: a solid No. 4 pitcher that has the upside to anchor both low ERA and WHIP categories if he puts it all together. 

Those in shallow leagues will likely want to avoid drafting him, considering there are going to be healthier alternatives to target on the waiver wire that can help right away, but worthy of a watch list stash as he prepares to make his comeback. On the flip side, deep league players will definitely want to add his services on draft day as late round pitching becomes a real crap shoot when dealing with both aging veterans and prospects rounds 20 and beyond. Again, all this depends on his health, which looks like it could go either way at this point.