Fantasy Baseball 2013: Sleepers

Fantasy Baseball 2013: Sleepers

[caption id="attachment_16187" align="alignleft" width="273"] Sleeper Alert: Brewers C Jonathan Lucroy[/caption]

The co-hosts of the RotoInfo.com Fantasy Baseball "Box Score Baseball"podcast combine forces to provide you with a slew of Fantasy Baseball insight. In this article the fellas provide you with a few players who are being undervalued, and have a great chance to outperform their current ADP. (Items in blue/purple are links).

Be sure to check out our Sleeper Chart at the bottom where  we provide one sleeper pick for each position.

Michael Pichan's Sleepers:

Reds 3B/1B/OF Todd Frazier

Lost in all the Mike Trout/Bryce Harper hoopla last season was the emergence of another rookie, Todd Frazier. Frazier was giving Harper a run for his money for NL rookie of the year, before Harper went crazy at the end of the season (Harper had the highest WAR the last 30 days of the season, of any MLB player). Now with Scott Rolen out of the picture, Todd Frazier will be the Reds everyday third baseman in 2013, and is eligible at first base and outfield in some leagues. Frazier’s full-time status, combined with positional flexibility and extremely hitter friendly home ballpark give him some some added value that many players at his average draft position (ADP) don’t offer. As of the beginning of March, Frazier’s ADP in Yahoo! leagues was a ridiculously low 199 (18th RD). With all that Frazier offers don’t be afraid to draft him in the early teen rounds, he should still offer a great return on that value.

Mariners 1B Justin Smoak

Mariners manager Eric Wedge came out early in spring training and said that Smoak will be Seattle’s starting first baseman to begin the season. Many Fantasy Owners may have given up hope on Justin Smoak, and thus may have missed the great end of the season he put together last year. Whatever adjustments Smoak made last season really paid off the last 30 days of the season as Smoak batted .351 with a .436 OBP and five home runs. Equally impressive was that Smoak’s BB% equaled his K% at 13.5% during the last 30 days of 2012. Add this all up with the new Safeco Field dimensions, which are predicted to make Smoak’s home ballpark a much more hitter friendly park, and you a formula for improved success for Smoak this season.

 

Rockies SS/2B Josh Rutledge

Rutledge burst onto Fantasy Owners Radar last season when he got called up in the middle of July and went on a tear hitting .381 with three home runs and four stolen bases in his first 16 games. Rutledge finished the season with a respectable .274 average, eight home runs, 37 runs and RBI and a perfect seven for seven in stolen base attempts. Rutledge struggled some in the last month of the season, which should be expected for most rookies. I believe Rutledge’s end of the season struggles had more to do with it being his first taste of the big leagues and the demands that come with playing everyday, then anything else. (Rutledge played in 160 games combined between Double-A and the big leagues last season).

Wayne Bretsky's Sleepers:

 

Brewers C Jonathan Lucroy

Lucroy overcame a broken hand mid-season to put up a stellar year for the Brewers and fantasy owners alike, posting a dandy .320/.368/.513 slash line over 316 at-bats. Lucroy showed solid progress at the plate slashing his walk rate by nearly 50 compared to the previous season while hitting the same amount of home runs (12) in 122 fewer at-bats. Lucroy looks to be a solid bet for 15+ home runs, a strong average and decent counting stats given a full complement of at-bats.

 

Nationals 1B Adam LaRoche -

Despite putting up a career year in 2013 with 33 long balls and 100 RBI, LaRoche still is not getting the draft-day love he deserves. The exciting young crop of rising first baseman has pushed some of the less sexy veterans at the position way down early draft boards. The investment in Ryan Howard, Paul Konerko and Mark Teixeira comes at a steep discount this season compared to previous campaigns and with an ADP current checking in close to 150, Adam LaRoche joins that group of undervalued vets as well.

 

Orioles SS J.J. Hardy

Over the past three seasons, J.J. Hardy’s 58 home runs ranks second among major league shortstops even with his abbreviated seasons in 2010 and 2011.  Since 2007, Hardy has averaged 25 home runs per 162 games a rock solid numbers at a typically light hitting position. J.J. doesn’t offer much average upside, and hasn’t stolen a base since the Reagan administrations, but the Orioles slick fielding shortstop is the premiere power option at his positions. Though Hardy struggles to stay on the field at times, he’s a solid bet to top the 20-home run mark even with a DL-stint in there.

 

Rays 3B Evan Longoria

Not your typical sleeper to say the least. Longo is perhaps the most pedigreed super-star that we will be able to call a “sleeper” heading into this season. At the moment he’s sitting with an early-3rd round ADP and its quite easy to see the stat that is influencing that data: 117. That would be the number of games the 27-year-old has missed over the past two seasons. Still, there is no denying the skills that made him the No. 3 overall selection of the 2006 amateur draft and have paved the way to a dynamic .276-97-34-116-10 5x5 line per 162 games over his the first five seasons of his career. If you can stomach the injury risk, Longoria makes a solid pick in the mid-2nd round and is an absolute steal in round 3 or later.

 

Here are a few more sleepers, at each position, apart from the players we highlighted in more detail above and in our “Deep Sleeper” section:

Post your thoughts in the comments section below and remember, to keep up with all player news, all the time, be sure to bookmark RotoInfo.com and follow them on twitter @RotoInfo_com and follow Wayne here: @BretskyBall and Michael here:@FantasyNomad

Be sure to check out the new "Fantasy Recommendations" that now come attached to Player News items, which will help you make sense of how the player news effects your Fantasy decision making.

 

Link to iTunes: Box Score Baseball Podcast