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By now you may be familiar with my Sleepers and my Breakouts. They depict the players that I'd like to draft in an idealized world where I'm not confined by turn order, nor by my opponents' whims, nor by the choices I made earlier in the draft.
But I'm living in the real world, and sometimes in the real world, you just have to take what comes to you. You just have to meet the need. You just have to accept the discount. You just have to make the most of whatever you're presented with.
It stands to reason, then, that what I'd like to do and what I actually do aren't always in complete agreement. And while articles like my Sleepers, my Breakouts and, well, most anything I put out this time of year are meant to address the former, this one reflects the latter.
Below are the 26 players I've drafted the most, each belonging to at least three of the 11 teams that I've put together so far (with three more to go). These drafts encompass a variety of formats, and that's often the determinant for drafting a particular player. But sometimes it's just luck of the draw, and I'll be the first to admit that some of these names I didn't see coming.
Players I keep drafting
Even in shallower leagues that don't quite make it to his ADP, I refuse to let Kris Bubic go undrafted, but it's clear to me that nobody else is quite as taken by his move to the starting rotation. That's the role where we first got a glimpse of his new and improved arsenal prior to Tommy John surgery in 2023, and his relief work last year offered proof of concept, yielding a 2.67 ERA, 1.02 WHIP and 11.2 K/9.
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I've thought Jurickson Profar was undervalued this whole time, and just when it seemed like his stock was beginning to climb due to his placement in the Braves lineup, he suffered a wrist injury that turned out to be not as serious as it first appeared. Not only that, but his skill set is particularly well suited Head-to-Head points leagues, given the high walk rate and low strikeouts rate, and that's the format where I'm most invested in him.
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Whether it's for the relief pitcher eligibility in Head-to-Head points or the much-needed WHIP help in 5x5 categories, I've found Nick Martinez to be the perfect choice to round out my pitching staff. Some may be fearful that he'll shift back to the bullpen or that his newfound control turns out to be just a one-year thing, but the Reds so valued him as a member of their rotation that they presented him with a qualifying offer this offseason, which he accepted for $21.05 million.
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At first, I think people were scared away by the .224 batting average, which was an outlier for Brandon Nimmo. His stock tanked further because of an early bout with knee inflammation, which never seemed like a serious threat to his availability. Like Profar, Nimmo is a points league standout, but I also think there's five-category potential and have happily accepted the discount in both formats.
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OK, so to be fair, I haven't drafted Cody Bradford since he came down with the elbow soreness that will likely sideline him for the first quarter of the season, and I wouldn't recommend you draft him now. But in leagues where I already have him, as long as there's an available IL spot, I'm holding. I still think he's going to be a WHIP darling and a strong performer overall with a profile not so dissimilar to Bailey Ober.
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Ozzie Albies isn't a player I've deliberately targeted, but when he lasts 60 picks into a draft, I have a hard time saying no. What I consider to be his biggest strengths, durability and reliability, are flat-out denied by those who don't recognize that his time missed in recent years is almost entirely the result of broken bones -- i.e., freak occurrences. If his bones remain intact, he'll play every single game and put up the same huge counting stats he always has.
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Turns out I value underlying metrics more than top-line production, at least when it comes to up-and-comers like Dylan Crews, who I've come to believe has a considerable floor for a player mostly regarded as an upside play. He's already proven to be such a prolific base-stealer and so good at distinguishing balls from strikes that it's hard to see him being anything less than must-start, regardless of format, even if he doesn't meet the full extent of his upside.
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I've been treating Justin Steele as the ultimate fallback ace, his 3.07 ERA, 1.10 WHIP and 9.0 K/9 last year matching up almost exactly with those same numbers from his Cy Young-contending 2023 season. The biggest difference is that he won 53 percent of his starts the one year and 21 percent the next, but that's a matter of happenstance if he's performing the same otherwise.
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In deeper Rotisserie leagues, I'm always willing to scrape the bottom of the saves barrel to avoid paying up for that particularly volatile stat, so of course I'm heavily invested in Calvin Faucher, the sketchy closer front-runner for a bad team. In leagues where saves aren't so scarce, there's no reason to bother with him, but in leagues where they are, I wouldn't say he's much riskier than Alexis Diaz, who goes 130 picks earlier.
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I wasn't so drawn to Sean Murphy before he cracked a rib early in spring training, an injury that should cost him the first couple weeks of the season. That timetable isn't so daunting, yet he's been treated as radioactive in the same sort of two-catcher leagues where his upside is most deserving of a gamble.
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Did I mention I hate paying for saves? Mike Clevinger is another sketchy closer front-runner on a bad team, and the idea of a washed-up starter like him stepping into that high-leverage role is so unintelligible to the analytical minds dominating the Fantasy Baseball commentariat that he's basically free. So what do I have to lose? Saves are scarce, and he's looked good this spring.
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Even when it wasn't clear that Andy Pages would become the center fielder for the Dodgers, he seemed worthy of a late-round flier in five-outfielder leagues just in case he did. Now that he is, the jackpot potential of an up-and-coming slugger in that lineup should be obvious, yet the response remains muted.
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I was struggling to remember why I'm so invested in Bryce Harper. Was it an OBP league? Was I prioritizing first base early? Was it simply a matter of the price being right in an auction? One of each of those instances, it looks like.
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One of my three shares is in a Head-to-Head points league -- another case of the price being right in an auction -- but I'm more drawn to Austin Riley in Rotisserie leagues, where I still consider him to be a four-category monster. He's been discounted by a round following an injury-plagued 2024.
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Corey Seager has been a fixture here over the years, and I'm as well invested in him as ever. In Rotisserie leagues, he presents an opportunity to make up ground in batting average in Round 4, which is clutch for certain builds, and in Head-to-Head points, he might just be the best shortstop apart from Bobby Witt (not that he should be drafted that way).
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Who knew I was so into C.J. Abrams? Not me, but it turns out that in a couple of my Rotisserie auctions, he emerged as an economical way to meet my stolen base need. The price was right, in other words. My third share is in Tout Wars, where he slid 30 spots beyond ADP because it's an OBP league. I took advantage because I had a good foundation in that category already.
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Because I've judged the upper-middle class at starting pitcher to be an indiscernible mass of goodness -- i.e., "the good globe" -- I've tried to be undiscerning about which ones I get, and twice that's led me to get Aaron Nola, who likely fell due to ERA risk. I'm wary of that in Rotisserie as well, but I can make up for it with other picks. My third share is in a league that rewards volume, and Nola is perfect for that.
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I'm not a big fan of Steven Kwan for Roto, and notably, the one such league where I have him is AL-only, where batting average standouts are scarcer. His low strikeout rate makes him a sneaky standout in points leagues, though, and that's the second of my shares. The third is actually a sim league, where his on-base skills are of greater utility.
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I've noted on Fantasy Baseball Today that one of Frank, Chris, and I seems to come away with Jack Flaherty in every draft, with the rest of the Fantasy Baseball-playing world seemingly skeptical of his 2024 breakthrough. The team that initiated that breakthrough, though, is the one that paid up for him in free agency, and I think the Tigers represent Flaherty's best chance of approaching last year's 3.17 ERA, 1.07 WHIP and 10.8 K/9.
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The only surprise here is that I don't have more shares of Isaac Paredes, whose pull-heavy approach is so perfectly suited for the Astros' home park that I think he'll basically give them what they got from Alex Bregman the past couple years, which would be insane value in Fantasy as well. People who draft with me seem to know they have to push him up to get him -- and often do.
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While I always shoot for a star-studded lineup in Head-to-Head points leagues, where the limited number of hitter spots allows less room for differentiation, Jonathan India is my fallback second baseman in that format, and a couple of times, it's come to that. His walks make him more useful in there than in Roto, and for as unremarkable as his ratios are, he should make for a good compiler batting atop the Royals lineup.
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I grabbed my three shares of Grayson Rodriguez during that period when everyone seemed fearful that his elbow inflammation diagnosis would be the thread that unraveled his entire season. Now that he's resumed throwing already, the panic has died down, but I'd say the reward is still worth the risk in the 250 range.
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In deeper Rotisserie leagues where saves are scarce, speculating on could-be closers who can help with ratios in the meantime is a more cost-effective way to approach the category. Favorites like Lucas Erceg, A.J. Puk, Porter Hodge and Griffin Jax are priced higher than I'd like, but then there's Edwin Uceta, who had a 1.51 ERA, 0.82 WHIP and 12.3 K/9 during his time in the majors last year. He's also backing up a closer (Pete Fairbanks) who simply can't stay healthy.
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It's not clear yet who will be the Red Sox second baseman to open the year, but manager Alex Cora has been effusive in his praise of David Hamilton, who has performed the best of the candidates. Even if Hamilton fills more of a super utility role, he's likely to approach 40 steals, making him a handy bench bat for those deeper Rotisserie leagues where you won't like what you find at second base or shortstop on the waiver wire.
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Chris Bassitt disappointed last year, but the main thing that slipped for him was his strike-throwing, which I wouldn't necessarily attribute to his 36 years of age. So far this spring, he's looked more like the guy who averaged 14.3 wins, a 3.41 ERA, a 1.13 WHIP, and 8.5 K/9 from 2021 through 2023, and grabbing him late in a 15-team Roto league is an absolute coup if he gets back to that.
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One of the quieter risers this spring, Richard Fitts has secured a rotation spot for the Red Sox after lighting up radar guns with an additional 3 mph of velocity. He already showed pretty good bat-missing ability (and also control) prior to that increase, and I've decided that I'd rather just devote a late-round pick to him now than have to fend off others for him on the waiver wire later.
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Players I've drafted twice (ADP in parentheses):
- Juan Soto, OF, Mets (6.9)
- Tarik Skubal, SP, Tigers (14.8)
- Zack Wheeler, SP, Phillies (23.2)
- Freddie Freeman, 1B, Dodgers (31.4)
- Rafael Devers, 3B, Red Sox (38.0)
- Adley Rutschman, C, Orioles (58.3)
- Marcell Ozuna, DH, Braves (65.2)
- Framber Valdez, SP, Astros (66.4)
- Kyle Schwarber, DH, Phillies (71.5)
- Spencer Strider, SP, Braves (79.9)
- Triston Casas, 1B, Red Sox (117.8)
- George Kirby, SP, Mariners (138.3)
- Cristopher Sanchez, SP, Phillies (140.0)
- Trevor Megill, RP, Brewers (152.2)
- Gavin Williams, SP, Guardians (179.2)
- Victor Robles, OF, Mariners (179.7)
- Jordan Romano, RP, Phillies (187.0)
- Clay Holmes, SP/RP, Mets (188.6)
- Ceddanne Rafaela, SS/OF, Red Sox (195.3)
- MacKenzie Gore, SP, Nationals (199.6)
- Ryan Mountcastle, 1B, Orioles (216.1)
- Lucas Erceg, RP, Royals (221.5)
- Sean Manaea, SP, Mets (236.3)
- Max Muncy, 3B, Dodgers (241.4)
- TJ Friedl, OF, Reds (244.2)
- Michael Busch, 1B, Cubs (255.7)
- Grant Holmes, SP/RP, Braves (258.3)
- Michael Conforto, OF, Dodgers (266.0)
- Bowden Francis, SP/RP, Blue Jays (268.4)
- Kristian Campbell, 2B, Red Sox (272.3)
- Jake Cronenworth, 1B/2B, Padres (287.8)
- Mitch Keller, SP, Pirates (302.2)
- Justin Verlander, SP, Giants (309.5)
- Tomoyuki Sugano, SP, Orioles (316.9)
- Jonathan Aranda, 1B, Rays (374.5)
- Drake Baldwin, C, Braves (426.0)
- Mike Soroka, SP/RP, Nationals (455.3)
- Max Kepler, OF, Phillies (464.9)
- Travis d'Arnaud, C, Angels (556.2)
- Ha-seong Kim, SS, Rays (594.1)
- Shane Smith, SP/RP, White Sox (703.9)
- Zach Dezenzo, 1B, Astros (710.6)
- Joe Boyle, SP, Rays (712.4)
- Kyle Hart, SP, Padres (727.7)
