Fantasy Baseball Draft Sleepers: Thairo Estrada (2023)

Everyone loves sleepers, but not everyone can agree on the qualification for one. For this piece, a sleeper hitter is any with an average draft position (ADP) after 180. Thus, they’re available after the 15th round in most 12-team mixed leagues

Sleeper Hitters (2023 Fantasy Baseball)

Thairo Estrada (2B/SS/OF – SF): 191.0 ADP & 188.6 ECR

Estrada can’t seem to get any respect. He’s not an exciting player in a specific category. Nevertheless, he was the 51st-ranked hitter last year with his jack-of-all-trades contributions. The multi-position-eligible hitter had 71 runs, 14 homers, 62 RBI, 21 stolen bases and a .260 batting average.

Estrada’s average should remain palatable or better thanks to a high-contact approach. According to FanGraphs, he struck out in only 16.5% of his plate appearances in 2022, lower than the league average of 22.4%. Estrada’s .290 BABIP was also identical to the league average.

His 21 stolen bases were a massive leap from one in 132 plate appearances in 2021. Still, Estrada has the speed to push for 20 again this year. Per Baseball Savant, his 28.3 feet per second sprint speed in 2022 was better than the 27 feet per second average.

Despite manager Gabe Kapler’s tendency to platoon players, Estrada should also see the requisite playing time to compile stats. Grant Brisbee projects Estrada to be the everyday second baseman and moonlight at shortstop to give Brandon Crawford occasional days off, namely against lefties. Finally, the Zeile projection for Estrada this season is a near-carbon copy of his 2022 campaign, making him a bargain.

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