When drafting in fantasy baseball category leagues, it’s important to have a sense of your projected totals in different categories. Sure, you can punt categories (find out how and why here), but overall it’s great if you can project to be above the pack in as many categories as possible. While taking the best player available is always a great way to start your drafts, it’s good to know who you can and should target as you make your way through your picks and attempt to maintain category dominance or make up ground in a certain area. Let’s take a look at sleepers you can target later in drafts to do just that.
Also, here’s an overview and primer on category fantasy baseball leagues. You can also use our Draft Wizard to automatically determine your projected stats in each category of your league as you go through your draft! This is a great way to practice for the big day and also dominate your draft.
- Fitz’s Positional Primers
- Justin Mason’s Draft Day Cheat Sheet
- Players the Experts Draft
- Latest Fantasy Baseball Mock Draft
Sleepers to Draft for Categories
Here are sleepers you can target for each of the five main categories in fantasy baseball leagues.
Sleepers to Target for Home Runs
There is a lot to like here for Joc Pederson. The underlying metrics are top-tier.
- 23 HR in just 433 PA
- 87th-percentile max exit velocity
- 95th-percentile barrel% & xwOBA
- 98th-percentile Hard-hit%
The only red flag is that he is in a platoon. The good news is he is on the strong side and is a great option when the Giants face a ton of RHP or in daily formats. Even while platooning in 2022, Pederson proved he can be a difference-maker in power output. Let’s root for a healthy 2023.
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Sleepers to Target for Runs
Masataka Yoshida is another shallow league sleepers for runs. There is some hype starting to build for him as a report came out that the raw power would grade out at 70 on a 20-80 scale. That is elite raw power. We have seen flashes of the power in Japan but it still remains to be seen how it will translate to the MLB in year one. Yoshida is currently projected to leadoff for the Red Sox. In Japan, he played 119 games and amassed 508 plate appearances. He was able to put up a .336/.449/.559 line in the process. If the on-base skills can carry over then he will score a ton of runs for this Red Sox team.
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Sleepers to Target for AVG/OBP
Brantley is about as reliable as it gets in the AVG and OBP departments. Unfortunately, over the course of his great career, the five-time All-Star also often spends time on the shelf. That was the case again in 2022, as he managed to play just 64 games and none after June 26.
Despite the missed time, Brantley turned in a solid .288 AVG and .370 OBP across 277 plate appearances last year after hitting at least .300 in each of the previous four seasons. He maintained his typically strong line-drive rate (24.3%) and even increased his hard-hit rate (45.1%) over 2021. Brantley is a seasoned, patient hitter that could still contend for a batting title as he approaches his 36th birthday.
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Sleepers to Target for RBIs
Jimenez has essentially been a forgotten soul for the White Sox over the past few seasons. This has been, in large part, due to injury, as the 26-year-old has appeared in just 194 games since 2019. However, during his limited appearances, he has still managed to slash for a .280 average with double-digit home runs and 40+ RBIs.
Jimenez will be slotting right back into the cleanup spot for Chicago in 2023 and he will be batting behind a trio of on-base machines in Tim Anderson, Luis Robert, and Andrew Benintendi. There will be ample opportunities for Jimenez to knock in runs in this lineup. He will also be seeing more time out of the DH spot this season, which should help keep him healthier overall. Jimenez should finally have a chance for that 30+ home-run and 100+ RBI campaign in 2023 if he can manage to stay healthy for the first time in four years.
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Sleepers to Target for Stolen Bases
Ezequiel Tovar is a shallow league sleeper that has good defense and has shown to be ready for a shot at the starting shortstop spot entering 2023. He’s a top prospect for the team, and Bud Black has spoken highly of him and says he is ready to contribute. Across three levels last season, we saw 15 home runs and 17 stolen bases. Tovar consistently posted strong plate discipline numbers and on-base skills. This is a combination you like to see in young players and it should help his game translate to the MLB level a little easier. He was 17 for 20 on his stolen base attempts. Tovar ended the season getting a cup of coffee at the MLB level, he has a clear path to playing time, and he’s on the 40-man to enter the season. These are two boxes that you should be checking off before rostering any prospect going as early as him.
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