Fantasy Baseball Draft Targets: Alex Bregman, Ian Happ, Jonathan India

Targeting players for batting average and on-base percentage (OBP) are two very different things in today’s game. Outside of the top few rounds, you often have players who are good at hitting for average or have very good on-base skills. We will be looking at a total of 10 players today outside the top 100 of fantasy baseball average draft position (APD) in drafts. Four will be players to target for batting average; four will be players to target in OBP formats. We finish off the list with two sleepers for deep leagues.

P.S. The most obvious name is Luis Arraez. I did not forget about him but decided not to include the most obvious name of the bunch. I guess you can count this as his mention for batting average assets. He would be the top asset in this category.

Fantasy Baseball Players to Target for OBP

These are players who may be mediocre or even negative contributors in batting average but are strong OBP producers.

Alex Bregman (3B – FA)

The power might be in question depending on where Alex Bregman lands but the OBP is not. He has a career .366 OBP. Before last season (.315 OBP), he had not recorded an OBP under .350 since his 2016 rookie season.

Bregman walked just 6.9% of the time, but that is an outlier. He typically walks at least 11-12% of the time (career 11.9% walk rate) and he even walks more than he strikes out some seasons. His OBP is a big strength given his track record and approach at the plate.

Ian Happ (OF – CHC)

Cubs leadoff man Ian Happ is great at getting on base, and the Cubs recognize that. This is why he was moved up in the order entering last year and no reason that won’t stick entering 2025.

Between leading off and setting a strong foundation in many categories, he now gains even more value being a plus contributor in the OBP category to go with the rest of his tool kit. Happ has a career .343 OBP with at least a .340 OBP in four of the last five seasons.

Jonathan India (2B – KC)

Jonathan India is a sneaky OBP hitter. Many people do not speak about it but it has been a strength more often than not. He has a career .352 OBP and has had an OBP of at least .357 in two of his four big-league seasons.

India should be leading off in Kansas City to start the year, so there is a path to overall production across the board and giving you a foundation to build off of. The ability to get such a player late in drafts is underappreciated.