We’re almost there, everybody: After a long, cold, frustratingly slow offseason, MLB’s regular season begins on Wednesday, March 20, with the Dodgers and Padres squaring off in Seoul (the 28 other teams will get things started on Thursday, March 28). With precious little time to go until Opening Day, now is the time to start cranking up your fantasy baseball drafts — and we’re here to be your one-stop shop for all things draft prep. We just recently unveiled our top 300 overall for redraft leagues in 2024, as well as top prospects to know and full previews of each position. Now it’s time to get down to the nitty gritty, the stuff that really helps you win your leagues: a list of sleepers to target at every position.
Next up: third base, which is thankfully not quite as dire as it looked at this time last year. To be sure, risk still abounds, but there are some more options to choose from at every point in the draft — including some very interesting guys with genuine upside worth taking late fliers on.
Fantasy baseball sleepers: Third base
Ke’Bryan Hayes, Pittsburgh Pirates
ADP: 187
A former top prospect and elite athlete/defender, Hayes has always had the physical tools to be a star. What he lacked was the offensive profile — specifically, a swing that hit the ball hard but too often hit it on the ground. That may have changed in the second half of last season, when he slashed .299/.335/.539 with 10 homers over his last 49 games while upping his flyball rate to 41.5% and pull rate to 35.4%. If those gains were real, there’s five-category upside here, and you know he’s locked into playing time.
Colt Keith, Detroit Tigers
ADP: 258
The extension Keith signed earlier this winter basically guarantees him an Opening Day job, and the bat certainly seems ready for the challenge. A shoulder injury cut his 2022 breakout short, but when he returned last year, he just kept right on mashing: .325/.391/.585 with 14 homers in 59 games at Double-A, then .287/.369/.521 with 13 homers in 67 games at Triple-A, both of which came in his first taste of those levels. He’s got a swing geared for pull-side power, and while the batting average likely won’t be a boon, something like .270 or so with 25 homers over a full season feels very attainable.
Matt Chapman, San Francisco Giants
ADP: 271
I get that Chapman cooled off in a big way after his torrid start to 2023, but this still feels like an overcorrection. Chapman still hits the ball very, very hard, and if he gets back to pulling the ball a bit more like he has in past seasons, he could get back to something like a .240 average with 25 homers in the middle of San Francisco’s lineup. His defense and his contract lock him into everyday playing time, and it’s not often that you can find a legit homer/RBI guy at this point in drafts. Yes, Oracle Park is a tough place to hit, but Chapman is used to that from his time in Oakland. There’s still a lot to like in this profile.
Brett Baty, New York Mets
ADP: 318
I’m buying back in one more time. This is a make-or-break season for Baty, a former first-round pick who struggled mightily in his first chance at laying claim to the Mets’ third base job last season. He’ll get one more crack at it in 2024, with very little competition for playing time after Ronny Mauricio’s knee injury. And for as bad as things have looked at the plate so far in his young MLB career, he remains one tweak away from unlocking the prodigious power potential that made him a top prospect in the first place. Baty’s swing is the opposite of optimized: He had a 50.2% ground-ball rate last season, and he doesn’t pull the ball nearly enough. This spring has been all about how to generate more pull-side fly balls, and if he figures it out, suddenly everything else snaps into place. At this price, I’m willing to take the gamble and cut bait if I’m wrong — there’s a ceiling of 30 homers and 100 RBI here.
Michael Busch, Chicago Cubs
ADP: 387
Even with Cody Bellinger back in the fold, Busch seems destined for regular playing time — at the very least, as the strong side of a platoon — at first base, third base, DH or some combination thereof. He struggled in a brief MLB cameo last year, but the former Dodgers prospect is a .293/.385/.544 career hitter at Triple-A, showcasing plus plate skills and real pull-side power. His ceiling is something like the guy blocking him in L.A., Max Muncy, and he’ll have every chance to win a job in a strong Cubs lineup.
