Good day, friends! I hope you are all surviving the four-day period of game viewing, live scoring, and box score withdrawal that Major League Baseball likes to call the All-Star Break. I for one usually plan a trip or vacation during this little hiatus every year, but this go-round my sojourn was a quick two-day trip a ways up the California coast and back. So as luck would have it, I was already home and able to snap-call my esteemed editor MattTruss’s ask of throwing some Razz-words together and coming to you all a day early this week. If there isn’t any baseball to sit around and watch, why not sit around and write about it, no? And I’ve decided to go a step further than writing this post a day early; I’ll actually be writing it six or seven months early. That’s right, on this midsummer day in 2024, I present to you my first shot at a 2025 sleeper/undervalued players post. I’m not using a lot of facts and figures here, mostly just gut instinct on guys that somewhere in the back of my mind I’m thinking have a shot to not only be useful fantasy contributors next year but might also be a bit more off the radar than they should be. Perhaps some will be great in the second half and end up overdrafted rather than underdrafted next season, and some may crash and burn and rightfully be off our fantasy radars next year; time will tell. Also, some are more of the late round deep league flier type, others mid or even earlier standard mixed league guys who I’m thinking could still outperform their draft spot. So, we’ll go from most-owned to least-owned (using current CBS sports data) just to give this hodgepodge assortment of mid-season thoughts a semblance of organization.
Brandon Nimmo. Is there a chance that a 100% owned player who didn’t even make Grey’s Top 100 For Second Half Of 2024 Fantasy Baseball could be a draft day bargain, at age 32 no less, next year? Unlikely, I suppose, but I think it’s possible based on my own feelings of just what a downer it feels like to draft the guy every year. I kind of had to force myself to draft him in a couple early NFBC 50-round draft and hold leagues last spring, and it took all the willpower I had to add him to my roster over the likes of a fiery young up and comer like Jordan Walker or James Outman. I obviously am glad I did at this point, and already suspect I may be having a similar conversation with myself next January or February.
Tanner Bibee. If an effort to mix things up and keep this list full of players who aren’t at the forefront of fantasy rankings right now, I wasn’t going to include anyone who appeared in Grey’s second half list. But, since I made my list and saw that I had exactly one pitcher and one hitter who also appeared on Grey’s list, I thought that was an acceptable and actually interesting amount of overlap. I was even going to make a Skubal comparison in this blurb, but don’t have to after reading the above-mentioned post and can just quote Grey instead: “Going to draft Bibee everywhere next year. He’s basically 2023 Skubal. Next year Bibee will be(bee) a top three starter.”
Brent Rooker. One of the interesting parts of this exercise, for me, was discovering how epically I would have failed if you’d given me a multiple choice test where I had to match players with their current ownership numbers. I did not expect Rooker to check in at #3 on this list in that category, at 95% rostered. Sometimes when you view things through a deep-league lens, values changed much more quickly than you’ve realized. So maybe this means Rooker should be on my as-yet-unwritten “Early Thoughts On Players To Avoid Overdrafting Next Season” instead (especially since, assuming he’s not on the A’s come March, that should automatically boost his profile). I’m going to keep him here for now, though, as Rooker has been a godsend to me in a couple of my 2024 draft and hold leagues. Even the owners who realize what a helpful source of power he and his 21 homers/62 first-half RBI have been, may not be aware that he’s also hitting .291 with a .369 OBP, and has a not-nothing 5 stolen bases.
Heliot Ramos. Repeat what I just said about being surprised over ownership numbers. Ramos is 94% owned? Who knew? I guess I for one should have, given that he made the All-Star team and is hitting .298 with 14 homers in only 60 games. So maybe if he keeps up his hot hitting he’ll be on more people’s minds than I thought next season. He may be in for a world of hurt in terms of second half regression, but the skills are there and if he does manage to put together a relatively solid second half I feel like I’ll be targeting him to at least some extent in 2025.
Alec Burleson. Bibee is the pitcher that makes this list in addition to Grey’s Second Half Top 100, and Burleson is the hitter. Mr. Albright called him a “future star”… enough said, I think. And that’s me quoting Grey for the second time in four blurbs!
Kutter Crawford. I was a year early on Tanner Houck, who I drafted like crazy last year and didn’t manage to roster this year (aargh), but my timing was better on Crawford. I’m realizing that this list may end up as less of a sleeper post and more of a “guys I’m probably going to reach for in 2025 post”… but even with some regression, I think I’ll be bullish on Crawford to outperform his draft spot next year, despite the fact that it will be leaps and bounds higher than it was in 2024.
Jackson Chourio. Chourio has a long way to go this year to live up to his hefty price tag entering the season, but I’m already starting to wonder if some of that disappointment will make him a buy low candidate next year. He may not have the ROY, eye-popping numbers some envisioned, but 9 homers and 10 steals at the break isn’t exactly horrible for a 20-year old just getting his feet wet.
Mark Vientos. I have already whined recently about how I had a feeling that Vientos might break out this year but somehow managed to be a day late and a dollar short (literally in one case) in all my NL-only/keeper leagues in terms of adding him off waivers this year. So we’ll see what his market price is come spring, but I’m thinking there may be enough owners who were either burned by him in the past or don’t want to pay full 2025 draft day value for a guy who was free in even the deepest leagues in 2024, to keep his cost lower than it should be.
Michael Busch. First base has been a minefield for several of my deep league and NL-only teams this year, so I’m already thinking Busch could be a nice value play there, or as a corner infielder in slightly shallower leagues, if one misses out on a top-tier option.
Tobias Myers. If I’ve learned anything this year, it’s to expect the unexpected from starting pitchers, especially young ones, and to be prepared for the guys you’re high on to disappoint you. Also, the guys you’re not high on but pick up out of desperation seem equally likely to predictably destroy your stats, or randomly pitch a gem against a powerful offense. I’m already concerned that I won’t have any mid to late round SPs to target next year, and those that I do target will crush my hopes and dreams for fantasy pitching success in 2025. Myers was the first name to emerge from my brain as someone who might last significantly longer than he should in next year’s drafts and might not suck, earning him a spot on this list.
Masyn Winn. I’ve been playing Winn in a couple leagues this year, and even so, I was surprised to see his stat page. I thought he had more homers (he’s got 5), more steals (he’s at 9), and an atrocious average (he’s hitting .284). It doesn’t all necessarily add up to “fantasy stud,” but it may add up to “serviceable middle infielder in 15-team mixed leagues and deeper, that has a chance to help you in all five categories.”
Zach Neto. It took a while after a fairly lethargic start to the season, but Neto has become an integral part of a couple of my teams, and I’m predicting he’ll be on many of my rosters next year. Even with having him on an active roster or two, I didn’t realize just how productive he’d been, with a plays-in-almost-any-size-league 12 homers and 14 steals going into the break. If a person who lives on the west coast and likes to refer to herself as a fantasy baseball analyst is having trouble paying any attention to the 2024 Angels, I can only dream of how far off the radar they are for the rest of the fantasy community, and how this may lead to some nice bargains out of Anaheim next year.
Jordan Lawlar. I will leave it to other fantasy folks to delve more deeply into anything prospect-related, but I felt the need to throw out the name of at least one minor leaguer. If there is ever a year where folks are gun-shy to spend draft capital on a talented, promising young player with little or no major league experience, it seems like 2025 will be the year after the many rookie busts that have characterized this season. Since Lawlar recently suffered another injury that will keep him sidelined until late August at least, it’s unlikely we’ll see him in the big leagues at all this year, let alone that he’ll have an opportunity to make any kind of a fantasy splash. Who knows if next year will be his season, but it shouldn’t cost much to draft him while we wait to find out.
Lawrence Butler. I will admit I didn’t realize that 3 of Butler’s 9 homers came in the A’s unpredictable blowout of the Phillies heading into the break Sunday, but I did realize that Butler had started delivering on some of the power many of us were hoping for when we drafted him, or added him recently, in deeper leagues. While the average is still hovering down near the Mendoza line, Butler also has 6 steals in the 64 games he’s appeared in, and we may see him on more than one sleeper list next year.
Angel Martinez. Starting with a guy who has been a solid utility man for the Guardians of late, I’m taking these last two names from my own deep-league lists of the last couple weeks… hitters that are off the mixed-league radar completely but have been good very recently. If they can keep it up, they might position themselves to be more prominent in 2025 but won’t have a full year’s worth of stats even if they play well in the second half, which could help keep their profiles down as folks start their deeper-league drafting next season.
Matt Wallner. See above… and I wouldn’t be shocked if his ownership keeps climbing for 2024 redraft leagues over the next two and a half months as well. (Or, he could be back in the minors next week. Baseball!)
Feel free to drop a mid-year thought, question, or comment, and let us know if there’s anyone you’re already eyeing as a potential draft bargain next year. Thanks for reading, and an enjoyable second “half” of the season to everyone!
