Using Minor League Statistics To Find Sleepers
Rookies are a crucial part of just about every winning fantasy team, which makes it a necessity for owners to keep close tabs on players who haven’t yet cracked the big leagues. We’re all familiar with the Kris Bryants, Jon Grays, and Byron Buxtons of the world, whose names have been plastered on top prospect lists all over the Internet. These players are good bets to blossom into stars sooner or later — possibly as soon as this year.
But everyone knows those names, meaning these players probably won’t come cheap on draft day. However, top prospects are by no means the only ones who emerge from the minors to make an impact. In fact, some of the most productive rookies emerge from complete obscurity, like Kevin Kiermaier, Yangervis Solarte, and Jacob deGrom did last season.
With the help of the 2015 Steamer projections along with KATOH — a projection system I developed to forecast major league performance through age 28 — I identified some potential sleepers: Prospects you may not have heard of who could wind up being just as valuable as some of the bigger names.