Baseball can be a tough sport to predict, and that’s something fantasy players know all too well. Jorge Soler, for example, hit 48 home runs in 2019 before dropping in 2020 and early 2021 for the Royals. After the Atlanta Braves acquired him at the deadline last year, he hit 14 home runs in 55 games and won the World Series MVP title. Now he’s heading to the Miami Marlins on a three-year deal, and fantasy players must figure out which version of this rising player will turn up.
A reliable set of 2022 Fantasy Baseball rankings can help you put players like Soler in the right place in your 2022 Fantasy Baseball Draft preparation. Finding the 2022 Fantasy Baseball sleepers that come out of nowhere can also help you race for your league championship. Before going on the clock, be sure to see 2022 Fantasy Baseball Rankings and Proven Computer Model Cheat Sheets on SportsLine.
Last season, SportsLine’s projection model identified several fantasy baseball sleepers, escapes and busts, including Goaltender designated hitter Franmil Reyes.
Reyes had a 2021 fantasy baseball ADP outside the top 200, but the model predicted he would top that draft position. The result: Reyes hit 30 home runs and drove 85 in 115 games for Cleveland and slashed .254/.324/.522 for an OPS+ of 127. Anyone who took his advice and picked up Reyes late in his fantasy baseball drafts received a huge power boost in their fantasy baseball rosters.
The SportsLine model is designed by the same people who powered the projections for the three main fantasy sites. And this same group shares its 2022 Fantasy Baseball Rankings and Cheat Sheets at SportsLinehelping you find fantasy baseball sleepers, breakouts and busts long before your competition. Their cheat sheets, available for leagues on many major sites, are updated several times a day.
Whenever more MLB news comes out on the updated 2022 MLB schedule, free agency signings or fantasy baseball injuries, the SportsLine team updates its projections. Go to SportsLine now to see these proven fantasy baseball cheat sheets.
Top 2022 Fantasy Baseball Sleepers
One of the 2022 fantasy baseball sleepers the model is projecting: Giants shortstop Brandon Crawford. The 35-year-old just completed a career year offensively in his 11th season in MLB and it was largely the result of some shifts in approach that seemed to begin during the shortened 2020 season. After posting OPS+ at or below the league average (100) from 2017-19, Crawford started to generate more lift and saw his OPS+ climb to 115 in 2020 and then 141 last season.
After hitting the ball on the ground 48.6% of the time in one of the worst seasons of his career in 2019, he reduced that rate to 40.2% in 2021 and saw his ball rate improve from 18.9% to 28.7%. This helped him take full advantage of the above-average horsepower he always had and he hit a career-high 24 home runs. He also set new career highs in RBI (90), steals (11), average (.298), OBP (.373), and slugging (.522). However, he still exits the board in the 14th round on average. The model predicts he will outperform contemporaries like Wander Franco and Carlos Correa, who are drafted at least five rounds earlier on average.
Another sleeper on which SportsLine’s 2022 fantasy baseball ranking is extremely high: Phillies starter Kyle Gibson. Gibson was traded to Philly from Texas at the deadline last season and finished 4-6 with a 5.09 ERA, but prior to the trade he was 6-3 with a 2.87 ERA for the Rangers.
In the 12 games he pitched for the Phillies before the end of last season, two of them came against new division rivals the New York Mets, and he finished with 12 strikeouts. and a 2.84 ERA in those starts. Last season, two Phillies starters — Zack Wheeler and Aaron Nola — finished among the top 20 pitchers in the National League in rushing support per nine innings pitched. Gibson should pitch with more confidence this season, which is why the SportsLine ranking draft he will finish as a more valuable option than better-drafted players like Corbin Burnes, Brandon Woodruff or Framber Valdez.
How to Find Proven 2022 Fantasy Baseball Rankings
SportsLine is also high on a surprising starting pitcher who ranks in the top five of his positional rankings. This player barely makes it out of the board in the top 100 picks, but is expected to outplay starters such as Julio Urias, Max Scherzer and Lucas Giolito. This choice could be the difference between winning your league or going home with nothing. You can only look who it is here.
So which Fantasy 2022 sleepers should you be targeting in your upcoming drafts? Visit SportsLine now to get the 2022 Fantasy Baseball Rankings for every position, all from the model that called Franmil Reyes’ big seasonand find out.
