As you prepare for your fantasy baseball drafts, figuring out who you want to target in drafts and who you want to avoid is important. Culling your draft list is crucial to make it go seamlessly. Here are a few players to avoid in your fantasy baseball drafts.
Full Players to Target & Avoid Lists
- Catchers to Target & Avoid
- First Basemen to Target & Avoid
- Second Basemen to Target & Avoid
- Shortstops to Target & Avoid
- Third Basemen to Target & Avoid
- Outfielders to Target & Avoid
- Starting Pitchers to Target & Avoid
More Fantasy Baseball Contet
- Fitz’s Positional Primers
- Justin Mason’s Draft Day Cheat Sheet
- Players the Experts Draft
- Latest Fantasy Baseball Mock Draft
Players to Avoid Drafting
Byron Buxton (OF, DH – MIN) | 102.23 ADP
Byron Buxton is similar to Alvarez regarding the risk associated with his health. Buxton was fantastic last season when he was on the field, hitting 28 home runs and stealing six bases in just 382 plate appearances. But he has not had 400 plate appearances in a season since 2017. He also had his highest strikeout rate since 2015 and his lowest batting average since 2018. A full season of Buxton could be amazing. However, even if he were to stay healthy, which is extremely unlikely at this point, the Twins will manage him and not let him play in 150 games to try and preserve him. I am unwilling to take that gamble, even at a cheaper price than we saw in the last few years.
Max Muncy (2B, 3B – LAD) ADP 145.82
Muncy was one of the easiest fades last season, coming off of the elbow injury without getting surgery. However, he was pretty good from August on. So, why am I fading him? First, he still hasn’t gotten the elbow surgery, and I worry that it will catch up with him. Second, a lot of Muncy’s value previously was wrapped in his ability to cash in on the lineup around him. While it is not barren, the Dodgers lineup is no longer the juggernaut that it once was. He won’t kill your team, but he no longer helps it like he used to.
Xander Bogaerts (SD) ADP 90.71
I love Bogaerts as a player, but I don’t love the move to San Diego. Petco is a really tough place to hit for power and average, and that lineup is so loaded that Bogaerts likely doesn’t bat near the top of the order once Tatis is back. At best, he is a good accumulator, but you need to be hitting atop the lineup to make it really work well.
Jazz Chisholm Jr. (MIA) – ADP 45.02
Power and speed; what is not to like? It all comes down to health with Chisholm. He only played 60 games in 2022. Now, he is moving to a new position in centerfield. That scares me a bit. If he stays healthy, he is a monster, but considering we have yet to see him do that in the Majors, I am not ready to pay his price.
Ryan Mountcastle (1B, DH – BAL) |154.44 ADP
Ryan Mountcastle was one of those players that people faded early on in his career for the wrong reasons, but it ended up biting him later on in an unexpected way. He has hit almost every level through the Minors and the Majors, but there were concerns that his poor StatCast numbers meant the power wouldn’t continue to deliver.
He proved people wrong in his first full season in the Majors with 33 home runs, but then he crashed back down to earth last season in large part because the Orioles moved the fences back. He, unfortunately, is a player with “wall scraping power,” which means that the new dimensions are going to prevent him from getting back to that 30-homer mark.
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